This gave the impression of many things being the priority but actually meant nothing was. (Location 214)
Instead of asking, “Is there a chance I will wear this someday in the future?” you ask more disciplined, tough questions: “Do I love this?” and “Do I look great in it?” and “Do I wear this often?” If the answer is no, then you know it is a candidate for elimination. (Location 235)
“Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution toward my goal?” (Location 238)
“If I didn’t already own this, how much would I spend to buy it?” This usually does the trick. (Location 243)
Essentialism is not a way to do one more thing; it is a different way of doing everything. (Location 355)
I’ll be the first to admit that choices are hard. (Location 425)
As John Maxwell has written, “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” (Location 505)
Essentialists ask the tougher but ultimately more liberating question, “Which problem do I want?” An Essentialist makes trade-offs deliberately. (Location 604)
Thomas Sowell wrote: “There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” (Location 605)
“If somebody can’t make the meeting because of too much going on, that tells me either we’re doing something inefficiently or we need to hire more people.” (Location 671)
If his people are too busy to think, then they’re too busy, period. (Location 672)
In order to have focus we need to escape to focus. (Location 698)
One leader at Twitter once asked me: “Can you remember what it was like to be bored? It doesn’t happen anymore.” He’s right; just a few years ago if you were stuck in an airport waiting for a delayed flight, or in the waiting room of a doctor’s office, you probably just sat there, staring into space, feeling bored. (Location 731)
Whether you can invest two hours a day, two weeks a year, or even just five minutes every morning, it is important to make space to escape in your busy life. (Location 769)
So apply the principle of “less but better” to your journal. Restrain yourself from writing more until daily journaling has become a habit. (Location 845)
In a piece called “No More Yes. It’s Either HELL YEAH! Or No,” the popular TED speaker Derek Sivers (Location 1133)
The awkward pause. Instead of being controlled by the threat of an awkward silence, own it. Use it as a tool. When a request comes to you (obviously this works only in person), just pause for a moment. Count to three before delivering your verdict. Or if you get a bit more bold, simply wait for the other person to fill the void. (Location 1535)
Say, “Yes. What should I deprioritize?” Saying no to a senior leader at work is almost unthinkable, (Location 1553)
“How much do I value this item?” we should ask, “If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?” We can do the same for opportunities and commitment. Don’t ask, “How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?” but rather, “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?” Similarly, we can ask, “If I wasn’t already involved in this project, how hard would I work to get on it?”7 (Location 1638)
In a reverse pilot you test whether removing an initiative or activity will have any negative consequences. (Location 1705)
Another quick test for finding your dealbreakers is to write down any time you feel violated or put upon by someone’s request. It doesn’t have to be in some extreme way for you to notice (Location 1906)
we first got together I made it a point to lay out my priorities and what extra work I would and wouldn’t be willing to take on over the life span of the project. “Let’s just agree on what we want to achieve,” I began. “Here are a couple of things that really matter to me …” And I asked him to do the same. (Location 1912)
Instead of just jumping into the project, take a few minutes to think. Ask yourself, “What are all the obstacles standing between me and getting this done?” and “What is keeping me from completing this?” (Location 2131)
To reduce the friction with another person, apply the “catch more flies with honey” approach. Send him an e-mail, but instead of asking if he has done the work for you (which obviously he hasn’t), go and see him. Ask him, “What obstacles or bottlenecks are holding you back from achieving X, and how can I help remove these?” (Location 2148)
“What is the smallest amount of progress that will be useful and valuable to the essential task we are trying to get done?” (Location 2252)
I would share a short idea (my minimal viable product) on Twitter. If it seemed to resonate with people there, I would write a blog piece on Harvard Business Review. (Location 2254)
Take a goal or deadline you have coming up and ask yourself, “What is the minimal amount I could do right now to prepare?” (Location 2266)
The way of the Essentialist is different. The Essentialist designs a routine that makes achieving what you have identified as essential the default position. (Location 2315)
Jack Dorsey, the cofounder of Twitter and founder of Square, has an interesting approach to his weekly routine. He has divided up his week into themes. Monday is for management meetings and “running the company” work. Tuesday is for product development. Wednesday is for marketing, communications, and growth. Thursday is for developers and partnerships. Friday is for the company and its culture.9 This routine helps to provide calmness amid the chaos of a high-growth start-up. It enables him to focus his energy on a single theme each day instead of feeling pulled into everything. (Location 2411)
What we can’t do is concentrate on two things at the same time. (Location 2496)
Choosing to regularly spend a whole day on that day’s priority, even if it means doing nothing else on my to-do list • Choosing to put the novel I am reading on hold because it is not the priority today (Location 2638)
