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Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.6 out of 5 stars 20,146 ratings

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER More than one million copies sold! Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s about getting only the right things done.

“A timely, essential read for anyone who feels overcommitted, overloaded, or overworked.”—Adam Grant

Have you ever:

  • Found yourself stretched too thin?
  • Simultaneously felt overworked and underutilized?
  • Felt busy but not productive?
  • Felt like your time is constantly being hijacked by other people’s agendas?

If you answered yes to any of these, the way out is the Way of the Essentialist.

Essentialism is more than a time-management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential, then eliminating everything that is not, so we can make the highest possible contribution toward the things that really matter.

By forcing us to apply more selective criteria for what is Essential, the disciplined pursuit of less empowers us to reclaim control of our own choices about where to spend our precious time and energy—instead of giving others the implicit permission to choose for us.

Essentialism is not one more thing—it’s a whole new way of doing everything. It’s about doing less, but better, in every area of our lives. Essentialism is a movement whose time has come.

*Includes a downloadable PDF featuring the 21-day Essentialism Challenge

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 25 minutes
Author Greg McKeown
Narrator Greg McKeown
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date April 15, 2014
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B00IWYP5NI
Best Sellers Rank

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
20,146 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book easy to read and well-written, providing useful insights on focusing on what's important. Moreover, they appreciate its fast-paced style, graphic art and design, and how it helps unclutter their lives by eliminating unnecessary tasks and reducing noise. However, the effectiveness receives mixed feedback - while some find it provides real results, others say it lacks practical application. Additionally, several customers describe the book as repetitive and boring.

969 customers mention "Readability"935 positive34 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and worth their time, with clear writing throughout. One customer notes that each chapter is concise, while another appreciates the book's structure.

"...It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only..." Read more

"...More Clarity – Life will become less about efficiently crossing off what was on your to-do list or rushing through everything on your schedule and..." Read more

"...34;I don't know what to do first" The book has a clear and simple premise that resonates with my own world view...." Read more

"...is the illustrations, or should I say scribbles, that convey profound insights with drawings even I could do...." Read more

889 customers mention "Insight"872 positive17 negative

Customers appreciate the book's insights, finding it a powerful guide that provides useful advice and practical ways to focus on what's important.

"...It will teach you a systematic way to discern what is important, eliminate what is not, and make doing the essential as effortless as possible...." Read more

"...the focus on what is truly important right now comes the ability to live life more fully, in the moment...." Read more

"...There are many great practical ideas in this book which sets a clear course to help you find the essential activities that are right for you and..." Read more

"For learning & growth." Read more

59 customers mention "Pacing"52 positive7 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing, describing it as exceptionally timely and fast-paced reading that helps with time management.

"...– Gain in confidence in your ability to pause, push back and not rush in. Remember that if you do not prioritize your life, someone else will...." Read more

"This book hit me at the right time, and hit the spot just like a delicious meal...." Read more

"...and personally this has allowed me to be more focused, less frantic, more happy and more productive. Saying no is no small task however...." Read more

"Enjoyed this quick but thoughtful read, which helps those of us with busy lives to pare things down, get comfy with saying "no," and..." Read more

55 customers mention "Visual style"44 positive11 negative

Customers appreciate the book's visual style, describing it as a work of art with appealing graphic art and design, making it an eye-opening addition to their library.

"...My favorite part is the illustrations, or should I say scribbles, that convey profound insights with drawings even I could do...." Read more

"...divides the essentialist concept into 4 easy to grasp actions is very appealing and approachable: I. Essence o Choose o Discern..." Read more

"...It's a designed lifestyle, a systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies in order to execute them almost..." Read more

"...It is self-aggrandizing in the fashion of false modesty. The style is easy to spot just as the book itself is in the big box stores like Barnes &..." Read more

42 customers mention "Clutter reduction"42 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate how the book helps them sort through and eliminate unnecessary tasks, reducing clutter and overwhelm in their lives.

"...where multi tasking is adored, this book gives a different perspective on how to de-clutter and simplify our lives...." Read more

"...It helped me blow away the chaff and see what I was missing because I was so frantically chasing what everyone else thought was important...." Read more

"...His tools also helped me eliminate or reduce the effort I put in to the non-essential in a way that has actually increased the respect and regard I..." Read more

"...Guess what, in order to do less, we should plan more, remove the foreseeable obstacles, set up new habits and execute, now. How wonderful!..." Read more

26 customers mention "Noise reduction"24 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate how the book helps reduce noise and distractions, with one customer noting they listen to the audio version frequently.

