Back to Plato: Antidote to Outside Pressure
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:28 am
eah, fine. Really busy.” Perhaps the most common answer to the question: “How are you?” You hear it at the office, on the train, on the phone or during a dinner with friends. Or you hear the sentence come out of your own mouth. Running your own business is always ongoing, project-based work is not from 9 to 5 and ‘quickly’ texting instead of emailing is so nice and fast. The result: constantly running behind the facts, crossing off to-do lists and adding them again and being inhibited in creative freedom. You don’t even have time to ask yourself: what do I really find important? (Now close your eyes and take 15 seconds to think about that question.)
Between the lines you can read one of the pieces of advice from Essentialism (aff.), the book in which author Greg McKeown explains how you can strive for less and better. In short: your work and life focused and arranged on only 'the essence'.
McKeown appeals to the characteristic principle Weniger aber besser . An essentialist continuously consciously chooses the vital few – the essential things – instead of the trivial many – the many insignificant things. No more having to, but choosing. Not everything, but only a few things are really important. The style of the book effortlessly adapts to the theme: with text and a number of simple black-and-white diagrams and short quotes, McKeown illustrates the core of essentialism.
Essentialism is not new. On the contrary. Philosopher Plato was already seen as the first essentialist around 400 BC. Art, literature and music were stripped down to the bare essentials (minimalism) in the sixties and there are various philosophical movements in which moderation is the greatest good.
Why, in 2018, this book? Because in recent italy whatsapp number decades we have massively fallen into non-essentialism. And that is not so strange. The infinite number of choices, the idea that we can have everything and increased social pressure from outside: it leads to us feeling pressured.
In his book, McKeown prepares you in 4 steps for the counterpart of our indecisive existence: essentialism. The word 'preparing' is deliberately chosen, because being an essentialist is not a status quo. It is continuously working and making choices to focus on the most important things in your life.
1. The Essence of Essentialism
To live as an essentialist, changing 3 common thoughts is essential:
'I have to' becomes 'I choose this'
We put too much emphasis on the external aspect of a choice (our options) and not enough on our internal capacity to choose (our actions). To become essentialists, we need to refocus on the fact that we can choose – no matter how difficult the choice may be.
Between the lines you can read one of the pieces of advice from Essentialism (aff.), the book in which author Greg McKeown explains how you can strive for less and better. In short: your work and life focused and arranged on only 'the essence'.
McKeown appeals to the characteristic principle Weniger aber besser . An essentialist continuously consciously chooses the vital few – the essential things – instead of the trivial many – the many insignificant things. No more having to, but choosing. Not everything, but only a few things are really important. The style of the book effortlessly adapts to the theme: with text and a number of simple black-and-white diagrams and short quotes, McKeown illustrates the core of essentialism.
Essentialism is not new. On the contrary. Philosopher Plato was already seen as the first essentialist around 400 BC. Art, literature and music were stripped down to the bare essentials (minimalism) in the sixties and there are various philosophical movements in which moderation is the greatest good.
Why, in 2018, this book? Because in recent italy whatsapp number decades we have massively fallen into non-essentialism. And that is not so strange. The infinite number of choices, the idea that we can have everything and increased social pressure from outside: it leads to us feeling pressured.
In his book, McKeown prepares you in 4 steps for the counterpart of our indecisive existence: essentialism. The word 'preparing' is deliberately chosen, because being an essentialist is not a status quo. It is continuously working and making choices to focus on the most important things in your life.
1. The Essence of Essentialism
To live as an essentialist, changing 3 common thoughts is essential:
'I have to' becomes 'I choose this'
We put too much emphasis on the external aspect of a choice (our options) and not enough on our internal capacity to choose (our actions). To become essentialists, we need to refocus on the fact that we can choose – no matter how difficult the choice may be.