Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

by Greg McKeown

DAY 1: The Essentialist Find an accountability partner and read chapter 1 of Essentialism together. Invite them to do the 21-Day Challenge with you. DAY 2: Choose Catch yourself one time saying the words, “I have to.” Replace them with, “I choose to [fill in the blank].” DAY 3: Discern Ask, “What is the most important thing I can do today?” DAY 4: Trade-off When the thought “I will do both” crosses your mind, stop, pause, and pick one of the choices. DAY 5: Escape Schedule a Personal Quarterly Off-Site to explore what is essential. DAY 6: Look Start an essentialist journal: Write only one sentence a day answering the question, “What’s the most important thing that happened today?” DAY 7: Play Spend ten minutes playing a game with a child. Lose yourself in the magical exploration that comes so easily to children. DAY 8: Sleep Take a twenty-minute nap. DAY 9: Select One time today when something isn’t a clear yes, make it a clear no. DAY 10: Clarify Before going into your next meeting, pause and ask yourself, “What is the one thing I really want to achieve in this meeting?” DAY 11: Dare Write out how to say no gracefully. Word it carefully and practice it. DAY 12: Uncommit Look at each commitment on your calendar for the week. Ask, “If I wasn’t already involved, how hard would I work to get involved now?” DAY 13: Edit Use this new rule for one day: If you add a new activity, you need to edit out an existing activity to make space for it. DAY 14: Limit Next time anyone asks y...

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