Essentialism Book Review | 11 Lessons + Quotes

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever recommend products that I have personally used and loved. Thank you for your support!

Essentialism by Greg McKeown helps you achieve more happiness and success while doing less. Here are its book review, lessons, and quotes.

---

Book Review

Ok, first of all, let’s talk about aesthetics because the layout really made this book stand out to me. I absolutely adored the black pages and large quotes! The graphics and small summaries were also helpful.

Content-wise, Essentialism was a refreshing reminder of how small but important changes can make life so much easier and more fulfilling. The book was easy to read, motivating, and inspiring.

Lessons

1. Say NO the majority of times and YES only sometimes

“The overwhelming reality is: we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Humans are social creatures wired to seek approval and acceptance because being cast out of the tribe meant certain death.

So unsurprisingly, we succumb easily to self-sabotaging habits such as people-pleasing, FOMO, and peer pressure.

Most of the commitments and opportunities we say yes to are sadly a waste of time. 

They’re neither the best way we could have used this time nor do they bring us a significant amount of joy. 

So really, it’s only logical that we should say NO more often. 

But getting over old habits is hard. You don’t just have to behave differently; you need to be a different person – an essentialist, to be exact. 

And for essentialists, the default answer to any opportunity or request is NO. Only in the rare case that the choice you are presented with ticks all the boxes should you say YES.

But remember, that’s not going to happen very often!

2. If you didn’t already have this task/object, how much would you give to get it?

“By quietly eliminating or at least scaling back an activity for a few days or weeks you might be able to assess whether it is really making a difference or whether no one really cares.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

A great tip to separate what’s essential from what is unnecessary is by asking yourself how much you’d be willing to do or give to have this in your life. 

So, if you weren’t already offered this job opportunity, how much effort would you put into getting it?

If you weren’t in a relationship with your partner already, how badly would you want to start dating?

This line of questioning is immensely valuable to outplay the Endowment effect, leading us to believe that what we own is more valuable than we’d see it as otherwise.

As a result of this effect, we tend to have difficulty letting go of burdensome tasks and possessions.

So make sure to ask this question often and rid your life of the baggage you carry around. 

3. Work smart, not hard!

“Pushing oneself to the limit is easy! The real challenge for the person who thrives on challenges is not to work hard.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

We live in a hustle society that praises hard work. We celebrate people who pull all-nighters, study 12h a day, camp out on a ratty couch while building a business, and walk around groaning about their business.

Despite its name, ‘hard work’ is not actually hard for many people nowadays. Instead, it seems to have become their default state. 

Sure, hard work is, to some extent, vital to succeed in this world. But isn’t it far more impressive to see someone achieve success through a minimum of hard work and while having a high-quality life?

4. Prioritizing sleep boosts your work

“Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

All-nighters are not the way to go for great success. On the opposite, it robs you of the mental energy to produce work of high quality.

So cherish those 7 to 9h of daily sleep! Without it, you have to work much longer hours and will most likely still not be able to reproduce the results you’d get in a high-energy state.

5. When making a decision, if it’s not a clear YES, it then should be a NO

Essentialists are cutthroat when making decisions. They are not willing to spend their time on anything but essential tasks.

One very quick way to filter for those high-value tasks is by watching your initial reaction to them. 

If you immediately think ‘heck yeah, ‘ you should most likely go for it. 

However, if you need to weigh the pros and cons before finally convincing yourself to take someone up on their offer, then you should rather not do it at all. 

Of course, this tool needs to be applied carefully. After all, there are many tasks we dread doing, even though they are good for us. 

Especially anything that gets you outside your comfort zone and fights against limiting beliefs or bad habits.

6. Cut your losses and uncommit

In psychology, the term sunk-cost bias describes the resistance we feel against abandoning a project in which we’ve already put a considerable amount of time, money, or effort.

This tendency is understandable; after all, it could always take just a tiny bit longer till success strikes.

What separates the most successful people famously from the rest is their perseverance and resourcefulness in times when everyone else would have given up.

However, there is a fine line between heroic persistence and foolish stubbornness. 

Essentialists cut their losses sooner than most people. This saves them a lot of time, money, and effort to invest in more productive pursuits. 

7. Establish your boundaries early on and don’t allow exceptions

“Boundaries are a little like the walls of a sandcastle. The second we let one fall over, the rest of them come crashing down.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Many people let others stamp over their boundaries as if they weren’t there at all. 

They think, ‘oh, just this one time, I’ll make an exception. Unsurprisingly, it rarely stays at that.

Essentialists know that their time is one of their most valuable assets. So what would it say about their self-worth if they’d just give it away like sweets to everyone who wants it?

That’s why they have unwavering boundaries that stand firm even at the cost of upsetting others.

8. Build in a buffer of 50% to any plans you make

“Essentialists accept the reality that we can never fully anticipate or prepare for every scenario or eventuality; the future is simply too unpredictable. Instead, they build in buffers to reduce the friction caused by the unexpected.”

– Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Let’s be honest; we all tend to underestimate how long something will take. Especially if it’s not something, we regularly do. 

Planning in too little time for a task ends in stress, disappointment, anger, and guilt. 

Luckily, there is a very easy way to avoid all this unessential drama: Building in a buffer.

You can, of course, decide for yourself how much of a buffer you need. For example, Greg McKeown recommends planning 50% more time than your first estimate.

So if you think it’ll take you one hour to drive to work, you should get out of your house 1 1/2 before you need to be there.

9. Always remove the biggest obstacle first

There are always multiple obstacles we need to overcome between any goal and us. 

It’s easy to fall into the habit of dealing with the smallest obstacles first, especially when you are overwhelmed and would rather not do anything.

But essentialists know that your energy is most effectively used if directed at the biggest obstacle first. 

Removing this one big obstacle can make everything else far easier while chipping away at one small goal after the other isn’t going to make the biggest impact.

10. Make sure to always have a crystal clear intent

Without clear intent, you spend your time and energy on many different things which will not all lead in the same direction. 

By comparison, if you can channel all this hard work in the direction of your intent, you will stop running in a hamster wheel and instead make leaps and bounds ahead.

So why don’t more people determine their intent before they take any action? 

Well, it takes both time and undivided focus to find your intent. 

Also, you might just learn that there really is no sense in what you are doing. And that is always uncomfortable to admit. 

11. You can multitask; you just can’t multi-focus

I’m sure you’ve heard by now of the scientific finding that your brain can’t multitask. Instead, it switches rapidly between the tasks you are doing at the same time. 

However, Greg McKeown says that yes, you can multitask. After all, we drive a car while singing to a song and cook while listening to a podcast.

The key is to combine a task that requires focus with a task that you’ve done so often it’s become mindless to you. 

You can multitask as long as you don’t need to multi-focus!

---

Well, that’s it for Essentialism 101. To get a deeper understanding of the topic, you should get a copy of the book. It’s definitely worth a read. 

If you intend to do so, or if you’ve already read to book, comment ‘ESSENTIAL’ down below.

Until next time, Felicity Seeker!