As we wrap up this study on Essentialism, I wanted to play an interview with Greg McKeown. I had hoped to interview Greg myself, but our schedules didn’t work out.  Instead, I want to play you a recent interview with Greg by Michael Hyatt.  This interview comes from Platform University, a wonderful interactive environment from Michael Hyatt that I subscribe to. Platform University is a great resource for how to better articulate your message or website.  I would highly encourage you to check out Michael’s site as it provided tremendous value for such small subscription cost.

Greg McKeown

Greg talks about a variety of issues in this interview.  I found his take on two types of people (lost and those who know they are lost) to be particularly inspiring.

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In my life I’ve gone through periods of intense, driven productivity – months where everything fell into place, and my goals almost seemed to accomplish themselves. At the other extreme, there have been times in my life where I was completely overwhelmed, burdened by my different projects and responsibilities – and frustrated because so many of them not only challenged me, but didn’t matter to me. There were days when I asked myself how did I end up here? How did I end up working on all these things that aren’t who I am, and that don’t represent where I am going?

Focus

So what is focus all about?  How do we build focus and maintain it?  How does this relate to establishing Essentialism in our lives?

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Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow … toward your resonators … your dreams … your essential things.

Progress

We can get so “destination minded” that we forget the journey in front of us. If we do this we lose site that making any progress is better than no progress.

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To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day. —Lao-tzu

Subtract

What is the obstacle that is keeping you back from achieving what really matters to you? By systematically identifying and removing this “constraint” you’ll be able to significantly reduce the friction keeping you from executing what is essential.

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The problem is that very few people know what buffer is, let alone ever experience it. So why don’t we have any? Why are we so overcommitted and crazy-busy?

Buffer

Life is a long-distance run not a sprint. If you and I are going to be effective over the long-term, we have to create buffer and pace ourselves.

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Sometimes we truly have so much to do, we don’t know which end is up. But sometimes the frenzy is self-induced.

Uncommit

Feeling overwhelmed is sometimes a matter of perception – if you think you have too much to do, your limbic system takes over and you can’t think creatively about alternatives.

Overscheduling is a common form of resistance because it seems so virtuous. “I want to write, I really do, but I can’t because I have all these other (less satisfying and less scary) things to do.” Overcommitting yourself is one way to keep yourself safe from the risk of noticing how you feel and what you think and trying to write about that.

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