Essentialism is the daily deliberate choice of less but best. It is a philosophy that encourages us to ask ourselves what is essential and remove everything that is not essential from our lives. Essentialism helps us focus on what matters most and leads to a more fulfilling life.
Essentialism is a philosophy that encourages us to focus on what matters most in our lives and remove everything else that isn't essential. This helps us prioritize our tasks, eliminate distractions, and get more done in a shorter period of time, leading to increased productivity. It also helps us find more joy in our activities by giving them our undivided attention without worrying about anything else going on around us. Essentialism is not just about helping ourselves, but also helping others because we are all connected. Both essentialism and egoism have their merits, so it's up to the individual to decide which one works best for them.
What is Essentialism?
Essentialism is a philosophy that encourages us to ask ourselves what is essential and remove everything that is not essential from our lives. It helps us focus on what matters most and leads to a more fulfilling life.
In the world of business, Essentialism is often referred to as “The Discipline of Excluding the Useless”. It is a philosophy that encourages us to ask ourselves what is essential and remove everything that isn’t necessary from our lives.
In his book The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Important Things in Life, Joshua Becker describes Essentialism as follows:
Essentialism is about identifying and giving priority to your highest priorities in life, and then making sure everything you do reflects those priorities. In essence, it’s about getting really clear on what matters most so you can stop doing things that don’t matter (very much).
Why Do We Need Essentialism?
Life has become so busy that we often forget about the things that are important to us. We get caught up in doing things just because we feel like we have to do them instead of doing them because they bring value to our lives or help us achieve our goals. This leads to stress, anxiety, and depression because we feel like we are running around without any direction or purpose in life.
As the world gets busier and more complicated, we need to learn how to simplify our lives and remove everything that is unnecessary. Essentialism helps us do this by focusing on what is most important in our lives and removing everything else. This allows us to have more time for the things that are truly important, which leads to a happier, healthier life.
If you are reading this, it’s likely that you have some interest in the concept of “essentialism.”
The word essentialism has been around for a while now, but it has gained popularity recently due to the work of Greg McKeown and his book “Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.”
Essentialism is all about focusing on what matters most in your life. It’s about doing less things but better things so that you can have more time to focus on what really matters to you and your family.
I recently came across a quote that said, “If you chase two rabbits, you don’t catch either one.” This is such an important concept to understand and apply in your life.
When we try to do too many things at once or when we spread ourselves too thin trying to take on more than we can handle, it results in us not doing any of the tasks well. We are basically failing at everything instead of just one thing.
Essentialism helps us make the deliberate choice of focusing on fewer things but giving them our best effort and attention. It helps us eliminate all the other distractions so that we can give our undivided attention to what really matters most in our lives.
The Essentialism as a Philosophy
The Essentialism philosophy is about making deliberate choices and decisions. It’s about knowing what matters most to you in life and acting accordingly. This way of living doesn’t come naturally for many people, but it can be learned with practice.
When I first started reading about Essentialism, I found that there were some similarities between the philosophy and Buddhism. While they are not exactly the same thing, both philosophies focus on removing excess from your life so that you can live more peacefully and calmly.
The main difference between Essentialism and Buddhism is that while Buddhists try to remove themselves from worldly attachments as much as possible, an essentialist still cares deeply about their family, friends, work, etc., but they know how to prioritize those relationships in a healthy way instead of letting them take over their lives or become unbalanced.
The Essentialism vs. Egoism Debate
The debate between essentialism and egoism is a common one in the self-help community. It’s a question of whether you should focus on helping others or helping yourself.
Essentialists believe that we are all connected and that by helping others, we help ourselves. They believe that it’s important to be mindful of how your actions affect those around you.
Egoists, on the other hand, believe that it’s important to focus on yourself first and foremost. They believe that if you don’t take care of yourself first, you can’t help anyone else.
While both sides have their merits, I think it comes down to what kind of person you are as an individual. If you are someone who likes to help others and make a difference in the world around them, then being an essentialist makes sense for you. If not, then egoism may be more your style!
The Essentialism and Productivity
I’ve talked about how essentialism is a deliberate choice of less but best. It’s choosing what matters most and eliminating the rest. This deliberate choice of less but best is what makes you productive.
Being productive doesn’t just happen. You have to work for it and make it happen. Essentialism helps you do that by helping you focus on what matters most, eliminate distractions, and prioritize your tasks so that you can get them done in a timely manner.
