“Do you feel it, too? That relentless pressure to sample all the good things in life? To do all the ‘right’ things? The reality is, you don’t make progress that way. Instead, you’re in danger of spreading your efforts so thin that you make no impact at all. Greg McKeown believes the answer lies in paring life down to its essentials. He can’t tell you what’s essential to every life, but he can help you find the meaning in yours.”
— Daniel H. Pink, author of To Sell Is Human and Drive
“A much-needed antidote to the stress, burnout, and compulsion to ‘do everything’, that infects us all.”
— Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO, Thrive Global
“Entrepreneurs succeed when they say ‘yes’ to the right project, at the right time, in the right way. To accomplish this, they have to be good at saying ‘no’ to all their other ideas. Essentialism offers concise and eloquent advice on how to determine what you care about most, and how to apply your energies in ways that ultimately bring you the greatest rewards.”
— Reid Hoffman, co-founder/chairman of LinkedIn and co-author of the no. 1 New York Times bestseller The Start-up of You
“Essentialism holds the keys to solving one of the great puzzles of life: How can we do less but accomplish more? A timely, essential read for anyone who feels overcommitted, overloaded, or overworked – in other words, everyone. It has already changed the way that I think about my own priorities, and if more leaders embraced this philosophy, our jobs and our lives would be less stressful and more productive. So, drop what you’re doing and read it.”
— Adam Grant, Wharton professor and bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals
“As I’ve started to read the book Essentialism, I’m coming to learn that the lesson is not to eliminate the things you care about from your life. It’s simply to get laser-focused on why they matter to you.”
— Maria Shriver, New York Times bestselling author of I’ve Been Thinking
“As a self-proclaimed ‘maximalist’ who always wants to do it all, this book challenged me and improved my life. If you want to work better, not just less, you should read it, too.”
— Chris Guillebeau, New York Times bestselling author of The $100 Startup
“Great design takes us beyond the complex, the unnecessary and confusing, to the simple, clear and meaningful. This is as true for the design of a life as it is for the design of a product. With Essentialism, Greg McKeown gives us the invaluable guidebook for just such a project.”
— Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
“In Essentialism, Greg McKeown makes a compelling case for achieving more by doing less. He reminds us that clarity of focus and the ability to say ‘no’ are both critical and undervalued in business today.”
— Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn
“Essentialism is a powerful antidote to the current craziness that plagues our organisations and our lives. Read Greg McKeown’s words slowly, stop and think about how to apply them to your life – you will do less, do it better, and begin to feel the insanity start to slip away.”
— Robert I. Sutton, professor at Stanford University and author of Good Boss, Bad Boss and Scaling Up Excellence
“In this likeable and astute treatise on the art of doing less in order to do better . . . McKeown makes the content fresh and the solutions easy to implement.”
— Success
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21-Day Essentialism Challenge 261 Excerpt from Effortless by Greg McKeown 265
A Decade of Essentialism
A few years ago, Banks Benitez, then the CEO of Uncharted, a Denver-based social impact firm, found himself entangled in the alltoo-familiar web of endless workdays. His life was a blur of meetings, emails, and a relentless pursuit of “more.” And then one day he stumbled upon the book you’re holding in your hands or listening to right now.
Embracing the philosophy of Essentialism wasn’t just a minor adjustment for Benitez; it provoked a radical overhaul of his entire approach to work and life. He started by scrutinizing every task, meeting, and email, asking the critical question: “Is this absolutely essential?” This was more than just time management—it was a quest for meaning and impact. By shedding the nonessential, Benitez
not only reclaimed his time but also rediscovered his passion and purpose.
The transformation was profound and personal, but Benitez didn’t stop there. He envisioned a broader application of Essentialism within Uncharted. His idea was revolutionary, yet simple: achieve more by working less. Benitez spearheaded a bold experiment to transition Uncharted to a four-day workweek without sacrificing productivity or financial performance.
His challenge to the status quo of the traditional workweek was met with skepticism, but the results spoke volumes. Productivity soared, employee satisfaction hit an all-time high, and the company’s performance strengthened. Uncharted became a beacon of the fourday workweek movement, proving that when we focus on what truly matters, less can indeed be more.
Essentialism arrived in bookstores in April 2014, and I could never have fathomed the impact it would have on people like Banks Benitez in the decade that followed. His story illustrates how one individual’s quest for a more meaningful life can spark a movement that challenges conventional wisdom and reshapes an entire organization.
The thing is, he’s not alone.
