In today's world, being busy is the new norm. We have a ton of projects we would like to
do, and whenever something new comes up, we try to fit it in our already overflowing schedules. We believe that if we just work more and work
harder, we can do it all. However, being busy doesn't mean we're actually
doing things that are important. The truth is that most things that we do,
aren't important at all, but instead are completely trivial. The antidote to this overwhelming busyness
is essentialism. Essentialism is not about how to get more
things done, it's about how to get the right things done. It is about making the wisest possible investment
of time and energy, to get your desired results. First we need to understand that our lives
are filled with trade-offs. When we say "Yes" to any opportunity, we unknowingly
say "No" to several others. For example, if my colleague asks me to go
out with him for a few drinks and I say "Yes", I'm saying actually "No" to a dozen other
things I could spend my time on. Like building my own business, exercising
at the gym or reading a book. Likewise, if I say "No" to my friend's request,
I'm saying "Yes" to other things. The preferred answer would be "Yes" to reading
a book, and "Yes" to going out with my friend. Obviously I would love to do both of those
things. But as much as I'd like to, I can't do everything. None of us can. Instead we have to choose what we're going
to spend our time on. That's the reality of trade-offs. And when we don't deliberately choose where
to focus our energy and time; our friends, bosses or family, will choose for us. This is why we need to stop saying "Yes" to
everything and everyone. Instead, we should learn to say "No" to the
requests that we know will take away our time from the things that are actually important. Saying "No" to requests can be difficult. You might feel guilty. You don't want to let someone down and you're
worried about damaging the relationship with that person. However, how many times did you regret saying
"Yes" to a request, when you really wanted to say "No"? Saying "No", might sting in the moment, but
it's better than saying "Yes" and regretting it afterwards. There are so many times I wish I would have
denied certain requests. The only reason I didn't, is because I wanted
to please the other person. But what happened is, I ended up despising
them, because I felt like they were wasting my time and energy. However, the fault is mine for saying "Yes"
in the first place, when I knew the answer should have been a firm "No". But at least now I realize that if I don't
prioritize my own life, someone else will. Now whenever a new opportunity comes my way,
I always pause and think about all the things I would be saying "No" to, if I accept the
request. If it's not worth the trade-off, then I'll
refuse it. Of course, you shouldn't deny all requests
you get. The point is to say "No" to the things that
are non-essential, so we can say "Yes" to the things that actually matter to us. And the fact is that most things don't matter. I'm sure you've heard about the Pareto's 80/20
principle before. The principle states that 80% of our results
come from 20% of our efforts. And the remaining 20% of results, come from
80% of our efforts. So it makes sense to identify which 20% of
actions will give us the 80% of results we want. However, many capable people are kept from
getting to the next level, because they can't let go of this belief that everything is important. So they waste 80% of their time chasing the
remaining 20% of results. Because of that, they don't even have the
time to stop and identify which 20% will give them the 80%. It's almost like a loop. They don't have the time, to figure out how
they could stop wasting time. Don't get me wrong, working hard is important. But working hard on the wrong things is a
waste of time and energy, therefore should be avoided. That's why, what you don't do, is just as
important as what you do. More effort does not get you more results. Working on the right things does. An essentalist will allow himself to think
and identify what's vital and what's trivial to his goals. He will then eliminate and avoid the trivial
things, so he can have more time and energy for things that are important to him. However applying the 80/20 principle is not
something you do just once. It's an ongoing process. You see, when you're making massive progress
and you're getting tons of success, more and more opportunities will come your way. More people will want to partner with you,
more clients will want to work with you. This might sound like a good problem to have. This is what you would want after all, right? But this newfound success can become a catalyst
for failure.There's nothing wrong with pursuing new opportunities. Unless of course, you start taking on projects
that are not important, but are trivial. They start taking up more and more of your
time, and the essential things, those that got you your success in the first place, fall
by the side. That's the paradox of success. This is why you need to identify what's important
and what's not, regularly. And you need to make deliberate trade-offs. Non-essentialists might think that they don't
have to make trade-offs. But they soon find out that there isn't enough
time in their day to pursue all of their new options. And then they try to carve out more time,
by cutting their most essential asset: sleep. Non-essentialists say: "Yeah I only sleep for
5 hours every night." like it's a badge of honor. They try to convince themselves and others,
that they're productive and important, because they only have time to sleep 5 hours a night. But this is a fool's bargain. While this might result into more time spent
awake, they end up with less energy and are not as productive. Getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night,
results into the same mental capacity as being legally drunk. Basically they're making the same poor decisions,
like a drunk person would. And I don't think anyone would idolize some
drunk in their office. Yet for some reason we idolize not sleeping
enough. This attempt at trying to create more time,
results into cutting out the essentials things. And that of course, leads to failure. That's why essentialists take their time to
identify, over and over, which opportunities are worth their time. Then they make the deliberate trade-offs and
say "No" to the things that don't matter. And they make sure to never sacrifice what's
important to them. Not adapting an essentialist mindset will
keep you away from what you want out of life. The fact is, you simply don't have enough
time and energy to waste it on things that are not important. And if you don't prioritize your own life,
someone else will. If you want to learn more about essentialism,
you can check out Greg McKeown's book. There's a link to it down below. As always, thanks for watching, and I hope
this video made you better than yesterday.
