Can You Do Less, But Better?

We can have it all!  In our work, play and relationship worlds, technology, Google and unprecedented accessibility often lead to our relentless pursuit of more. Author Greg McKeown states, “Our whole society has become consumed by the undisciplined pursuit of more.”

This can lead to: Finding yourself too busy to plan. Trying to fit it all in. Everything seems important to you. When things don’t fit, you try to force it. You sometimes feel overworked and underutilized. And you are drunk with possibilities. Here is how to do less, but better.

In his new book Essentialism: The Relentless Pursuit of Less, McKeown makes a compelling case for achieving more by doing less. Clarity of focus and the ability to say ‘no’ are both critical and undervalued in business today. He challenges the nonsense that we have been sold … that if we can fit it all in then we can have it all.The value proposition of Essentialism: only when 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. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us. And that matters because if you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.

Here are Greg’s 12 Myths That Lead To A Busy, Unfulfilling Life. My favorite is Myth #2 “If You Can Fit It In You Should Fit It In.” Please comment – What is your favorite?

Peter Drucker states, “In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time— literally— substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.”

Can you do less, but better?  Ask yourself the following two questions:

1. What is the one thing I am focused on?
2. What good opportunity can I give up to pursue a great opportunity?

I highly recommend this book.  Contact me to discuss how you can do less, but better.

Do you feel it, too? That relentless pressure to sample all the good things in life? To do all the ‘right’ things? The reality is, you don’t make progress that way. Instead, you’re in danger of spreading your efforts so thin that you make no impact at all. Greg McKeown believes the answer lies in paring life down to its essentials. He can’t tell you what’s essential to every life, but he can help you find the meaning in yours. —Daniel H. Pink
Greg McKeown’s excellent new book is a much-needed antidote to the stress, burnout and compulsion to “do everything,” that infects us all. It is an Essential read for anyone who wants to regain control of their health, well-being, and happiness. —Arianna Huffington

© 2015-2020 David Paul Carter. All rights reserved.  Greg McKeown writes, teaches, and speaks on the importance of living and leading as an Essentialist. He was a collaborator of the Wall Street Journal bestseller Multipliers and serves as a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum.