Essentialism — Greg McKeown

Paperback | Currency | December 29, 2020

The Gist

Life is more gratifying when you live it by your own design, rather than on society’s default settings.

Read If You Like

• Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday

• Atomic Habits by James Clear

• Deep Work by Cal Newport

The Verdict: Read iT, But Don’t Expect the Path Forward to Be Easy

“Less, but better,” is the mantra of Greg McKeown’s Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. In a world of so many possibilities and fear-mongering around missed opportunities, MacKeown challenges readers to turn their focus inward to determine what’s most important to them and then design their life around those things or to achieve them. But while the concept is easy to buy into the work and discipline required to intentionally structure one’s life will prove more difficult. McKeown doesn’t shy away from the fact that essentialism takes work (especially when we’ve been programmed to be Yes men and women), but he does work to make essentialism more accessible and obtainable. The book isn’t a short read, but an easy one thanks to McKeown’s conversational style, giant pull quotes, and doodle diagrams. Readers will walk away from Essentialism with tips and tools they can start to use at work or personal lives.