One Bite of Snickers the Essential Experience of Limitlessness

When I was about ten years old, my mom was in the habit of pulling out a hidden candy bar after dinner. She chopped up the Snickers bar as dessert for eight. At the time, I did not appreciate the visceral essentialism that one bite of a Snickers bar represented the purest dessert experience. Who knew my mom was an essentialist before it was a thing? My parents were from the greatest generation. They knew a thing or two about a thing or two. Their lives were affected by the depression, where my mother's family lost their ranch and livestock in North Dakota, and my father's family wandered the West looking for work. Now I appreciate their frugalness. I chuckled at the What-if scenario of my parents having a Costco Card. What essentials would they have stockpiled next to every tv they ever owned in case the new one broke?

I recall these memories as I read Essentialism, the Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg Mckeown. My takeaway from the book is this. Keeping your life tidy and productive depends heavily on how paired down you can keep your to-do list.

Priority was singular for the first few hundred years it was in use.

The author helps people and organizations focus on what they want to say and do. You can't have a dozen priorities. This book is full of tools to help us remove the strata that cover up what is essential. He is good at pointing out apparent examples. Look at your closet. How many clothes do you keep simply because you have not taken the time to bag them up and take them to the charity shop? Being a minimalist is a full-time job.

Weniger aber Besser - Less but Better

Early in the book, the author introduces us to German product design less is better. This saying gets applied again and again in the following chapters. Of course, it is not easy to use less and improve it, but that is the life of an essentialist.

What am I reading this week?

Narcissist and Goldmund | by Herman Hesse

Reading in the classics is a good morning routine to combat doom scrolling. I think, upon reflection, that Goldmund is an essentialist. Just as described in the other book I read. He is a man with one pursuit, the ladies. He happily wanders the empire with only one thing on his mind. What does he discover with his childhood friend at the end of his journey? Dig In because this quick read will keep you from checking your email all week.