Greg McKeown: Recent Episodes
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ESSENTIALISM
The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
By Greg McKeown
“Essentialism holds the keys to solving one of the great puzzles of life: How can we do less but accomplish more?” —Adam Grant, bestselling author of Think Again
AUGUST 2024 – Crown Currency, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House will release a new 10th Anniversary Edition of ESSENTIALISM: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown, the revolutionary guide to finding clarity on the most essential work that will advance your goals, eliminating distractions, and executing with focus—now featuring a new introduction and a bonus 21-day challenge.
Since its original publication in 2014, McKeown’s ESSENTIALISM has become a must-read guidebook and a clarifying rule of life for millions around the world—for entrepreneurs, celebrities, athletes and everyday people looking for a systematic discipline to improve their lives. Kanye West declared himself an “Essentialist” in a post on X. It’s Steve Harvey’s favorite book. Former First Lady of California, Maria Shriver, shares insights from the book at her coveted Sunday luncheons. Even presidential hopefuls have voiced their allegiance to its transformative power. In Brazil, Essentialism has been outselling Harry Potter. And in Japan there are a series of graphic novels based on these ideas. And the book has changed McKeown’s own life, too: in the decade since Essentialism was published, he has given keynotes to 500 organizations across 44 countries.
What gives this book such enduring, universal appeal a decade after it was first published? At the heart of McKeown’s approach is a firm debunking of the myth that “we can do it all.” We can’t. We are constantly juggling an ever-growing set of professional and personal responsibilities. Despite ourselves, we continue to take on more. We say yes because we feel obligated, not because we want to. As a result, we feel overworked and underutilized. Busy, but not productive. McKeown argues that what is needed in order to achieve greater productivity, success, and live more fulfilling lives is to remain focused on the few essentials, and get rid of the trivial many: to do less but better. That is the definition of Essentialism.
By applying more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers people to reclaim control of their own choices about where to spend their precious time and energy—instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for them. “If we don’t prioritize our lives, someone else will,” says McKeown.
The book is divided into three main sections, each describing the core tenets of Essentialism:
- Explore and Evaluate: This section of the book discusses five practices for exploring and discerning what is essential. They include
- Escape (the perks of being unavailable),
- Look (see what really matters),
- Play (embrace the wisdom of your inner child),
- Sleep (protect the asset),
- Select (the power of extreme criteria. If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a no.)
- Eliminate:
- Clarify (an essential intent is one decision that eliminates one thousand later decisions),
- Dare (the power of a graceful “No”),
- Uncommit (win big by cutting your losses),
- Edit (a good editor uses deliberate subtraction to add life to ideas),
- Limit (the freedom of setting boundaries)
- Execute:
- Buffer (prepare for the unexpected by planning and allowing space for action),
- Subtract (remove obstacles),
- Progress (the power of small wins),
- Flow (the genius of routines and creating positive habits),
- Focus (tune into the present),
- Be (the essentialist life)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Greg McKeown is married to Anna, and together they have four children. McKeown is one of the most sought-after speakers in the world; he’s the host of the top business podcast The Greg McKeown Podcast; and two hundred thousand people receive his weekly 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter. He is the author of two bestsellers, Essentialism and Effortless, which together have sold more than three million copies and been published in forty languages. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and is conducting doctoral research at the University of Cambridge.
Greg McKeown recently joined Tim Ferriss for an insightful walk-and-talk episode on The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast. Together, they explore the timeless principles of Essentialism and share practical strategies for discovering your true purpose in the ever-evolving landscape of 2024.
In this engaging discussion, Greg McKeown shares actionable insights, real-life anecdotes, and invaluable wisdom, offering guidance for those seeking clarity and intentionality in their personal and professional lives.
Tune in to join two thought leaders as they embark on a transformative journey towards living a more purposeful and intentional life.
More details here. The transcript of this episode can be found here.
How to Create Spaciousness, Move from Essentialism to Effortless, and Quiet the Mind | Brought to you by UCAN endurance products powered by SuperStarch®, FreshBooks cloud-based small business accounting software, and Headspace easy-to-use app with guided meditations. More on all three below.Greg McKeown (@GregoryMcKeown) is the author of the new book Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most and a previous book, Essentialism: The [...]
Join Greg and his wife, Anna, in a zoom webinar April 1st. This will be a special live event where they will talk about their lives, Greg’s new book, and how they try to keep things Effortless. They will also answer questions from you at the end of their discussion, so please come with anything you [...]
The 21-Day Essentialism Challenge, led by New York Times Best Selling Author Greg McKeown, has just launched on Essentialism.com. It is designed to help you Explore and identify what is truly essential in your life, eliminate the nonessential from your life, and make execution as simple as possible. You’ll learn how to identify what is [...]
Maria Shriver’s blog recently featured “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less“. She said she was at a Sunday dinner, when her friend Chelsea asked her if she had read the book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg McKeown. When she told her no, Chelsea said: “If anyone needs to read that book, it’s [...]
Listen to the latest episode of The Tim Ferriss Show where he invited Greg McKeown to discuss “How to Master Essentialism”. You can visit the episode page by going here: https://tim.blog/2019/01/09/greg-mckeown-essentialism/ or listen to the full episode below. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, or on your favorite podcast platform. Listen to it on Apple Podcasts. [...]
Every Monday, S.L. editor Tim Herrera of the New York Times emails readers with tips and advice for living a better, more fulfilling life. He recently published an article titled “Why You Start Things You’ll Never Finish”. In this article he mentioned Greg and Greg’s Book Essentialism. Here’s the quote: There’s a “predisposition of humans [...]
When Gwyneth Paltrow, Elise Loehnen and the team at Goop asked Greg to sit down for The Goop Podcast it turned into something special and a bit unexpected: a magical conversation in which they didn’t just talk about Essentialism but applied it in real time. Listen Below: Goop Podcast Link: https://goop.com/the-goop-podcast/why-doing-it-all-is-a-con/
Greg was featured in a Wall Street Journal article titled “How to Disconnect From ‘Always On’ Work Culture”. Here’s a snippet of the article: “Always-on culture is weird. It’s not how humans thrive. It’s not how productive people break through to the next level,” said Greg McKeown, author of “Essentialism,” which details his philosophy of [...]
At age 29, McIlroy is trying hard to make his life more than just an extension of the golf course. He seems to be succeeding. He mentioned Essentialism is what helped him learn to say “no”. Here’s the quote from the article. He added: “The biggest thing I had to do to get to that [...]
Dear Friends, A few weeks ago Steve Harvey, the celebrated TV host and comedian, read Essentialism and said that it changed his life! This led to an appearance on his show that will air this Thursday. I hope you will watch the show as we take questions from the audience. And have a lot of fun along the way. In [...]