Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Book Review

I really enjoyed Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It’s clear from the beginning of the book what the author is going to recommend but the book is laid out in a way that keeps you reading.

At the heart of this book, the way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.  It is not 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 towards the things that really matter.

This book feels very similar to one I recently read “The One Thing” which I wrote about here.

A concept that sticks out to me from this book was by Dieter Rams, a famous designer, where he says “less but better.

Because this concept is so simple and easy to remember it will be something I take away from this book.

Biggest Insight

This is one of those books where you take away a couple key points because the main purpose of the book is to get you focusing on what really matters and blocking out the noise.

To me, the big thing I got was not focusing on adding extra things to make something better but to find what is most essential and only focus on that so everything else can be easier or more clear.