Kyle Westaway encountered numerous frustrations with the traditional law firm model—its slow, opaque processes and one-sizefits-all approach seemed ill-suited for early-stage start-ups, the focus of his law practice. As he embraced Essentialism he felt an ignited desire to create something radically different. Kyle remarked, “It’s no exaggeration to say that, with the exception of scripture, this is the book that’s had the most profoundly positive impact on my life.” Westaway decided to take a big risk—he would found his own law firm, with Essentialism as his operating manual. He set out to
x A Decade of E ss E ntialism
x A Decade of Essentialism
design a law firm that could genuinely serve the needs of its clients without succumbing to the inefficiencies and burnout culture so prevalent in the industry. Convinced that the legal industry’s typical incentive structures resulted in overwork and underdelivery, Westaway decided to dismantle them and adopt a fixed-rate billing model, rather than the industry standard of billing for hours logged. The firm’s success would be measured by the value it provided to its clients, not the hours it billed. His firm, Westaway, became a testament to the idea that focusing on a niche—in his case, the unique needs of early-stage companies—and delivering tailored, high-quality legal services could not only work but thrive.
This journey was not without its moments of doubt and fear, especially when turning away work seemed counterintuitive to survival. But as Kyle navigated the challenges of aligning his business with Essentialist and Effortless principles, he discovered the profound impact of saying no to the nonessential and focusing on what truly mattered. The firm’s story is a powerful reminder to all of us that reimagining our work and lives through the lens of Essentialism and Effortless can lead to not just success but fulfillment and a profound sense of purpose.
Jerry Swale is another example of the transformative power of Essentialism. An eye surgeon who had been trying to “do it all” for a long, long time, Swale said yes to every patient, whether he had time to treat them or not. He was constantly doing favors for the other doctors in his practice. And this was all on top of the extra responsibilities he had taken on in his church and in his community. His wife, Beth, told me he would often sit with his head in his hands, overwhelmed, and say, “I can’t do it all! I can’t do it all!” But then he would stand up and declare, “I have to do it all!”
At age fifty-six Swale started having health problems that
threatened to end his surgical career. He knew he needed to see a doctor, but he was so busy he kept putting it off. Finally, on a long road trip with his wife, he realized: the time to take care of himself would not magically appear in his life. He would have to make the space for it. So, together with his wife, he resolved on a course of action.
He wrote out what he would say and then started emailing people. He dialed back his hours at the office, finding only support from his colleagues. He stepped down from the elder board at his church. He started riding a bike, which he loved, and getting eight hours of sleep a night. Most importantly, he went to a dermatologist to address his health issues.
Soon after, Swale’s business partner retired with just a month’s notice. A year prior, “that stress might have given him a heart attack,” his wife recalled. But because of the changes he had made, he now had the room in his life to take on his partner’s patients and surgeries, and quickly found other things he could cut out of his schedule to free up even more time. He no longer had to “have it all.” He only had to have the few things that really mattered. Figuring out what was essential was, as Beth put it, “life-changing for him, maybe even life-saving.”
The stories of Banks Benitez, Kyle Westaway, and Jerry Swale are some of my favorites. But every day someone sends me a note to say how reading Essentialism changed their life. That does not grow old. People don’t just read the book, they seem to experience it. People don’t just read the book cover to cover once; they make it into an annual tradition. One Hollywood agent told me he had read or listened to the book seventeen times: he had also transformed his portfolio of clients as a result and had sold his condo in LA and moved out to a place where he could raise his family in relative peace.
xii
A Decade of E ss E ntialism
Seeing Essentialism become a part of the wider culture has been humbling—and thrilling too. Kanye West declared himself an Essentialist in a conversation with Joe Rogan. It’s Steve Harvey’s favorite book. Former First Lady of California Maria Shriver shares insights from the book at her coveted Sunday luncheons. Boxer Oleksandr Usyk was clutching a copy of Essentialism while en route to the fight that made him the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. Even presidential hopefuls have voiced their allegiance to its transformative power. In Brazil, Essentialism has been outselling Harry Potter. In Japan there is a series of graphic novels based on its ideas. At Essentialism.com, people from over one hundred countries take online classes. Hundreds of thousands receive my 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter. My podcast has grown into a living conversation with people the world over.
And Essentialism has changed my own life. In the decade since Essentialism was published, I have given keynotes to hundreds of organizations across forty-four countries. And naturally, I’ve said no more than I’ve said yes. Those engagements represent less than 10 percent of the requests I have received. All this while, my family, the priority in my life, has thrived. Anna and I have grown ever closer. Our children are our closest friends. The trade-offs have been deliberate, intentional—and worth it.
