Productivity
by Greg McKeown
Why does doing more get us less?
Greg McKeown kept meeting capable people stretched so thin they were making tiny progress in dozens of directions. His answer is Essentialism, which he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Do fewer things, he argues, and do them far better, by deciding on purpose what you won't do.
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McKeown takes his motto, less but better, from the German designer Dieter Rams. The Nonessentialist says yes to nearly everything and ends up spread thin. The Essentialist sorts the vital few things from the trivial many, and politely turns down the rest.
A clear purpose brings success. Success brings more options and requests. Saying yes to them scatters your effort, until the clarity that made you successful is gone. McKeown calls this the clarity paradox, and it's why he thinks success can quietly set you up to fail.
When weighing an option, McKeown suggests picking the one criterion that matters most and scoring the option out of a hundred. Anything under ninety counts as zero. It sounds harsh, but it stops the merely good options from crowding out the great ones.
Southwest Airlines went without meals, assigned seats and first class so it could fly cheaply from point to point. Continental tried to copy it while keeping its full service, and lost heavily. McKeown says trade-offs can't be dodged, so choose them. Stop asking how to do both.
Less, but better
Aim to do fewer things and give each one your best.
Your choice
When you don't pick what matters, your days fill up with other people's plans.
Trade-offs
You can't do it all. Choosing what to give up is part of the job.
Protect the asset
Guard your sleep. A tired mind is bad at telling what matters.
The 90% rule
When deciding, if something isn't close to a clear yes, treat it as a no.
A story from the book
Just after his daughter was born, McKeown left the hospital to sit in a client meeting, because he felt he was expected to. He later saw he'd swapped something essential for something that wasn't, and began asking why capable people make that swap so often.
One thing to try
List your regular commitments, from committees to subscriptions. For each, ask McKeown's reverse question. If I weren't already doing this, how hard would I work to start? Anything that gets a shrug is a candidate to drop. Step back from one of them this week.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. Essentialism comes with a Your Move story to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appWhy does doing more get us less? Greg McKeown kept meeting capable people stretched so thin they were making tiny progress in dozens of directions. His answer is Essentialism, which he calls the disciplined pursuit of less. Do fewer things, he argues, and do them far better, by deciding on purpose what you won't do.
Less but better; The clarity paradox; The 90 per cent rule; Which problem do you want?.
List your regular commitments, from committees to subscriptions. For each, ask McKeown's reverse question. If I weren't already doing this, how hard would I work to start? Anything that gets a shrug is a candidate to drop. Step back from one of them this week.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from Essentialism in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Your Move story to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