"...Now that sounds good!..." Read more

"...The whole thing resonated well. He gave very good examples. However, about two-thirds into it, it grew very monotonous. That's why I took off a star...." Read more

"...This book guides you through the art of prioritizing and eliminating distractions, leading to a more purposeful and fulfilling life." Read more

"...saying "no", Essentialism provides unique principles for sorting through the noise and figuring out what is truly "essential"...." Read more

79 customers mention "Effectiveness"49 positive30 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book's effectiveness, with some finding it provides real results and is applicable in many areas of life, while others note it lacks practical application and can be somewhat redundant at times.

"...McKeown promises his book “will teach you a method for being more efficient, productive, and effective in both personal and professional realms...." Read more

"...The way they are presented here is uncompelling, un-actionable, and tedious...." Read more

"...There are precise examples of what a non-essentialist does versus an essentialist...." Read more

"...Clear in an effort to better my day to day habits and become a more efficient worker...." Read more

70 customers mention "Recompetition"15 positive55 negative

Customers find the book repetitive and poorly thought out, describing it as extremely boring and a waste of time.

"...While it is not a perfect book, and while it benefits tremendously from adding a good dose of Christian thinking, it is one of the most helpful I’ve..." Read more

"...The way they are presented here is uncompelling, un-actionable, and tedious...." Read more

"...However, about two-thirds into it, it grew very monotonous. That's why I took off a star. He could have said the same with a lot less ink...." Read more

"...The book is written in a clear, logical, and actionable fashion...." Read more

Essentialism: an essential read
5 out of 5 stars
Essentialism: an essential read
Rarely does a book so fully alter how I look at the world, but Essentialism did. Greg McKeown has a brilliant mastery of the English language and beautifully weaves research and narrative. I chose to read this in 21 days (okay, truth be told it took me 28) as a part of a two-person book group. It was a gamechanger for me to focus on what's the most important step for me to take right now. Give yourself a gift...read and act upon this book NOW...so you are ready for Effortless which is due out in April 2021. I cannot wait to dive in again on another McKeown book.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2014
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Life is complicated. Life is full of responsibilities and opportunities, planned duties and serendipitous possibilities. There is so much we could do, but so little we can do. Many of us battle our whole lives to focus on those few, significant items that we should do must do, and yet so few of us ever feel like we are even nearly succeeding.

    Help is here in the form of Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism. While it is not a perfect book, and while it benefits tremendously from adding a good dose of Christian thinking, it is one of the most helpful I’ve read on that constant battle to focus my time and energy on the right things.

    McKeown believes in what he calls Essentialism and describes the basic value proposition in this way: “only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” The Essentialist pursues fewer but better opportunities and is rigidly disciplined in rejecting the many to devote himself to the few. It is “not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.”

    The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.

    Now that sounds good! That sounds like what we all want—a clear design to our lives that simplifies decision-making and amplifies each of the opportunities we pursue.

    McKeown leads the reader to Essentialism in four parts:

    Essence. He begins by looking to the essence of Essentialism and the realities that make Essentialism a necessary but difficult practice today.

    Explore. Here he describes the way an Essentialist needs to think so he can pursue the highest possible contribution toward the best goals.

    Eliminate. Having determined the best goals, the Essentialist now needs to begin eliminating anything that will compete with the pursuit of those goals. “It’s not enough to simply determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you still have to actively eliminate those that do not.”

    Execute. And then comes the heart of it all—living in such a way that you now execute on those few goals, and continuing to follow the discipline of it.

    McKeown promises his book “will teach you a method for being more efficient, productive, and effective in both personal and professional realms. It will teach you a systematic way to discern what is important, eliminate what is not, and make doing the essential as effortless as possible. In short, it will teach you how to apply the disciplined pursuit of less to every area of your life.”

    And I think it can do that. It is chock-full of excellent insights and quoteable phrases. It is the kind of book you can use to implement systems in your life, or the kind of book you can plunder for its big and important ideas.

    Yet the Christian reader will want to read it with some discernment. This is a book that benefits from an infusion of the biblical ethos. As the book reaches its end, McKeown expands Essentialism to all of life and here he stops quoting business gurus and begins quoting religious gurus; the last chapter is easily the weakest and one that can be skipped without any great loss.

    Reading the book through a Christian lens improves it significantly. McKeown writes about people who always say “yes” and are afraid to say “no.” That sounds like a classic diagnosis of fear of man, a person so motivated by the praise of man that he takes on too much and says no to too little so he can win the praise of other people.

    Not only that, but God has a way of diverting us from what we believe are our most important tasks. He diverts us to tasks he determines are even more important, and a too-rigid adherence to Essentialism may keep a Christian from allowing and embracing those divine interruptions. Read the gospels and the book of Acts and you will see how Jesus and the Apostles were extremely focused, but also very willing to depart from their plans. Implementing Essentialism too rigidly may just lead to a self-centered life rather than a life of service to others.

