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We can apply these five questions to our own attempts at building buffers. Think of the most important project you are trying to get done at work or at home. Then ask the following five questions: (1) What risks do you face on this project? (2) What is the worst- case scenario? (3) What would the social effects of this be? (4) What would the financial impact of this be? and (5) How can you invest to reduce risks or strengthen financial or s..
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Greg McKeown |
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In a moment of insight, Alex sees how this approach could also be applied to turning around his production plant. Instead of trying to improve every aspect of the facility he needs to identify the "Herbie": the part of the process that is slower relative to every other part of the plant. He does this by finding which machine has the biggest queue of materials waiting behind it and finds a way to increase its efficiency. This in turn improve..
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Greg McKeown |
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the question you should be asking yourself is not: "What, of my list of competing priorities, should I say yes to?" Instead, ask the essential question: "What will I say no to?"
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Greg McKeown |
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When there is a serious lack of clarity about what the team stands for and what their goals and roles are, people experience confusion, stress, and frustration. When there is a high level of clarity, on the other hand, people thrive.
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Greg McKeown |
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Tom Friel, the former CEO of Heidrick & Struggles, once said to me, "We need to learn the slow 'yes' and the quick 'no."
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Greg McKeown |
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When teams are really clear about their purpose and their individual roles, on the other hand, it is amazing what happens to team dynamics. Formal momentum accelerates, adding up to a higher cumulative contribution of the team as a whole.
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Greg McKeown |
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One simple answer is we are unclear about what is essential.
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Greg McKeown |
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clarity about what is essential fuels us with the strength to say no to the non-essentials.
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Greg McKeown |
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Mastering this Essentialist skill, perhaps more than any other in this section, requires us to be vigilant about acknowledging the reality of trade-offs. By definition, applying highly selective criteria is a trade-off; sometimes you will have to turn down a seemingly very good option and have faith that the perfect option will soon come along. Sometimes it will, and sometimes it won't, but the point is that the very act of applying selecti..
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Greg McKeown |
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The team also uses an explicit set of criteria in making their evaluation. Their primary criterion is, "Will this person be an absolutely natural fit?" That is why they have designed the selection process to include multiple interviews. That is why they developed the workday trial run. It's why they send the questionnaire."
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Greg McKeown |
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Then Nancy read Jim Collins's Good to Great, in which he contends if there's one thing you are passionate about - and that you can be best at - you should do just that one thing. That's when she realised the real opportunity to differentiate the company might be in the very type of work nobody else in the industry wanted to do: designing presentations.
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Greg McKeown |
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We can't have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate options. Once we accept the reality of trade-offs we stop asking, "How can I make it all work?" and start asking the more honest question "Which problem do I want to solve?" --
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Greg McKeown |
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The overwhelming reality is: we live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. As John Maxwell has written, "You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practicality everything."
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Greg McKeown |
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If you don't prioritise your life, someone else will.
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Greg McKeown |
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My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.
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Greg McKeown |
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To harness the courage we need to get on the right path, it pays to reflect on how short life really is and what we want to accomplish in the little time we have left. As poet Mary Oliver wrote: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?" 12"
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Greg McKeown |
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Of all the things that can boost emotions, motivation, and perceptions during a workday, the single most important is making progress in meaningful work," they said. 5"
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Greg McKeown |
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Without clarity and purpose, pursuing something because it is good is not good enough to make a high level of contribution.
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Greg McKeown |
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to operate at your highest level of contribution requires that you deliberately tune in to what is important in the here and now.
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Greg McKeown |
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Y si fuera a Stanford a estudiar un posgrado?" Ya"
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Greg McKeown |
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Multitasking itself is not the enemy of Essentialism; pretending we can "multi focus " is."
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Greg McKeown |
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It leads to what I call "the paradox of success,"2 which can be summed up in four predictable phases: PHASE 1: When we really have clarity of purpose, it enables us to succeed at our endeavor. PHASE 2: When we have success, we gain a reputation as a "go to" person. We become "good old [insert name]," who is always there when you need him, and we are presented with increased options and opportunities. PHASE 3: When we have increased options ..
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Greg McKeown |
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The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple "first" things. People and companies routinely try to do just that. One ..
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Greg McKeown |
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I choose to," "Only a few things really matter," and "I can do anything but not everything."
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Greg McKeown |
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described as doing things we detest, to buy things we don't
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Greg McKeown |
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IT IS THE ABILITY TO CHOOSE WHICH MAKES US HUMAN. --Madeleine L'Engle
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Greg McKeown |