The number of invitations that have been made to me is so overwhelming, I have had to become an Essentialist in new ways myself. I feel like Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who wrote in Gift from the Sea: “My life cannot implement in action the demands of all the people to whom my heart responds.”
The world has also changed in the decade since Essentialism was first released: it’s only grown more cluttered, with the mind-bending technology becoming even more powerful and more distracting. As
I write these words now, the principles of Essentialism strike me as not only still relevant but more crucial than ever for navigating today’s relentless tide of demands. Though Essentialism has sold millions of copies around the world, its work is far from over. I want a new generation of readers to embrace the power of less, to focus on what truly matters, and to reclaim the essence of a life lived with intentionality and purpose. In a world that champions more, this book stands as a defiant counternarrative, advocating for the liberating clarity that comes from choosing less but better.
Each year, the Essentialism community grows, reaching more readers today than yesterday, more yesterday than the day before. Ten years on, and our journey has only just begun.
To me a book is so much more than paper and ink. A book is a portal. It can take a reader to places and times they have never been. I wonder: Where will Essentialism take you?
SamElliot*isacapableexecutiveinSiliconValley,California, whofound himselfstretched toothin after his companywas acquiredbyalarger,bureaucraticbusiness.
Hewasinearnestaboutbeingagoodcitizeninhisnewroleso hesaid yes tomanyrequests withoutreallythinkingabout it. But asaresulthewouldspendthewholedayrushingfromonemeeting andconferencecalltoanothertryingtopleaseeveryoneandgetit alldone.Hisstresswentupasthequalityofhisworkwentdown. It was like he was majoring in minor activities and as a result, his workbecameunsatisfyingforhim and frustratingforthepeoplehe wastryingsohardtoplease.
*Namehasbeenchanged.
Inthemidst of hisfrustration thecompany came tohimand offeredhim an early retirement package. But he wasinhisearly50s and had nointerest in completelyretiring. He thought brieflyabout startingaconsultingcompanydoingwhathewasalreadydoing. He even thought of selling his services back to his employer as a consultant. Butnoneof theseoptionsseemedthatappealing. So he went to speak with a mentor who gave him surprising advice: “Stay, butdowhatyouwouldasaconsultantandnothingelse.Anddon’t tell anyone.” In other words,his mentor was advisinghimtodo onlythosethingsthat he deemedessential–andignoreeverything else that was askedof him.
Theexecutivefollowedtheadvice!Hemadeadailycommitment towards cutting out the red tape. He began saying no.
He was tentative at first.Hewouldevaluaterequestsbasedon thetimidcriteria,“CanIactuallyfulfilthisrequest,giventhetime andresourcesIhave?”Iftheanswerwas no thenhewouldrefuse therequest.Hewaspleasantlysurprisedtofindthatwhilepeople wouldatfirstlookalittledisappointed,theyseemedtorespecthis honesty.
Encouragedbyhissmallwinshepushedbackabitmore.Now when arequest wouldcome inhewould pause andevaluatethe requestagainstatoughercriteria:“Isthisthevery most important thing Ishouldbe doing withmy time andresources right now?”
Ifhecouldn’tansweradefinitive yes, then hewouldrefusethe request.Andonceagaintohisdelight,whilehiscolleaguesmight initiallyseemdisappointed,theysoonbegantorespecthim more forhisrefusal,notless.
Emboldened,hebegantoapplythisselectivecriteriatoeverything,not just directrequests. Inhis past lifehewould always volunteerforpresentationsorassignmentsthatcameuplastminute;
nowhefoundawaynottosignupforthem.Heusedtobeoneof the first tojumpin onan e-mail trail,but nowhe just stepped back andletothersjumpin.Hestoppedattendingconferencecallsthat heonlyhadacoupleofminutesofinterestin.Hestoppedsittingin on the weekly update call because he didn’t needthe information. Hestoppedattendingmeetingsonhiscalendarifhedidn’thavea directcontributiontomake.Heexplainedtome,“JustbecauseI was inviteddidn’t seem agoodenoughreason toattend.”