When you are able to focus on what matters most, eliminate distractions, and prioritize your tasks, you are able to get more done in a shorter period of time which makes you more productive than ever before! END BLOG SECTION END BLOG SECTION###
The Essentialism and Happiness
The pursuit of happiness is a goal that many people have. It’s something that we all want to achieve, but it’s not always easy to get there. In fact, some people might even say that it’s impossible to be happy all the time.
But what if I told you that essentialism and happiness are actually linked? That by choosing what matters most in your life and eliminating everything else, you can actually find more joy in your day-to-day activities?
It may sound like a bit of a stretch at first, but hear me out. When you choose what matters most in your life and eliminate everything else, you are able to focus on those things with more intensity than ever before. This means that when you spend time with family or friends, or do work-related tasks, you can give them your undivided attention without worrying about anything else.
This kind of intense focus on one thing leads to an increased sense of fulfillment and satisfaction because there is no room for distractions or other things pulling at your attention span. You are able to give each task the full attention it deserves without worrying about anything else going on around you!
The Essentialism and Career Choice
I’ve always been a bit of a workaholic. I love my job and I love the opportunities it has given me. But, there are times when I feel like I am spread too thin and that my life is out of balance.
I have to admit that this feeling is not new to me. It has been with me for as long as I can remember. In fact, it was one of the reasons why I started my business in the first place.
I wanted more time for myself and for my family, but also for other things that were important to me such as reading, exercising, or just having fun with friends and family on weekends or vacations.
But even though starting a business was supposed to give me more time in the long run, it didn’t quite turn out that way at first because there were so many things that needed doing from day one!
The Essentialism and Relationships
Relationships are important. They are the glue that holds society together. But, relationships can also be a huge drain on your time and energy if you let them.
The key to keeping your relationships healthy while still maintaining your boundaries is to choose the people you spend time with wisely.
Think about it this way: If you had only 24 hours to live, who would you want to spend that time with? Who would be on that list? That’s how we should think about our relationships in general. We should choose who we spend our time with very carefully and deliberately because we only have a limited amount of time here on earth.
The Essentialism and Finances
The Essentialist knows that money is a tool, not a goal. The Essentialist knows that the best things in life are free. The Essentialist knows that it’s not how much you make but what you do with what you make.
The Essentialist knows that the most important thing about money is not how to get it but what to do with it once you have it.
The first thing an Essentialist does when they get their paycheck is pay off all their bills and obligations as quickly as possible so they can be free of debt and worry.
An essentialist doesn’t buy things for the sake of buying them, they only buy things if they will add value to their lives or if there is no other way for them to get something without buying it.
The Essentialist's Guide to Living a Richer Life
The Essentialist’s Guide to Living a Richer Life
Living a richer life is something that everyone wants, but not everyone knows how to achieve. The pursuit of happiness and fulfillment is one that we all have in common, but the paths we take are often very different.
The essentialist’s guide to living a richer life is one that involves making deliberate choices about what you want out of your life and then working towards those goals with everything you have.
It’s important to remember that there are no shortcuts when it comes to living a richer life. You can’t just wish for it or hope for it or think about it and expect things to change on their own.
How to be an Effective Essentialist
As an essentialist, you will be intentional with your time and decisions. You’ll also be deliberate in how you think about things and how you spend your time.
Being an effective essentialist requires that you are thoughtful in all of the choices that you make. This means being thoughtful about what to do, when to do it, where to do it, who to do it with, and why something is important enough for you to spend your time on it.
Here are some ways that I personally try to be more of an effective essentialist:
1. Make a list of my top three priorities each day (or week) so I can focus on the most important tasks first.
2. Eliminate or delegate anything that isn’t one of my top priorities. If I don’t have time for everything, then I need to choose which things matter most right now. The rest can wait until later or someone else can help me out with them!
3. Schedule specific times each week where I plan out my upcoming weeks and months so I can stay focused on long-term goals as well as short-term ones.
4. Block off chunks of time during the day/weekend where there aren’t any distractions like TV or social media so I can focus solely on whatever task is at hand without getting distracted by other things going on around me.
5. Ask myself if this task is
How to Apply the Essentialism in Your Life
We’ve covered the philosophy of Essentialism and how it can help you get more out of your life. But how do you apply this philosophy to your own life? How do you choose what’s essential and what isn’t?
The first step is to identify your top priorities. These are the things that matter most in your life. They may include family, work, friends, health, hobbies, or some other aspect of your life. Once you know what matters most to you in these areas of your life, then you can start making choices about everything else in your life that doesn’t directly affect those top priorities.
For more on this idea listen in to one of my recent podcasts on Why I became an essentialist.