    Reading through that Christian lens also allows us to see that Essentialism can be a means through which we honor and glorify God. It propels us to consider where God has specially gifted and equipped us to serve him and his people. Again, “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.” The principles of Essentialism, read and applied through the Bible, will help us understand how we are uniquely created and burdened by God to meet specific needs. And, equally helpfully, it will steer us away from those areas where we cannot contribute nearly as well.

    I heartily recommend the book, provided you read with Essentialism in one hand, and the Bible in the other.

    Let me close with a few of my favorite quotes:

    In many cases we can learn to make one-time decisions that make a thousand future decisions so we don’t exhaust ourselves asking the same questions again and again.

    If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.

    We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.

    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.”

    If … people are too busy to think, then they’re too busy, period.

    Making our criteria both selective and explicit affords us a systematic tool for discerning what is essential and filtering out the things that are not.

    Motivation and cooperation deteriorate when there is a lack of purpose.

    Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.

    “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’ ”
    125 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2014
    In a world where multi tasking is adored, this book gives a different perspective on how to de-clutter and simplify our lives.

    The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the non-essentials. The way of the essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better. It is about constantly to ask “Am I investing in the right activities?”

    There are far more activities, opportunities in the world than we have time and resources to invest in. The way of the Essentialist involves learning to tell the difference – learning to filter through all the options and selection only those that are truly essential.

    Essentialism is not about how to get more things done, but it is about how to get the right things done. It is about making the wisest possible investment of our time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.

    Essentialist – Core mind-set of an Essentialist
    An Essentialist has to be operate with a different mind-set. The core mind-set of essentialist are:

    Individual Choice – We can choose how to spend our energy and time. Without choice there is no point in talking about trade-offs. The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away – it can only be forgotten.
    Prevalence of Noise – Almost everything is noise and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. This is the justification for taking time to figure out what is most important. A non-Essentialist things almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential.
    Reality of trade-offs – We can’t have it all or do it all. If we could, there would be no reason to evaluate or eliminate the options.
    The way of essentialist is the path to being in control of your choices.

    In todays world of competing priorities the mindset is that “You can have it all”. The Essentialist approach would be:

    Explore and Evaluate – Will the activity that I am investing make the highest possible contribution toward my goal?
    Exploring meant the ability to discern the vital few from the trivial many. Evaluate what really matters.
    ESCAPE – The Perks of being unavailable
    LOOK – See what really matters
    PLAY – Embrace the wisdom of your inner child
    SLEEP – Protect the Asset
    SELECT – The Power of Extreme Criteria
    Eliminate – It is simply not enough to determine which activities and efforts don’t make the highest possible contribution; you would have to actively eliminate those that do not.
    How can we cut out the trivial many ?
    CLARIFY – One Decision that makes a Thousand
    DARE – Power of a Graceful “No”
    UNCOMMIT – Win Big by Cutting Your Losses
    EDIT – The Invisible Art
    LIMIT – The freedom of setting boundaries
    Execute – Once you have figured out the activities and efforts to keep, we need a system to make the executing as effortless as possible.
    How can we make doing the vital few things almost effortless?
    BUFFER – The unfair advantage
    SUBTRACT – Bring forth more by removing obstacles
    PROGRESS – Power of Small Wins
    FLOW – Genius of Routine
    FOCUS – What’s important now ?
    BE – The Essentialist Life
    The most important message from this book is –
    “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”

    The disciplined pursuit of less each and every time you are faced with a decision about whether to say yes or whether to politely decline. It is a method for making the tough trade-off between lots of good things and a few really great things.

    Essentialism is about learning how to do less but better so you can achieve the highest possible return on every precious moment of your life.

    This book will show you how to live a life true to yourself, not the life others expect from you, by disciplined pursuit of less to every area of your life.

    Summary:

    In summary the disciplined pursuit of less can change your life for the better in the following ways:

    More Clarity – Life will become less about efficiently crossing off what was on your to-do list or rushing through everything on your schedule and more about changing what you put on there in the first place.
    More Control – Gain in confidence in your ability to pause, push back and not rush in. Remember that if you do not prioritize your life, someone else will. But if you are determined to prioritize your own life you can. The power is within you.
    More Joy in the Journey – With the focus on what is truly important right now comes the ability to live life more fully, in the moment.
    The life of an Essentialist is a life of meaning. It is a life that really matters. The life of an Essentialist is a life lived without regret. If you have correctly identified what really matters, if you invest time and energy in it, then it is difficult to regret the choices you make. You become proud of the life you have chosen to live.

