Is this book for you?
Essentialism
Read it if…
- You're always busy but rarely feel you're getting anywhere that matters.
- You find it hard to say no, even when your plate is already full.
- You feel stretched across too many projects, people and promises.
- You want a clear way to decide what deserves your time.
- You'd like a calmer, more focused way of working and living.
Watch the summary
What the book is about
Most of us say yes to too much. Each request seems reasonable on its own, but together they leave us overworked, underused and busy without making real progress on what matters. Essentialism is Greg McKeown’s answer to that problem.
His idea is simple: less, but better. Instead of trying to fit more in, you work out the few things that truly matter, cut the trivial many, and make it easy to give your best to what’s left. It isn’t a time management trick or a call to do less for its own sake. It’s a way of choosing where your time and energy go, on purpose.
What’s inside
Less, but better The core principle of the book. Focus on the vital few things that matter most, rather than spreading yourself thin across everything.
The power of choice McKeown argues that you always have a choice about how you spend your time. If you don’t set your priorities, someone else will set them for you.
Explore Before you commit, make space to think, reflect and ask questions. This is how you tell the essential from the merely urgent.
The 90% rule Score any new opportunity out of 100 against your most important criterion. If it doesn’t reach 90, treat it as a no.
Eliminate Cut what doesn’t fit, including commitments you’ve already made. The book shows how to say no gracefully, without guilt or burning bridges.
Execute Build routines and remove obstacles so the essential things happen almost on autopilot, instead of relying on willpower each day.
The paradox of success Success brings more options and requests, which can pull you away from the very focus that made you successful. Essentialism helps you stay on track.
Who wrote it
Greg McKeown is a writer, speaker and podcast host who has spoken to more than 500 organisations in 45 countries. He runs a leadership and strategy agency in Silicon Valley and has taught courses at Apple, Google and Facebook. He holds an MBA from Stanford University and was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He also hosts The Greg McKeown Podcast and wrote a follow-up bestseller, Effortless. Together, his two books have been published in 39 languages.
What readers are saying
What they love: Readers say the book gives them permission to say no and a practical way to decide what deserves their time. Many find the 90% rule and the explore, eliminate, execute method easy to use straight away. Audiobook listeners enjoy hearing McKeown read it himself, and several say it’s worth coming back to again and again. It’s often recommended alongside Deep Work: one shows you how to focus, the other helps you choose what to focus on.
What well-known names said: Organisational psychologist Adam Grant says the book tackles one of life’s great puzzles: how to do less but achieve more. It’s also endorsed by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, Tim Brown, chief executive of IDEO, and Stanford professor Robert Sutton.
Quick facts
- Author
- Greg McKeown
- Publisher
- Virgin Books (Penguin Random House)
- Length
- 304 pages
- Published
- 7 January 2021 (updated paperback, first published 2014)
- Formats
- Paperback, ebook and audiobook, read by the author
- Recognition
- New York Times bestseller, over two million copies sold
- Reading time
- Around 5 to 6 hours
- Difficulty
- Easy. Short chapters and plain language.
Our verdict
If you're stretched thin and always busy, this is the book that shows you how to do less, but better. Its three-part method, explore, eliminate and execute, gives you a simple way to spot what really matters and let the rest go. It suits anyone juggling too much at work or at home, and it's best read slowly, a chapter at a time. The updated UK paperback includes a 21-day challenge, and the audiobook is read by McKeown himself.
WillYouRead.com is independent and not affiliated with the author or publisher.
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