Greg McKeown: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

If you feel overwhelmed yet underutilized, busy but not very productive, and if your time seems to serve only the interests of others, you need to know about essentialism.

Essentialism is more than a time management strategy or a productivity technique. It is a method of identifying what is vital and eliminating everything else, so that we can make the greatest possible contribution to what really matters.

When we try to do everything and have everything, we make concessions that take us away from our goal. If we don't decide where to focus our time and energy, other people—bosses, colleagues, customers, even family—decide for us, and we soon lose sight of all that's meaningful.

In this book, Greg McKeown shows that, to balance work and personal life, it is not enough to refuse requests at random: it is necessary to eliminate what is not essential and get rid of time wasters. We must learn to reduce, simplify and stay focused on our goals.

When we perform tasks that do not take advantage of our talents and we assume commitments just to please others, we give up our power of choice. The essentialist makes his own decisions - and only takes action if he can make a difference.