The book I am discussing today is Essentialism: The Pursuit of Less. This is a book I heard about on the smartpassiveincome.com podcast by Pat Flynn.I talked about in the beginning how I would critique and summarize business books that I read. As I said I’m a kindle addict.
What’s it about
The basic theme of the book is we live our lives by other people’s agenda. We are constantly checking email, texting, responding on social media. Our lives are full of too many distractions. We never focus on what’s important and will produce reuslts. We often spend a whole day just doing busy work.
The author tells the story of a Silicon Valley company that has come and gone, whose mission statement was “We value, passion, innovation, execution and leadership”. Basically they value everything. He then talks about Johnson & Johnson who has been around for 100 years and looks to be for another 100 years, has a mission statement of “Customers are first, Shareholders are last”. Focus on what’s important.
The book states that the Essentialist is always present. Live life in the now. Analyze what is really happening. Drive your decisions but what is really happening rather than by all of the distractions. When you find that one core thing, make the execution effortless by subtracting the weakest link. Don’t just do what you have always done. The author says, “Sometimes when we get good with a hammer, we think everything is a nail”.
The takeaway
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will”. Before the 1900’s there was no plural for the word “priority” in the English language. Technology can sometimes make our lives less productive if we don’t pay attention. Try and live your life by the Pareto Principle, 80/20 rule, and things will tend to work out.
How did it make me feel
The book really hit home with me. I sometimes spend all day responding to other people’s crisis without really accomplishing anything. The book may have just validated what I already know, but it made me think and evaluate how I run my business.
For those of you who read the book, how did it make you feel?