Mastering the Art of Essentialism

Do you feel overworked and underutilized?

If I could go back in time, I would go back to 2014 to do one thing.

I would tell my younger self, “Don’t waste your time and energy talking to that hot Swedish girl. She will soon go back to her ex, as they always do. You were always her rebound guy, nitwit.”

I’m kidding. Not that one. But it would’ve been the second thing I would’ve done. What would’ve been the first thing?

I would tell my younger self, “I beg you. Please read the book called Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown right now. And DO NOT — I repeat — DO NOT waste your time and energy talking to that hot Swedish girl. Why? Trust me. You don’t want to know.”

One of my favorite stoic quotes is this:

“Because most of what we say and do is not essential. If you can eliminate it, you’ll have more time, and more tranquility. Ask yourself at every moment — Is this necessary?” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 4.24

Naturally, this made me curious about the book Essentialism, which has the same core philosophy. I had to finish the book in two days.

The author Greg defines essentialism in more than fifty ways. But I’ll give you one definition:

“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the RIGHT things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”

In simple terms — Less but better.

I come home from the office at 7 p.m. every day. I sleep at 11.10 p.m. I barely have time to do anything in between. The amount of things I would love to do is too many and I’m already physically and mentally drained. This thought alone used to overwhelm me, not letting me enjoy anything I did because I always wanted to do more. I’m always stretched too thin.

Greg opened my eyes to how stupid I’d been: Essentialists live by design, not by default. Rather than making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately discerns the vital few from the trivial many, and eliminates the nonessentials so the essential things have a clear, smooth passage.

Discerning the vital few from the trivial many

This is so simple, so obvious, that anyone should see the truth of it at a glance; yet 90 percent of people disregard this 90 percent of the time. As Greg puts it beautifully:

There are far more activities and opportunities in the world than we have time and resources to invest in. And although many of them may be good, or even VERY good, the fact is that most are trivial and FEW are vital. The way of the Essentialist involves learning to tell the difference — learning to filter through all those options and selecting only those that are truly essential.

We are so intelligent — and so stupid at the same time. One reason is, what is referred to in psychology, called “sunk-cost bias.”

Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we KNOW is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped. But of course this can easily become a vicious cycle: the more we invest, the more determined we become to see it through and see our investment pay off. The more we invest in something, the harder it is to let go.

To illustrate — I watched the Season 1 of the Netflix fantasy show The Witcher. When I recently learned Henry Cavill, who played Geralt of Rivia, was leaving the show, I stopped caring about the show anymore.

I’m not going to watch Seasons 2 and 3, even though he’s in it. Thankfully, it turned me off. My younger stupid self would’ve watched not only Seasons 2 and 3 but also up to Season 12 just because I had watched Season 1. I’m not going to be just another victim of sunk-cost bias.

If we’re victims of sunk-cost bias when it comes to a TV show, take a minute to ponder what all the things are persuasively sinking us, costing us — toxic relationships, bad investments, terrible jobs, reading horrible articles, and writing them. The list is endless.

When we’re struggling with being indecisive, Greg suggests applying a rule he calls — the 90 Percent Rule. You can apply this simple rule to just about every decision or dilemma. When you’re faced with a tough choice, think about the single most important criterion for that decision and simply provide the option a score between 0 and 100.

If you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then automatically and ruthlessly change the rating to 0 and simply REJECT IT. You will not be indecisive anymore. Heck, you won’t even be biased. Even if it’s 89 percent, reject it, logically. Be it your mediocre boyfriend or the Season 2 of The Witcher.

I wanted to do a lot of things when I came home from the office. I applied the 90 Percent Rule. I discerned the vital few from the trivial many. Now I have a lot of time. I enjoy doing the vital few without worrying about the trivial many.

Checking on Instagram to see what my European friends ate for brunch today, Which country are my American friends in now, Did that hot Swedish girl break up with her boyfriend yet — to go back to her ex again, which would be me now? Or watching Season 18 of Grey’s Anatomy, and responding to random people’s emails enthusiastically.

The above are all trivial many, in case you couldn’t guess.

My vital few? Reading a great book, much-needed solitude, eating dinner alone but romantically, checking in on my mom, necessarily in that order. And more importantly, I’m operating at my highest point of contribution for these vital things.

Trivial many doesn't overwhelm me anymore. Because it’s not in my 90 percent. The truth is, it’s not even in my 10 percent. When I realized that, it was truly liberating.

With this ultra-selective approach, every second of my life, I’m thinking to myself, “Is this necessary?” I’m finally able to recognize what really matters, or at least what is really supposed to.

Look how the editors are masterfully editing an article or a book. They don’t allow one extra word. Look how the film editors meticulously make everything we see on the screen serve a purpose. Aren’t we all editors of our own lives? What kind of editors are we if we let non-essential things stay in our lives for months and even years?

I know many stressed people trying to cram yet more activities into their already overscheduled lives just to “prove a point.” I know their day gets hijacked by someone else’s agenda. I know they feel overworked and underutilized.

Fun fact: The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It was singular for the next five centuries. For some reason, in the 1900s, the word priority became PLURAL.

If you take the vital few away from the last four minutes of your life, I hope it’s this:

• Whatever decision or dilemma or crossroads you face in your life, just ask yourself, “What is essential?” Eliminate everything else, ruthlessly.
• Don’t be a rebound guy.