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.
