Essentialism
Last week I finished the book Essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less.
The author is a bit prolix on the form, but the content he presents is really good. Here, I tried to cut the bs out and highlight the most important points, assuming the risk of having some ideas a bit unintelligible for some without further context.
tl;dr
“Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”
focus -> success -> more options -> less focus -> failure
Part I — Essence
Assumptions:
- I have to / I choose to
By refusing to choose “not X”, you end up choosing “X”;
Choice is not a thing, it’s an action;
We can’t control our options, but we have control over how we choose;
Learned helplessness. - It’s all important / Almost everything is nonessential
Certain types of efforts yield higher rewards than others. Choose wisely.
Pareto Principle (80/20). - I can do both / What’s the trade-off I want to make?
Straddling: keeping your existing strategy intact while simultaneously also trying to adopt the strategy of a competitor. Obviously not good.
Trade-offs involve two things we want.
We can try to avoid trade-offs but we can’t escape them.
Part II — Explore
Discerning the trivial many from the vital few
“Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” — Pablo Picasso
We need space to design, concentrate and read.
Clarify the question.
Play is an antidote to stress.
“Sleep is for high performers. Sleep breeds creativity. Sleep is a priority.”
Part III — Eliminate
Cutting out the trivial many
“If it’s not a ‘Hell yeah’ then it’s ‘No.’”
The 90 percent rule: if you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then reject it.
2 Patterns in teams that lack clarity: playing politics and it’s all good.
Endowment effect: we value more what we own.
Antidote: pretend you don’t own it.
“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” — Michelangelo
“Best Film Editing” is highly correlated to “Best Picture”.
decision: the latin root (cis or cid) literally means “to cut off”.
Their problem is not your problem. Don’t rob people of their problems.
Part IV — Execute
Removing obstacles and making execution effortless
buffers give us time to respond. Not react.
Extreme preparation reduces the stress of the process. Roald Amundsen.
Humans plan poorly. Planning fallacy.
So, add 50 percent to your time estimate.
What are the constraints? Identify the “slowest hiker”.
Productive activities can be obstacles.
Progress is the most effective motivator => Small wins are powerful.
Late and big vs early and small.
“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” — W. H. Auden
Do the most difficult thing first.
What’s important now?
Clarity equals success.
Debate until you have established a really clear (not pretty clear) essential intent.
