Essentialism

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

By: Greg McKeown

Narrated by: Greg McKeown

Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.

“A timely, essential read for anyone who feels overcommitted, overloaded, or overworked.”—Adam Grant

Have you ever:

• Found yourself stretched too thin?
• Simultaneously felt overworked and underutilized?
• Felt busy but not productive?
• Felt like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist.

Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.

By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy—instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Essentialism is not one more thing—it’s a whole new way of doing everything. It’s about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.

©2014 Greg McKeown (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Essentialism will give you richer, sweeter results and put you in real control, giving greater precision to the pursuit of what truly matters.”—Forbes

“In this likeable and astute treatise on the art of doing less in order to do better...McKeown makes the content fresh and the solutions easy to implement. Following his lucid and smart directions will help readers find ‘the way of the essentialist.’”—Success

“Do you feel it, too? That relentless pressure to sample all the good things in life? To do all the ‘right’ things? The reality is, you don’t make progress that way. Instead, you’re in danger of spreading your efforts so thin that you make no impact at all. Greg McKeown believes the answer lies in paring life down to its essentials. He can’t tell you what’s essential to every life, but he can help you find the meaning in yours.”—Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell is Human and Drive

Great Message, Redundant At Times

Greg does a great job of narrating, but a good editor could have trimmed a fourth from this read.

Great Read!

This book will really make you think...about what REALLY matters. I'm SO glad I read it.

very appealing principles

With so many pulls in life, Greg shows a way to cut to the heart of the matter and gain freedom from the clutter that demands too much of out time and energy and leaves us holding an empty bag.

A Masterpiece

The author introduces the concept in a great way then goes on to demonstrate how to utilize it in every aspect of your life.

He demonstrates the concept through many practical examples that help elucidate them.

I found many great Concepts that I will definitely Implement in my life, personal and career wise.

Indeed a masterpiece of a book. Landed on the top of my need to listen to again books list.

Great book

The author illustrated examples of essentialism brilliantly. I highly recommend this book for everyone too.

awesome!!!

simply put - loved every minute of this book. change the mind/ heart and see transformation. Thank you.

A good book

I knew already about this topic and it's already what I do most of the times but it was interesting to listen to other point of views. I think it's a bit repetitive though and could be shorter.

Outstanding

In the top three business books I've ever read. In this age of distraction, everyone should read this book. Well done.

Phenomenal and Life changing book!

As a non-essentialist, I am inspired to become an essentialist even before finishing this book! A must read for anyone who feels there is not enough time in the day to get everything done, or perhaps finds themselves overwhelmed with the number of items on their to-do list.

Excellent concepts. Good book.

As our lives are cluttered with tasks and information during this busy era, the concepts in this book are exceptional. This book equally applies to the busy CEO, entry level knowledge workers, and the stay at home parent. Some chapters, such as the one discussing writing, seemed to get off track, but those can be easily skipped. This book presents a holistic approach to basing your life on the 80-20 rule.