Itfeltself-indulgentatfirst.Butbybeingselectivehebought himself space, and in that space he found creative freedom. He couldconcentratehiseffortsononeprojectatatime.Hecould planthoroughly.Hecouldanticipateroadblocksandstarttoremove obstacles.Insteadofspinninghis wheels tryingtoget everythingdone,hecouldgettherightthingsdone.Hisnewfound commitmenttodoingonlythethingsthatweretrulyimportant–and eliminating everything else –restored the qualityof his work. Insteadofmakingjustamillimetreofprogressinamilliondirectionshebegantogeneratetremendousmomentumtowardsaccomplishing the things that were truly vital.
Hecontinuedthisforseveralmonths.Heimmediatelyfound thathenotonlygotmoreofhisdaybackatwork,intheevenings hegotevenmoretimebackathome.Hesaid,“Igotbackmyfamily life! I cangohomeat adecenttime.”Nowinsteadofbeingaslave to hisphone he shutsit down. He goesto the gym. He goesoutto eat withhis wife.
Tohisgreatsurprise,therewerenonegativerepercussionsto hisexperiment.Hismanagerdidn’tchastisehim.Hiscolleagues didn’t resent him. Quite the opposite; becausehewas left onlywith projects that weremeaningful tohim and actuallyvaluabletothe company,theybegantorespectandvaluehisworkmorethanever.
Hisworkbecamefulfillingagain.Hisperformanceratingswent up. He endedup withone of the largest bonuses of his career!
InthisexampleisthebasicvaluepropositionofEssentialism: only onceyougive yourself permissionto stop tryingto do itall,to stopsayingyestoeveryone,canyoumakeyourhighestcontribution towards the things that really matter.
Whataboutyou?Howmanytimeshaveyoureactedtoarequest by saying yeswithout really thinking about it? Howmany timeshaveyouresentedcommittingtodosomethingandwondered, “Whydid I sign up for this?” How often do you sayyes simply to please? Orto avoidtrouble? Orbecause“yes”hadjustbecome yourdefaultresponse?
Nowletmeaskyouthis:Haveyoueverfoundyourselfstretched toothin?Haveyoueverfeltbothoverworked and underutilised? Haveyoueverfoundyourselfmajoringinminoractivities?Doyou everfeelbusybutnotproductive?Likeyou’realwaysinmotion,but nevergettinganywhere?
Dieter Ramswasthe leaddesigner atBraun formanyyears. He is driven by the idea that almost everything is noise. He believes veryfewthings areessential. His jobis to filter throughthat noise untilhegetstotheessence.Forexample,asayoungtwenty-fouryear-old at the companyhe was asked tocollaborate ona record player. The norm at the time was tocovertheturntableinasolid woodenlidoreventoincorporatetheplayerintoapieceofliving room furniture. Instead, heandhisteam removedtheclutterand designedaplayerwithaclearplasticcoveronthetopandnothing
more.Itwasthefirsttimesuchadesignhadbeenused,anditwas sorevolutionarypeopleworrieditmightbankruptthecompany becausenobodywouldbuyit.Ittookcourage,asitalwaysdoes, toeliminate the non-essential.Bythesixties this aesthetic started to gain traction. In time it became the designevery other record playerfollowed.
Dieter’sdesigncriteriacanbesummarisedbyacharacteristicallysuccinctprinciple,capturedinjustthreeGermanwords: Wenigeraberbesser. TheEnglish translationis: Lessbutbetter.A more fitting definition of Essentialism wouldbe hardtocome by.
The wayof the Essentialist is therelentless pursuitofless but better.Itdoesn’tmeanoccasionallygivinganodtotheprinciple.It means pursuing it in a disciplined way.
ThewayoftheEssentialistisn’taboutsettingNewYear’sresolutions tosay“no” more, or about pruning yourin-box, or about mastering somenew strategy in timemanagement. Itisaboutpausing constantly to ask, “AmI investing intherightactivities?”There arefarmoreactivitiesandopportunitiesintheworldthanwehave time andresourcestoinvest in. Andalthoughmany ofthemmay be good, oreven very good, the factis thatmost aretrivialandfew are vital. The wayoftheEssentialistinvolveslearningtotell the difference–learning to filterthrough all thoseoptions andselecting only those that are truly essential.
