To simplify your life, increase your productivity and getter better results from your training you should always ask that question.
Before you do anything.
Before you start a project.
Before you agree to something.
Before you buy a little knick-knack to put on your desk or waste time reading some style magazine.
Before you do another set of that isolation exercise.
Before you log into Facebook to see where your friends took a dump today.
This is the entire point of the outstanding book, Essentialism by Greg McKeown.
McKeown says that before making any decision to do something, you should pause and ask yourself, “Is this essential?”
Will it make me better?
Will it enhance my life in some way?
Will it save me time or money?
Will it help move me closer to my goals?
Well known entrepreneur, Derek Sivers says the answer is either “Hell yeah” or it’s “no.”
There’s no “maybe” or “yeah, I guess,” or “let me think about it.”
You can’t be wishy-washy.
You’re either really fired up about something, and sure that it’s going to make a positive difference in your life or it’s a no go.
Otherwise you’re just wasting your time.
That makes every decision you have to make that much easier.
When you’re trying to build bigger legs you know that barbell squats will do the job better than anything else. Leg extensions and sissy squats? Not so sure about those. So skip ‘em. Go with the sure thing, the “hell yeah.”
When you’re trying to achieve something in your business or personal life ask yourself what the end goal is.
McKeown reminds us to always ask, “What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential?”
Then determine what bottlenecks are standing in the way and figure out ways of removing them.
The answer is almost always doing less or subtracting stuff.
Not adding more.
To attain knowledge add things every day. To attain wisdom subtract things every day.” – Lao-tzu
Get rid of the leg extensions. Keep the squats.
Get rid of the busy work and meetings. Focus on the tasks that make the biggest difference.
Essentialism author, Greg McKeown asks…
“When we look back on our careers and lives would we rather see a long laundry list of ‘accomplishments’ that don’t really matter or just a few major accomplishments that have real meaning and significance?”
Do only what is essential.
PS. For a lot more great info on this subject check out Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.