    If there is one think you take away from the book, whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, “What is Essential?” Eliminate everything else.
    10 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Joe Bathelt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Useful advice for our hectic times
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2021
    Our world seems to be moving faster and faster. We are bombarded by endless information and rapidly multiplying demands on our time and attention. Many people struggle to cope with their bottomless to-do lists and their ever-expanding to-read piles. As a consequence, many people feel scattered or even burned out. In “Essentialism”, Grey McKeown provides an antidote by arguing that we should focus on the essential. Thereby, we can concentrate our efforts on the things that truly matter and ignore all of the noise. He goes into practical advice and illustrates the approach of the essentialist to many of life’s quandaries. The book is highly readable because of the many case examples that will resonate with many readers. The chapters are also kept short and to the point. That makes it easy to absorb the main message. However, I thought that book boiled down to a few central points that can be summarised in a page or two. However, this might be because I read quite a few books on similar topics and was, therefore, familiar with the content of some of the chapters. For instance, Deep Work by Cal Newport and Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky cover similar ground. Altogether, I think the book is an excellent choice for anyone who feels on the edge of burn-out and wants to take some time to reflect on a better approach to work and life.
  • dulce
    5.0 out of 5 stars nos leva pra uma boa reflexão
    Reviewed in Brazil on June 1, 2025
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    MUITOS INSIGHTS
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  • Giulia
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best book ever
    Reviewed in Italy on March 13, 2024
    I have re read this book already twice and it’s so direct and well written it’s one on my favourites on the subject
  • Trainer Ajith
    5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful book
    Reviewed in India on December 31, 2021
    Essentialism by Greg McKeown

    Book Summary : Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.

    1. Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.” Essentialism is about pausing constantly to ask, “Am I investing in the right activities?

    2. Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at your highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.

    3. The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the non-essentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. The way of the Essentialist is the path to being in control of our own choices. It is a path to new levels of success and meaning. It is the path on which we enjoy the journey, not just the destination.

    4. If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will. "When we don’t purposefully and deliberately choose where to focus our energies and time, other people – our bosses, our colleagues, our clients, and even our families – will choose for us, and before long we’ll have lost sight of everything that is meaningful and important.

    5. Before saying yes to anything, ask yourself, “Will this activity or effort make the highest possible contribution towards my goal?”

    6. Essentialists ask, “What do I feel deeply inspired by?” and “What am I particularly talented at?” and “What meets a significant need in the world?

    7. Essentialists invest the time they have saved into creating a system for removing obstacles and making execution as easy as possible.

    8. Essentialism is not a way to do one more thing; it is a different way of doing everything. It is a way of thinking.

    9. 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.’ To embrace the essence of Essentialism requires we replace these false assumptions with three core truths: “I choose to,” “Only a few things really matter,” and “I can do anything but not everything. Ask yourself, “If you could do only one thing with your life right now, what would you do?”

    10. To become an Essentialist requires a heightened awareness of our ability to choose. When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless. Drip by drip we allow our power to be taken away until we end up becoming a function of other people’s choices—or even a function of our own past choices.”

    11. A non-Essentialist thinks almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential. We live in a world where almost everything is worthless and a very few things are exceptionally valuable. Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can’t let go of the belief that everything is important.

    12. Trade-Off—Which Problem Do I Want? : A non-Essentialist approaches every trade-off by asking, ‘How can I do both?’ Essentialists ask the tougher but ultimately more liberating question, ‘Which problem do I want? Instead of asking, ‘What do I have to give up?’ Essentialists ask, ‘What do I want to go big on?’”

    13. To discern what is truly essential we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep, and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make.”

    14. Look—See What Really Matters : “Being a journalist of your own life will force you to stop hyper-focusing on all the minor details and see the bigger picture. One of the most obvious and yet powerful ways to become a journalist of our own lives is simply to keep a journal.”

    15. Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritise. Select -The Power of Extreme Criteria : The 90 Percent Rule: “As you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion for that decision, and then simply give the option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then automatically change the rating to 0 and simply reject it. If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.

    16. The killer question when deciding what activities to eliminate is: “If I didn’t have this opportunity, what would I be willing to do to acquire it?

    17. Dare—The Power of a Graceful “No” : “Only once we separate the decision from the relationship can we make a clear decision and then separately find the courage and compassion to communicate it.” Essentialists accept they cannot be popular with everyone all of the time.

    18. Uncommit—Win Big by Cutting Your Losses : Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped. An Essentialist has the courage and confidence to admit his or her mistakes and uncommit, no matter the sunk costs.

    19. Don’t ask, “How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?” but rather, “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?” Similarly, we can ask, “If I wasn’t already involved in this project, how hard would I work to get on it? Essentialists accept the reality that we can never fully anticipate or prepare for every scenario or eventuality; the future is simply too unpredictable.

    20. Progress—The Power of Small Wins : “Instead of trying to accomplish it all—and all at once—and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.”

    Whatever decision or challenge or crossroads you face in your life, simply ask yourself, “What is essential?” Eliminate everything else.
  • Boo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful book! Must-read!
    Reviewed in Singapore on July 20, 2021
    Really loved this book. Got lots of insights! I can keep rereading it.