469: See What Really Matters, with Greg McKeown

May 11, 2020

Greg McKeown, bestselling author of *Essentialism*, dives into the pitfalls of success and the need for prioritizing what truly matters. He emphasizes that success can mislead us into chasing more instead of what's essential. Discover how practicing journalism in your life can help clarify your priorities and foster reflection. McKeown also discusses gratitude's role in team dynamics and productivity, and shares the transformative impact of dedicating time every 90 days for deep reflection. It's a conversation rich with insights on enhancing focus and achieving real success.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Success Paradox

Success can lead to the undisciplined pursuit of more, hindering further growth.
Early success often involves clarity of purpose, which gets lost with increasing options.

INSIGHT

Success as a Poor Teacher

Past success can hinder adaptation by reinforcing outdated thinking.
This makes it difficult to unlearn old habits, even when necessary for future success.

ANECDOTE

Kodak's Failure

Kodak invented digital photography but couldn't adapt and ultimately failed.
Their past success with film blinded them to the future of digital.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Essentialism

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

Greg McKeown

In 'Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less,' Greg McKeown argues that by applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, individuals can regain control of their time and energy. The book is divided into sections such as Explore, Eliminate, and Execute, providing practical advice on distinguishing the vital few from the trivial many and eliminating non-essential activities. McKeown emphasizes the importance of clarity of focus, the ability to say 'no,' and living 'by design, not by default.' This approach helps readers achieve more by doing less and making the highest possible contribution in their personal and professional lives.

Deep Work

Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Cal Newport

In 'Deep Work', Cal Newport argues that the ability to perform deep work—professional activities in a state of distraction-free concentration—is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. The book is divided into two parts: the first part explains why deep work is valuable, rare, and meaningful, while the second part presents four rules to transform your mind and habits to support this skill. These rules include 'Work Deeply', 'Embrace Boredom', 'Quit Social Media', and 'Drain the Shallows'. Newport provides actionable advice and examples from various successful individuals to help readers master the skill of deep work and achieve groundbreaking results.

Getting Things Done

David Allen

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen. The book provides a detailed methodology for managing tasks, projects, and information, emphasizing the importance of capturing all tasks and ideas, clarifying their meaning, organizing them into actionable lists, reviewing the system regularly, and engaging in the tasks. The GTD method is designed to reduce stress and increase productivity by externalizing tasks and using a trusted system to manage them. The book is divided into three parts, covering the overview of the system, its implementation, and the deeper benefits of integrating GTD into one's work and life[2][3][5].

Greg McKeown: Essentialism Greg McKeown is the author of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less*. His book is frequently listed as #1 Time Management book on Amazon and challenges the core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success. His writing has appeared in or been covered by The New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, HuffPost, and many others. He is among the most popular bloggers for the Harvard Business Review and LinkedIn’s Influencers group: averaging a million views a month. In this conversation, Greg and I discuss why success can be such a poor teacher and how to avoid what Jim Collins calls, “The undisciplined pursuit of more.” We explore how the principles of journalism can help us arrive at what’s essential and why journaling may be the place to start. Key Points Being a journalist of your own life will force you to stop hyper-focusing on all the minor details and see the bigger picture. Success is a poor teacher and may lead to the undisciplined pursuit of more. Essentialists listen for what is not being explicitly stated. They read between the lines. Nonessentialists hear what is loud. Essentialists listen for the signal in the noise. Journaling is a useful practice to begin reviewing what is coming up in your life and discovering the leads you may be missing. Make time every 90 days to review and determine what’s next. Resources Mentioned Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less* by Greg McKeown Essentialism podcast Simple Productivity: How to Accomplish More With Less with Greg McKeown Book Notes Download my highlights from Essentialism in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes Getting Things Done, with David Allen (episode 184) How to Make Deep Work Happen, with Cal Newport (episode 233) Six Tactics for Extraordinary Performance, with Morten Hansen (episode 337) Finding Joy Through Intentional Choices, with Bonni Stachowiak (episode 417) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.