Essentialismisnotabouthowtogetmorethingsdone;it’s about how toget the right thingsdone. It doesn’t meanjust doing lessforthe sake of lesseither. It isaboutmaking thewisestpossible investment of your time and energyin order tooperate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
ThedifferencebetweenthewayoftheEssentialistandtheway ofthenon-Essentialistcanbeseeninthefigureopposite.Inboth imagesthesameamountofeffortisexerted.Intheimageonthe left,theenergyisdividedintomanydifferentactivities.Theresult is that we have the unfulfillingexperience ofmakingamillimetre of progress in a million directions.Intheimageon the right, the energyisgiventofeweractivities.Theresultisthatbyinvesting infewerthingswehavethesatisfyingexperienceofmakingsignificant progress inthe things that mattermost.The wayofthe Essentialistrejectstheideathatwecanfititallin.Insteaditrequiresustograpplewithrealtrade-offsandmaketoughdecisions. In manycases we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousandfuturedecisionssowedon’texhaustourselvesaskingthe same questions again andagain.
The wayofthe Essentialist means living bydesign, not bydefault. Instead ofmaking choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberatelydistinguishesthevitalfewfromthetrivialmany,eliminates thenon-essentials,andthenremovesobstaclessotheessential things have clear,smoothpassage. In otherwords,Essentialism isadisciplined,systematicapproachfordeterminingwhereour highest point of contributionlies,thenmaking executionof those thingsalmosteffortless.
TheModel
Non-EssentialistEssentialist
ALLTHINGSTOALLPEOPLE
“Ihaveto.”
Thinks
Does
“It’sallimportant.”
“HowcanIfititallin?”
THEUNDISCIPLINEDPURSUIT OFMORE
Reactstowhat’smostpressing
Says“yes”topeoplewithout reallythinking
Tries toforceexecutionat the lastmoment
LESSBUTBETTER
“I chooseto.”
“Only a fewthings really matter.”
“Whatarethetrade-offs?”
THEDISCIPLINEDPURSUIT OFLESS
Pausestodiscernwhatreally matters
Says“no”toeverythingexcept theessential
Removes obstaclesto make executioneasy
Gets
LIVESALIFETHATDOES NOTSATISFY
Takes ontoomuch, and worksuffers
Feelsoutofcontrol
Isunsureofwhetherthe rightthingsgotdone
Feelsoverwhelmedandexhausted
LIVESALIFETHAT REALLYMATTERS
Choosescarefullyinorder todogreatwork
Feelsincontrol
Getstherightthingsdone
Experiencesjoyinthejourney
ThewayoftheEssentialististhepathtobeingincontrolofour ownchoices. It isapath to new levelsofsuccessand meaning. It is thepathonwhichweenjoythejourney,notjustthedestination. Despite allthese benefits,however, therearetoo manyforcesconspiring to keep usfromapplying thedisciplinedpursuit of lessbut better, whichmay bewhy so many enduponthemisdirectedpath of the non-Eessentialist.
Yetwhatshouldhavebeenoneofthehappiest,mostserene daysofmylifewasactuallyfilledwithtension.Evenasmybeautiful new babylay in my wife’stiredarms,Iwasonthephoneand on e-mailwith work, andIwasfeeling pressureto go to a client meeting.My colleaguehad written, “Friday between 1–2 would be abad timetohave ababybecause Ineedyoutobeatthismeeting with X.”Itwas now Fridayand though Iwaspretty certain(orat leastIhoped)thee-mailhadbeenwritteninjest,Istillfeltpressuretoattend.
Instinctively, I knewwhat to do. It wasclearlyatimeto be there for mywife and newbornchild.Sowhenasked whether I planned toattend the meeting,I saidwithall the convictionI could muster...
“Yes.”
Tomyshame,whilemywifelayinhospitalwithourhoursoldbaby, I wentto themeeting. Afterwards, my colleaguesaid, “Theclientwillrespectyouformakingthedecisiontobehere.”But thelookontheclients’facesdidnotevincerespect.Instead,they
mirroredhowIfelt. WhatwasIdoingthere? I had said “yes”simply toplease,andindoingsoIhadhurtmyfamily,myintegrity,and even the client relationship.
Asitturnedout,exactly nothing came of the client meeting. Butevenifithad,surelyIwouldhavemadeafool’sbargain.Intrying to keep everyone happy I had sacrificedwhat matteredmost. On reflection I discoveredthis important lesson:
Ifyoudon’t prioritiseyour life,someone elsewill.
Thatexperiencegavemerenewedinterest–read,inexhaustibleobsession–inunderstandingwhyotherwiseintelligentpeoplemakethechoicestheymakeintheirpersonalandprofessional lives.“Why isit,”Iwonder, “thatwehave somuchmore abilityinside of usthan weoften chooseto utilise?”And“How can wemake
Mymissiontoshedlightonthesequestionshadalreadyledme toquitlawschoolinEnglandandtravel,eventually,toCalifornia to domy graduateworkatStanford.Ithadledme to spendmore thantwoyearscollaboratingonabook, Multipliers:HowtheBest LeadersMakeEveryoneSmarter. Anditwent on to inspiremeto startastrategyandleadershipcompanyinSiliconValley,where Inow work with some of themost capable people in some of the mostinterestingcompaniesintheworld,helpingtosetthemonthe pathof the Essentialist.
