Essentialism
by Parker · 23 things on Twos
- Greg McKeown
- “The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” - Lin Yutang
- Only once 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.
- Weniger aber besser. Less but better.
- The way of the essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better.
- Are you investing in the right activities?
- Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.
- Living by design, not by default.
- The way of the essentialist is the path to being in control of our own choices.
- Enjoy the journey, not just the destination.
- If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
- For the first time, people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.
- Decision fatigue: the more choices we are forced to make, the more the quality of our decisions deteriorates.
- Have the courage to live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect of you.
- “It is the ability to choose which makes us human.” - Madeleine L’Engle
- The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away—it can only be forgotten.
- “Most of what exists in the universe—our actions, and all other forces, resources, and ideas—has little value and yields little result; on the other hand, a few things work fantastically well and have tremendous impact.” - Richard Koch
- We can enjoy the success that results from making a consistent set of choices.
- “Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” - Pablo Picasso
- The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves.
- “To attain knowledge add things every day. To attain wisdom subtract things every day.” - Lao Tzu
- “Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow.” - Doug Firebaugh
- “If one's life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness.” - Dalai Lama