Obscenely late to the party on this one. Essentialism by Greg McKeown was published back in 2014, but I finally listened to it on audio and then immediately purchased the physical copy because I have a feeling I'll be dog-earing pages and revisiting passages for years to come. Honest confession: I probably wouldn't have found it without using AI to build my 2026 reading list - one output from my 2026 journey to use AI to reduce my decision fatigue.
If you're a working parent juggling everything, someone who struggles to say no because you don't want to disappoint anyone, or a lifelong overachiever who was trained to believe that being busy equals being fulfilled, this book is for you. It was eye-opening on so many levels and I’m pretty sure I’ve been recommending it to everyone and anyone over the last month.
The overarching concept that stayed with me most: the vital few vs. the trivial many.
With my communications hat on, this lands differently. There is so much noise, swirl, and content out there right now. For those of us who think about messaging for a living, the principle is a quiet but powerful reminder: we need to be relentlessly focused on the vital few. The vital few messages. The vital few objectives. The vital few audiences.
Will we always have to do some of the trivial many? Of course. That's just life and work. But we have more control than we often give ourselves credit for. We can push back. We can reprioritize. We can delegate. The goal isn't perfection. It's making sure the majority of our time, energy, and resources are pointed at what actually moves the needle.
