|
4249c56
|
In George Orwell's classic allegorical novel Animal Farm we are introduced to the fictional character Boxer the horse. He is described as faithful and strong. His answer to every setback and every problem is, "I will work harder." He lives true to his philosophy under the direst circumstances until, exhausted and broken, he is sent to the knackers' yard. He is a tragic figure: despite his best intentions, his ever-increasing efforts actuall..
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
67a602b
|
His observation was that you could massively improve the quality of a product by resolving a tiny fraction of the problems. He
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
cc94e8a
|
The top software developers are more productive than average software developers not by a factor of 10X or 100X or even 1,000X but by 10,000X.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
a23a0ff
|
Before you can evaluate what is and isn't essential, you first need to explore your options. While non-Essentialists automatically react to the latest idea, jump on the latest opportunity, or respond to the latest e-mail, Essentialists choose to create the space to explore and ponder.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
ec20abf
|
I'm talking about deliberately setting aside distraction-free time in a distraction-free space to do absolutely nothing other than think.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
358485a
|
Here's another paradox for you: the faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
0028206
|
If the answer isn't a definite yes then it should be a no.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
ad3b0c4
|
William James once wrote, "My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will."2"
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
12a66df
|
Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution toward my goal?
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
17865bd
|
EDIT
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
e4ebb68
|
The second is the pathetically tiny amount of time we have left of our lives. For me this is not a depressing thought but a thrilling one. It removes fear of choosing the wrong thing. It infuses courage into my bones. It challenges me to be even more unreasonably selective about how to use this precious - and precious is perhaps too insipid a word - time. I
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
e4cc466
|
When we look back on our careers and our lives, would we rather see a long laundry list of "accomplishments" that don't really matter or just a few major accomplishments that have real meaning and significance?"
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
956b363
|
For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it."4"
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
c37c949
|
What is new is how especially damaging this myth is today, in a time when choice and expectations have increased exponentially.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
7b3ada0
|
Jim Collins's Good to Great, in which
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
a11b0cd
|
We do a similar thing in our personal lives as well. When we are unclear about our real purpose in life - in other words, when we don't have a clear sense of our goals, our aspirations, and our values - we make up our own social games. We waste time and energies on trying to look good in comparison to other people. We overvalue non-essentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the w..
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
e084381
|
When there was a serious lack of clarity about what the team stood for and what their goals and roles were, people experienced confusion, stress, frustration, and ultimately failure. As
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
5e88dd2
|
MOST OF WHAT EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE--OUR ACTIONS, AND ALL OTHER FORCES, RESOURCES, AND IDEAS--HAS LITTLE VALUE AND YIELDS LITTLE RESULT; ON THE OTHER HAND, A FEW THINGS WORK FANTASTICALLY WELL AND HAVE TREMENDOUS IMPACT.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
96ab816
|
Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come." "Less but better" is a principle whose time has come."
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
f0024ef
|
The Essentialist THE WISDOM OF LIFE CONSISTS IN THE ELIMINATION OF NON-ESSENTIALS. --Lin Yutang
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
0bd1636
|
The way of the Essentialist rejects the idea that we can fit it all in. Instead it requires us to grapple with real trade-offs and make tough decisions. In many cases we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions so we don't exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
fdf0d29
|
Norway also benefited enormously from windfall taxes from oil but unlike Britain, Norway invested much of its good fortune in an endowment.2 Today, this endowment has grown over time to be worth an extraordinary $720 billion, making it the world's largest sovereign wealth fund and providing a cushion against unknown future scenarios.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
c247ecf
|
Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
a80a6b3
|
The term for this very common phenomenon is the "planning fallacy."6 This term, coined by Daniel Kahneman in 1979, refers to people's tendency to underestimate how long a task will take, even when they have actually done the task before"
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
bf295bd
|
so they will arrive late. So what should he do? The answer, Alex finds, is to do anything and everything to make things easier for Herbie. With the slowest boy at the front of the line, if Herbie moves one yard an hour faster,
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
3c222f1
|
are vital. The way of the Essentialist involves learning to tell the difference--learning to filter through all those options and selecting only those that are truly essential.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
0abf960
|
Henry David Thoreau (who wrote, "I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; ... so simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real")."
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
8dc61cf
|
up in four predictable phases:
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
c10dc38
|
they were not just starting on the race to nowhere?10
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
e0cee7d
|
getting more out of less space. He named it, appropriately, LifeEdited.com.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
3b7af68
|
AN INNER PROCESS STANDS IN NEED OF OUTWARD CRITERIA. --Ludwig Wittgenstein
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
07e246c
|
of the Essentialist involves learning to tell the difference--learning to filter through all those options and selecting only those that are truly essential.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
6fec5a0
|
seen people trapped by controlling managers and unaware that they do not "have to" do all the thankless busywork they are asked to do. And I have worked tirelessly to understand why so many bright, smart, capable individuals remain snared in the death grip of the nonessential. What I have found has surprised"
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
485b884
|
606 Universal Shelving System. Why?
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
6b95f06
|
Jim Collins's Good to Great, in
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
5cae852
|
Essentialist Thinks ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
1edbe9a
|
the role of CEO as being the chief editor of the company.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
4f4be79
|
MOST OF WHAT EXISTS IN THE UNIVERSE--OUR ACTIONS, AND ALL OTHER FORCES, RESOURCES, AND IDEAS--HAS LITTLE VALUE AND YIELDS LITTLE RESULT; ON THE OTHER HAND, A FEW THINGS WORK FANTASTICALLY WELL AND HAVE TREMENDOUS IMPACT. --Richard Koch
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
7bf0b30
|
Once an Australian nurse named Bronnie Ware, who cared for people in the last twelve weeks of their lives, recorded their most often discussed regrets. At the top of the list: "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not" --
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
4e2d464
|
1) What risks do we face and where? (2) What assets and populations are exposed and to what degree? (3) How vulnerable are they? (4) What financial burden do these risks place on individuals, businesses, and the government budget? and (5) How best can we invest to reduce risks and strengthen economic and social resilience?11
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
6761b71
|
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 social resilience? Your
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
5003bfa
|
sunk-cost bias.
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
d9323d5
|
Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped. But
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |
|
afeb592
|
book Boundaries. Once,
|
|
|
Greg McKeown |