Book Notes - Essentialism - By Greg McKeown
Eliminate
- How Can We Cut Out the
Trivial Many?
- It is not enough to simply
determine which activities and efforts don’t make the best possible
contribution.
- You still have to actively
eliminate those that do not.
- How you eliminate
nonessentials so you can make the higher level of contribution toward the
things that are actually vital.
- If I didn’t have this
opportunity - what would I be willing to do to acquire it?
- The question you should be
asking yourself is NOT: 'What, of my list of competing priorities should I
be saying yes to?
- But 'What will I say NO to'
Clarify
- One Decision That Makes a
Thousand
- Mission statements are set up
to inspire their employees with a clear sense of purpose.
- This section is about how to
eliminate the nonessentials in order to ensure you put your energies into
the activities that are the most meaningful.
- Eliminate is simply the
activity that is misaligned with what you are intending to achieve.
From Pretty Clear to Really
Clear
- Big difference between pretty
clear and really clear
- The fact that clarity of
purpose so consistently predicts how people do their jobs.
- The fact is, motivation and
cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose.
- If a team does not have
clarity of goals and roles, problems will fester and multiply.
- When there is a serious lack
of clarity about what the team stands for and what their goals and roles
are, people experience confusion, stress, and frustration.
- Where there is a high level
of clarity - people thrive.
- When there is a lack of
clarity people waste time and energy.
- When they have sufficient
levels of clarity - they are capable of greater breakthroughs and
innovations
- Two common patterns when
teams lack clarity.
- Playing politics - teams
become overly focused on the manager.
- Its all good - they become
leaderless.
- Without clarity of purpose
- pursuing something because its good is not good enough to make a high
level of contribution.
- When they are clear about
their purpose and role - it is amazing what happens to team dynamics.
Essential Intent
- Done right - essential intent
- is one decision that settles one thousand later decisions.
- Essentialist
- Has a strategy that is
concrete and inspirational
- Has an intent that is both
meaningful and memorable.
- Makes one decision that
eliminates one thousand later decisions
- To get everyone in the UK
online by the end of 2012 - it was simple, concrete, inspiring and easily
measured.
- Could coordinate actions and
energies to eliminate everything else.
- 'But does this new idea
really help us to achieve our intent?'
- This is the kind of statement
of purpose that we need for our companies, teams and careers.
- How do we craft a statement
of purpose this is both concrete and inspiring, meaningful and memorable.
Stop Wordsmithing and Start
Deciding
- If you could be truly
excellent at one thing - what would it be.
Ask 'How Will We Know When
We're Done'
- Concrete objectives have the
power to elevate and inspire as well.
- Some of the most grandiose
were actually the least inspiring - simple.
- Brad Pitt
- "to build 150
affordable, green, storm-resistant homes for families living in the lower
9th ward."
- The concreteness of the
objective made it real, the realness made it inspiring.
- It answers "How will we
know when we have succeeded?"
Living with Intent
- Creating an essential intent
is hard. It takes courage, insight, and foresight to see which activities
and efforts will add up to your single highest point of contribution.
Dare
- The Power of a Graceful 'No'
- Have you ever felt tension
between what you felt is right and what someone is pressuring you to do.
- Internal conviction vs.
external action.
- Courage is the process of
elimination.
- Stephen Covey - the main
thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Essentially Awkward
- People respect and admire
those with the courage to say No
- Peter Ducker - 'people are
effective because they say No'
- Point is to not say no to all
requests - the point is to say no to noessentials so we can say Yes to the
things that really matter.
- Separate the Decision from
the Relationship
- When people ask us to do
something - we can confuse the
request with our relationship to them.
- Saying No gracefully doesn’t
have to mean using the word No
- Choose No - more often than
you say No
- Focus on the Trade-Off
- Remind Yourself that Everyone
is selling something.
- An idea, a viewpoint, an
opinion - in exchange for your time.
- Trading Popularity for
Respect.
- Remember That a Clear No -
can be more graceful than a noncommittal Yes.
- Being vague is not the same
thing as being graceful and delaying the eventual No.