There are three deeply entrenched assumptions we must conquer to live the way of the Essentialist: “I have to,” “It’s all important,” and “I can do both.” Like mythological sirens, these assumptions are as dangerous as they are seductive. They draw us in and drown us in shallow waters.

— Greg McKeown

Greg McKeown Quotes

To see others more clearly, set aside your opinions, advice, and judgment, and put their truth above your own.

— Greg McKeown

As Parker Palmer, an expert in the Clearness Committee process, has written, “Each of us has an inner teacher, a voice of truth, that offers the guidance and power we need to deal with our problems.” The intent of the exercise is to help people amplify this inner voice and gain clarity on how to move forward.

— Greg McKeown

As someone once said to me, the faintest pencil is better than the strongest memory.

— Greg McKeown

Looking at that first step or action through the lens of 2.5 seconds is the change that makes every other change possible. It is the habit of habits.

— Greg McKeown

We are conditioned over the course of our lifetimes to believe that in order to overachieve we must also overdo. As a result, we make things harder for ourselves than they need to be.

— Greg McKeown

Overachievers tend to struggle with the notion of starting with rubbish; they hold themselves to a high standard of perfection at every stage in the process. But the standard to which they hold themselves is neither realistic nor productive.

— Greg McKeown

When we get so emotionally hung up on trying to force something that is not the right fit, we can often benefit from a sounding board. Someone who is not emotionally involved in the situation and unaffected by the choice we make can give us the permission to stop forcing something that is clearly not working out.

— Greg McKeown

He teaches his language students to imagine they have a bag full of one thousand beads. Every time they make a mistake talking to someone else in the language they take out one bead. When the bag is empty they will have achieved level 1 mastery. The faster they make those mistakes, the faster they will progress.

— Greg McKeown

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw once said, “A life spent in making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

— Greg McKeown

Holding back when you still have steam in you might seem like a counterintuitive approach to getting important things done, but in fact, this kind of restraint is key to breakthrough productivity.

— Greg McKeown

One study found that by training our attentional muscles we can improve our processing of complex information moving at great speed.

— Greg McKeown

Essentialist leaders speak succinctly, opting for restraint in their communication to keep the team focused.

— Greg McKeown

People who sleep less than seven hours a night are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, asthma, arthritis, depression, and diabetes and are almost eight times more likely to be overweight.

— Greg McKeown

Wise took some simple steps. He went to bed at the same time every night, turned off digital devices an hour before bed, and before turning in, took a hot shower. He then tracked his sleep on his smartwatch for a month. He noted his heart rate, time in bed, time asleep, quality of sleep, and percentage of deep sleep.

— Greg McKeown

After four weeks Wise’s deep sleep shot up to almost two hours a night, an 800 percent increase. His uninterrupted sleep went up 20 percent. He felt sharper, more creative, and more present.

— Greg McKeown

You don’t have to be overwhelmed by essential projects. Often, when you name the first obvious step, you avoid spending too much mental energy thinking about the fifth, seventh, or twenty-third steps. It doesn’t matter if your project involves ten steps or a thousand. When you adopt this strategy, all you have to focus on is the very first step.

— Greg McKeown

Simplicity – the art of maximizing the steps not taken – is essential.

— Greg McKeown

If you try to teach people everything about everything, you run the risk of teaching them nothing. You will achieve residual results faster if you clearly identify – then simplify – the most important messages you want to teach others to teach.

— Greg McKeown

What job have I hired this grudge to do?

— Greg McKeown

Each of us has an inner teacher, a voice of truth, that offers the guidance and power we need to deal with our problems.

— Greg McKeown
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