The philosophy of essentialism
This past Sunday, I went for a swim in the early morning. I cycled between swimming, sitting in the steam room and sauna.
It was a recovery day, and I was helping my body rest and rebuild, one of my favorite things to do when recovering is meditate and reflect.
Well as I’m floating in the water, and thinking about my life, and the recent lessons I’ve learned, I think about where I’ve gone right, and where I’ve gone wrong.
We can’t change the past, we can admit and accept our mistakes, and repent our wrongdoings, but we must move forward, we must live in the now.
But if we do the same things that we have always done, then we will continue to receive the same results we have always gotten.
That’s where I started reflecting on the philosophy of essentialism
“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.” ― Greg Mckeown
What if we stop using being busy as a metric of getting things done and having a good life, and rather gazed upon how much time and energy we have to dedicate to the things that matter? Health, family, passions, etc.
Essentialism highlights how we tend to underestimate the importance of everything, it’s the skill and art of saying no and choosing to lead a life of design by default.
Here are 4 ways the philosophy of Essentialism can help you design your life.
1. No is the default response
Too many of us fall into the trap of always saying yes, not protecting our time, and overextending ourselves. Essentialism isn’t minimalism, it’s about making the best use of our time and energy. We have to stop committing to everything, and ask ourselves first is this a whole mind, body, and soul yes. If it isn’t and we have the luxury of saying no, then it should be the default.
2. Busyness becomes your enemy, not your friend
Being busy is something we tend to say a lot. “Oh, how’s your day? It’s good, just really busy like always.” Busyness isn’t something to be propped up or idolized. You should be effective, and deliberate, but you should be pursuing bigger than busyness. Essentialism is getting the right things done, not just getting more done.
3. Get more done with less
When you focus on the actions that move the needle the most, you make more progress with less effort, because now you aren’t in the position of doing things just for the sake of doing them, but to be as effective as possible with your time and energy.
4. Get your time and energy back
When you start saying no to more things, when you start being more intentional with how you spend your time and energy, you realize just how much you’re giving yourself to things that don’t give back, and now you start to get your time and energy back and are back in the driver seat of your life.