InmyworkIhaveseenpeopleallovertheworldwhoareconsumedandoverwhelmedbythepressuresallaroundthem.Ihave coached“successful”peopleinthequietpainoftryingdesperately to doeverything, perfectly, now.Ihaveseenpeopletrappedby controllingmanagersandunawarethattheydonot“haveto”doallthe thanklessbusyworktheyareaskedtodo.AndIhaveworkedtirelesslytounderstand why somanybright, smart,capableindividuals remain snaredin the deathgrip of the non-essential. WhatIhavefoundhassurprisedme.
a millimetreof progressin amilliondirections. He wasoverworked and underutilised.That’swhenIsketchedoutforhimthe image ontheleft in thefigureonpage6.
Hestaredatitforthelongesttimeinuncharacteristicsilence. Thenhesaid,withmorethanahintofemotion,“Thatisthestoryof my life!”Then I sketchedthe image onthe right.“Whatwouldhappenifwecouldfigureouttheonethingyoucoulddothatwould make the highest contribution?”Iaskedhim. He respondedsincerely:“Thatis the question.”
Asit turns out,manyintelligent,ambitious people haveperfectlylegitimatereasonstohavetroubleansweringthisquestion. One reason is that in our societywe are punishedforgoodbehaviour(sayingno)andrewardedforbadbehaviour(sayingyes).The formerisoftenawkwardinthemoment,andthelatterisoftencelebratedin themoment.Itleadsto whatIcall “theparadoxof success,”2 whichcan be summedup in fourpredictable phases:
PHASE1: Whenwereally have clarity ofpurpose,itenablesusto succeedatourendeavour.
PHASE2: Whenwe have success,we gainareputationas a“goto” person.Webecome“goodold[insertname],”whoisalwaysthere when you needhim, and wearepresented withincreased options andopportunities.
PHASE4: Webecomedistractedfromwhatwouldotherwisebeour highestlevelofcontribution.Theeffectofoursuccesshasbeento undermine the veryclaritythat led toour successinthe firstplace.
Curiously, andoverstating thepointinorderto make it, the pursuitofsuccesscanbeacatalystforfailure.Putanotherway,successcandistractusfromfocusingontheessentialthingsthatproduce success in the first place.
We cansee this everywherearound us.Inhis book Howthe MightyFall, JimCollins explores what went wrong in companies thatwereoncedarlingsofWallStreetbutlatercollapsed.3 He finds thatformany,fallinginto“theundisciplinedpursuitofmore”was a keyreason for failure. Thisistrue for companiesanditistruefor the people whowork in them. But why?
Wehaveallobservedtheexponentialincreaseinchoicesoverthe last decade. Yet evenin the midst of it, and perhaps because ofit, we have lost sight of the most important ones.
Itisnotjustthenumberofchoicesthathasincreasedexponentially, itisalsothestrengthandnumberofoutsideinfluences on ourdecisionsthathasincreased.Whilemuchhasbeensaidandwritten abouthowhyperconnectedwenowareandhowdistractingthis information overload can be, the larger issue is howour connectednesshasincreasedthestrengthofsocialpressure.Today,technologyhasloweredthebarrierforotherstosharetheiropinionabout what we should be focusing on. It is not just information overload; it is opinionoverload.
THE IDEA THAT “YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL”
The idea that we can have it all anddo it allisnot new. Thismyth hasbeenpeddledforsolong,Ibelievevirtuallyeveryonealive today is infected withit.Itis sold inadvertising.Itischampioned incorporations.Itisembeddedinjobdescriptionsthatprovide hugelistsofrequiredskillsandexperienceasstandard.Itisembedded in university applicationsthat require dozens of extracurricularactivities.
What is newishowespeciallydamagingthismythistoday,in a time when choice andexpectationshave increasedexponentially. Itresultsinstressedpeopletryingtocramyet more activitiesinto theiralreadyoverscheduledlives.Itcreatescorporateenvironments that talk about work/life balance butstillexpecttheir employees to be on their smartphones24/7/365. It leadsto staffmeetingswhere
