The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and the Habits that Changed Everything
Suzie Price, a dear colleague of mine, recently asked me to be a guest on her podcast about all things Essentialism. (See: Essentialism - The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown).
The concept for me has manifested in one simple—yet deeply challenging—action: ruthless excising of self, of work, of focus, and community.
In the words of Greg McKeown, my trivial many have been cut down mercilessly for the sake of my vital few. Both personally and professionally, I’ve found, participated in, consulted against, and witnessed that we live in a world where almost everything is worthless, and few things are actually valuable (read: the core precept of Essentialism).
The removal of excess—a minimalist principle I’ve already well adopted into my physical space—becomes much more complicated as a brand consultant. The biggest struggle I see in brand and business strategy is a lack of clarity on the business or entrepreneur’s essential intent. Most companies (read: overwhelmed leadership) can't answer the question of: “If we could be truly excellent at only one thing, what would it be?”
This lack of essential intent is ultimately where brand strategy comes into play for companies.
Developing a brand strategy requires, ultimately, an essentialist view of infinite possibilities for a brand and focusing on just those vital few — something few CEOs and entrepreneurs want to do. Having a set brand strategy also means adhering to that essential intent in all the business does from content to clients. But brand strategy, like an essential intent, in the words of Greg McKeown, “eliminates a universe of other options and maps a course for the next five, ten, or even twenty years of your life.”
While impossible to boil down the exceptional takeaways from the book, there are two that have changed my life most profoundly:
No. 1: “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
This is the crux of the essentialist dilemma. You must first have this understanding before embarking on becoming an essentialist. In your journey toward simplification and intentionality, you will find you have less time to engage with the trivial many — whether it’s people, things, conversations, or ideas.
You will suddenly find you have abundant time to spend on your defined purpose — a purpose that may be different than how you used to be as a non-essentialist. This intentionality comes from you deciding (read: prioritizing) your daily interaction with the world and preventing someone else, no matter how important they are, from diverting you from your essential intent.
No. 2: “The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default.”
This concept seems so simple, but when you are tasked with ensuring intentionality in everything you do, you start to realize how little is by design — from what’s on your desk, in your car, what you wear or don’t, what social settings you engage in and so much more.
As an essentialist, you sacrifice what is familiar, perhaps what is even easy, for the exhilarating unknown of uncompromised focus. Living by design doesn’t mean living selfishly for your sake and no one else’s. Living by design means living at ease with yourself and your essential intent removing obstacles joyfully and thoughtfully.
Essentialism has not only the power to transform our personal lives but our corporate and entrepreneurial ones as well.
To aim, without falter, toward creating a more thoughtful existence for yourself and those around you is what I challenge you to try in the coming months.
In the meantime, listen to Suzie and I discuss how this philosophy has changed our lives, transformed our business, and created more ease in our day-to-day.
Need an essentialist starting point? Keep in mind these four elements.
“As you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion for that decision, and then simply give the option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it.” – Greg McKeown
Develop a routine to give yourself space to think, to decide what is truly essential.
“To become an Essentialist requires a heightened awareness of our ability to choose.” – Greg McKeown
For capable people who are already working hard, there limits to the value of hard work. It’s not about how much you do but about what you are doing.
