Contents
Notes on the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less:
Dieter Rams’s design principle Weniger aber besser
The paradox of success: our success brings new opportunities and distractions which undermine the very clarity that led to our success in the first place.
Once you figured out which activities and efforts to keep, the ones that make your highest level of contribution, you need a system to make executing your intentions as effortless as possible.
Ask 3 questions to find your greatest contribution:
- What do I feel deeply inspired by?
- What am I particularly talented at?
- What meets a significant need in the world?
Fallacies of non-essentialism:
- I have to…
- It’s all important.
- I can do both.
Truths of essentialism:
- I choose to…
- Only a few things really matter.
- I can do anything but not everything.
Mental models of the essentialist:
- protect the asset
- deep work
- hell yeah or no
- clarity of purpose: essential intent
- every additional yes is a no to the essential. Every no is a yes to the essential.
- making other people’s problems our problems is enabling and keeps them from dealing with their own problems.
- “boundaries are a source of liberation”
- Improve output by focusing on removing constraints, rather than increasing input. Reminds me of that thing from Max about limits and Limits to Growth. The theory of constraints, too.
- Lao Tzu: “to attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.”
Tools for saying no:
- remember saying no trades popularity for respect. You want the latter.
- “what should I de-prioritize to make this possible?” when you can’t easily decline (like when your boss asks)
- remember the sunk-cost fallacy and the endowment effect (To the latter, re-frame you’re thinking from scarcity to abundance: “If I didn’t already own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?” Or “if I weren’t already involved in this project, how hard but I fight to get on it?”
- avoid the status quo bias with zero-based budgeting
- try a reverse pilot where you stop doin the thing or do it less to see if it matters
- think like an editor: cut as much as necessary to make it as clear and concise as possible.
Execute:
- start small and show steady progress to motivate people to do big things.
- build habits for execution then rely on them. Michael Phelps and the “videotape”. “The essentialist designs a routine that enshrines what is essential, making execution almost effortless.“ “the essentialist makes achieving what you have identified as essential the default position.”
- neuroplasticity is why a routine makes difficult things easy
Not from the book but related:
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.
—Steve Jobs