Essentialism

Hardcover, 260 pages

English language

Published April 15, 2014 by Crown Business.

ISBN:: 978-0-8041-3738-6

(4 reviews)

Essentialism isn't about getting more done in less time. It's about getting only the right things done. Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized? Are you often busy but not productive? Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people's agendas? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist. Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter. By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy -- instead of …

Essentialism isn't about getting more done in less time. It's about getting only the right things done. Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin? Do you simultaneously feel overworked and underutilized? Are you often busy but not productive? Do you feel like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people's agendas? If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist. Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter. By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy -- instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us. Essentialism is not one more thing. It's a whole new way of doing everything. It's about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come. - Jacket flap.

3 editions

Anthony Burgess reviewed Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Not sure what to think of it

4 stars

This one felt a lot like a business self-help book, which it is, but also felt like it had a lot of truth to it. Like a true business self-help book though, it contains a lot of "look at this CEO, using our ideas and being successful"-type of paragraphs. I'm never convinced about how true those testimonials can be. You can't just break it down to a few managing techniques and that's it, now your company is successful.

The writing was rather good in most parts, can't deny that. The comparison of sentences describing nonessentialists and essentialists was a bit on the nose, they always rubbed me the wrong way. I get the idea, you don't have to dumb it down even more. Other than that, it's just the idea of minimalism + don't spread out too much, broken down a bit too granular. It's the thoughts that automatically come …

This one felt a lot like a business self-help book, which it is, but also felt like it had a lot of truth to it. Like a true business self-help book though, it contains a lot of "look at this CEO, using our ideas and being successful"-type of paragraphs. I'm never convinced about how true those testimonials can be. You can't just break it down to a few managing techniques and that's it, now your company is successful.

The writing was rather good in most parts, can't deny that. The comparison of sentences describing nonessentialists and essentialists was a bit on the nose, they always rubbed me the wrong way. I get the idea, you don't have to dumb it down even more. Other than that, it's just the idea of minimalism + don't spread out too much, broken down a bit too granular. It's the thoughts that automatically come to mind, when you think about sticking to the essentials, but much longer and in a book. Essentially, essentialism not essentially described.

I don't know if I would recommend this book, it was good, but know what you are getting yourself into.