Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Lesson 1.  The Way of the Essentialist.

Do you feel overworked and underutilized? Do you feel busy but not productive? Do you overdo in minor activities? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then the way out is Essentialism. 

Let's understand the way of the Essentialist with the help of the story of Dieter Rams. Dieter Rams has been the lead designer at Braun for several years. He is driven by the idea that almost everything is chaotic, and that very few things are essential. His mantra was to ignore the chaos until he finds the essence. 

For instance, he was asked to collaborate on a record player. It was typical at that time to cover the turntable in a solid wooden lid, or even to merge the player into a piece of living room furniture. Instead, he along with his team eliminated the clutter and designed a record player with a clear plastic cover on the top and nothing extra. Their design stood out, as it was the first time anyone had seen such a design. It was so revolutionary, that people thought it might bankrupt the entire company because no one would buy it. Rams' excellent observational skills helped him to identify what was non-essential in the old design. By the sixties, the aesthetic appeal of the new design began to gain traction, and it became the design every other record player followed.

Rams' design criteria can be summarized with three German words: Weniger aber besser, or Less but better. 

McKeown explains that the way of the Essentialist is the constant pursuit of less but better. The way of the Essentialist is not about making a New Year's resolution or about mastering a new strategy within a timeframe. It is about pausing whenever required, to ask, “Am I investing in the right activity?”

Lesson 2. Essence, Choice, Discern, and Trade-Offs

Essentialism is not a way of doing one extra thing. Instead, it is a different way of doing everything. 

People believe that to live the way of the Essentialist, the following three conditions must be fulfilled: "I have to," "It's all-important", and "I can do both." These assumptions are questionable and risky. 

To embrace the true essence of Essentialism, one has to replace these false assumptions with the three core truths: "I choose to," "Only a few things really matter," and