How Strongly I Recommend It: 5/10
How Likely I Will Gift It: 7/10
Who Should Read It?
Anyone who is pulled into too many directions in their lives and wants to change the situation and no idea how.
Why should you read it?
I read it because I felt the pressure to do everything, do everything right, and do whatever is expected of me. I didn’t really stop and consider what I really wanted or what really mattered. I tried and struggled to accomplish many things. I read it not because I had no idea what I could do but because I needed a think-along partner in this. I already knew many things mentioned in the book, and maybe only 5-10% was new to me. However, it helped me debate ideas and reiterate what I had forgotten. If you’re like me, if you have already read many productivity things and know what you can do but are still pulled into many directions, then it can be a good book to accompany you while thinking.
Reding Notes
- Create a space to think, ponder, explore—a space to escape. That will help you retrospect on what happened and find what’s important.
- Read timeless ideas and create space to read more. Reading helps you find ideas, learn them, and debate with authors.
- Listen to what’s NOT said, read between the lines when people communicate, and focus on finding what their main point is.
- Keep a journal. You can start with short entries every day. Read your journal every thirty or ninety days to see the bigger picture of what happened. We tend to be shortsighted with daily situations and don’t see the progress or changes that happened in longer periods.
- Sleep for high performance and clear thinking. 7-9 hours sleep boosts your performance. (I read this so many times and also tried to increase my sleeping hours from 6 to 7.5, and I can say that it’s true.)
- Clarify your essential intention. What’s the one thing that you want to do? What’s the one thing that will eliminate nonessential things? What’s one decision you can make that will remove hundreds of distractions?
- Say no to things that distract you, or you lack the capacity for. You don’t have to say no directly; you can learn nice and kind ways to do it.
- Be aware of biases and try removing commitments one by one if they don’t add any value to the essential thing in your focus.
- Limit yourself to liberate yourself. The boundaries you put allow you to be free and do more of what matters instead of everyone pulling you in different directions.
- Make progress with small steps instead of a big-bang approach. Do an MVP (minimum viable product) for whatever you’re doing. In the end, reward yourself with something you can see. It can be the simplest thing, like giving yourself a reward sticker or so. But make it visual.
- Find your routine or rebuild yours so you don’t have to think about the essential thing every single time. It should become part of your routine and turn it into a ritual that you do no matter what.
- You can’t focus on two things simultaneously. Focus on the essentials. And be in that moment to fully live and build the essential thing. Being present while doing what’s essential is the most essential thing.
- Build your life with essentials in the center and let them grow and kick out nonessential things from your life. You’ll find a better life and peace and feel the progress you made with what really matters.
Preview: