I have long been a fan of Greg McKeown’s book, ‘Essentialism’, and revisit my notes every year. “The disciplined pursuit of less.”
About a month ago, I discovered the “Essentialism Planner” that Greg created–‘A 90Day Guide to Accomplishing More by Doing Less.’ It was the perfect timing. Being constantly bogged down with things “I had to do, but didn’t want to do,” it was time to pivot out of being a victim to my circumstances and make a shift. This has been the perfect bridge to help me refocus and start climbing out of the abyss.
Here’s the idea in brief: each day, choose 1 ESSENTIAL PROJECT to get done, 2 URGENT AND ESSENTIAL TASKS to get done, and 3 MAINTENANCE ITEMS.
The way to think about maintenance items is the opposite of perfection. You may have a house project that’s going to require 3 hours of research before you can make any decisions. Instead of putting this off until you have the full 3 hours put aside, set a 10-minute timer, make as much progress as you can in that 10 minutes, and then do that for a couple weeks straight. It’s really important that YOU STOP at the end of the allotted time you give yourself so you can keep progressing forward for the day.
At the end of each week, PRACTICE RADICAL GRATITUDE by jotting 5 things you’re grateful for from the week (including the things that didn’t go well and what you might have learned from those experiences…don’t forget, experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you were hoping for). PREVIEW YOUR CALENDAR for the upcoming week and jot the 3-5 most important activities and events for the upcoming week. Then, jot THREE THINGS YOU ARE OVER INVESTING in that are NON-ESSENTIAL and THREE THINGS YOU ARE UNDER INVESTING in that are ESSENTIAL. Lastly, CHOOSE THIS WEEKS 3 GOALS to accomplish.
If you’re someone who’s getting distracted by email (your email inbox = OTHER PEOPLE’S PRIORITIES), text messages, incoming requests and relentless demands for your time, this is for you. If you’re someone who obsessively creates to do lists and work out of thin air, this is for you. Warren Buffett & Bill Gates both have said the single most important factor in their success has been their ability to FOCUS. This journal is a great tool to help you FOCUS.
Highly recommend buying one here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0593578414?starsLeft=1&skipTwisterOG=1
For additional context, I thought this podcast episode was helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjsN9BQRtxE
CIAO!
Philoso-Feed 