Book Review: Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

I only fell in love with reading at the age of 40, and this book has been a big influence. Not just for my businesses, my design agency tickety boo creative and my art business, but my personal life too. It was a game changer and left me wanting to know more about everything. The way of the ‘Essentialist’ involves doing less, but better, so you can make the highest possible contribution. The author Greg McKeown is the CEO of a leadership and strategy agency, who has run courses at Apple, Google and Facebook. What I love about the book are the real life case studies which help to explain the theories in an accessible way.

Less but better

Thinking about prioritising the essential and going from there. Anything I now work on, I think much more about the basics - what am I trying to achieve, and how am I going to make it happen. I try to apply this thinking to everything and it’s so easy to remember.

“If it’s not a clear yes, then it’s a clear no”

I’m not good at saying no and setting boundaries and had spread myself too thin. I used to feel busy all the time, rather than productive, this book helped me understand that I have control of my decisions. It gave a framework so I know what I should be focusing my precious time on.

Progress

Don’t just concentrate on the big milestones, It’s important to feel like you’re making progress, celebrating every small win, when added up makes a big difference.

Reflection

This book really is life changing! I’ve still got a long way to go and feel like I need to read the book again so I don’t slip into old habits, this is a must read for any business owner.