Living in a fast paced world, seeking to find something else to add to our schedule to get us ahead? Greg McKeown has a radical proposal for you, “do less”. In his book essentialism, McKeown lays out a case for limiting the things we do in order to have a greater impact in what we choose to do. He offers a four part strategy to help begin “an essential way of life”.

The first portion of the book is devoted to the essence of essentialism. What does it mean to carefully choose what parts of our lives may be essential and what parts are not? Next he shifts his attention to exploring what things may be essential for our lives. Are there things we are leaving out of our lives that could make us more fulfilled and productive? The third portion of the book is dedicated to eliminating things from our life that distract us from the essentials. (This was the most challenging part of the book for me, but the most rewarding one.) McKeown closes the book by looking at how to execute the plan. How can we grow to the point where the essentials in our life become almost automatic?

The book is a wonderful addition to the leadership books you may have on the shelf, but is a great book for personal growth in general as well. We all need greater clarity, our daily stress levels attest to that. essentialism offers good insight on how to organize our thoughts and then organize our life. If you are looking for a book to kick off your Fall, essentialismwould be a great choice.