A little book club hype today my friends.

Have you been reading our Book club book for the quarter? 

It’s Essentialism by Greg McKeown.  I’ll put an Amazon link to it in the shownotes.

I wanted to give you a little bit of a push to either finish or begin reading this amazing book.

Essentialism is one of those books that can really create a shift for you, not only in the way that you spend your time but even more important than that, it forces you to look more closely at what really matters to you.  And isn’t that something we should keep on top of our thoughts regularly?

We’re going to be doing a full book review at the end of the month but I wanted to put another plug in today for reading it so you’ll be ready for that episode.  I’d hate for you to miss out on some really great systems that are taught in this book that have helped me to simplify, which in turn has taken away from the things that make me feel overburdened.

Here are two of the things I thought were interesting and I hope that it encourages you to dig a little deeper into the pages of this book before we get to the full review.

You’ll notice that throughout the book there are large, typed quotes that help you to see the major points he’s trying to get across to the reader.

If you want to get a quick overview of what this book is about, you can easily flip through and read those big quotes.

It’s inspiriting and encouraging just to read those quotes.  When you’re flipping and you read one that sounds interesting…stop and read.  It’s a great way to get excited about reading the entire book.

You won’t be surprised that one of the big quotes I was drawn to was:

“Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize.”

For those of you who have taken my Uniquee Connection program, you know that one of the very first things we do in that program is going through a deep dive exercise where I help you define your top priorities.  I believe that’s where everything starts.  You have to know what’s important to YOU before you can make even daily decisions in your life.

He talks about this in Chapter 11:  Dare.  The Power of a Graceful “No”

I loved this quote from that chapter:

“I have seen courage as key to the process of elimination.  Anyone can talk about the importance of focusing on the things that matter most- and many people do- but to see people who dare to live it is rare.”

I want to share a story from the book that is one of the best examples of living according to priorities I’ve heard.  I’m just going to give a shortened version of it.

The author was talking with a woman named Cynthia who told him this story.

She remembers, when she was a little girl, having plans with her dad to go out on a fun date together.  It would take place right after a presentation he had to give to a big conference in a city other than where they lived.  She would meet him in the back of the conference right after he was done so they could sneak out before anyone caught him to ask him questions.  They had all sorts of fun things planned to do together and she was so excited to get to spend this one-on-one time with her dad.

Then, somehow, an old friend of her dads from college made it through to him and was so excited to catch up.  He invited both her and her dad to join he and his wife for a dinner out.  Her dad replied that it would be so fun to spend some time catching up.  Cynthia was so sad and upset.  There went her plans with her dad!  Then she heard the rest of his answer, he finished by saying, “but not tonight.  Cynthia and I have a special date planned, don’t we?” and he winked at her as he grabbed her hand and they left together.

Cynthia’s dad was the author and management thinker Stephen R. Covey.  She said that after that experience, “I was bonded to him forever because I knew what mattered most to him was me.”

I’m a bigger Stephen R. Covey fan now too.  Actually, I already was.  How about you?

I want those around me to feel exactly the same way he made Cynthia feel.

That’s Essentialism!

Another part of the book that I wanted to share today is about Sleep.

This is an area I really struggle with.

I’m not a great sleeper.  I can’t seem to sleep all the way through the night.  I wake up multiple times pretty much every night.  I’ve been too multiple Dr’s and I just can’t seem to figure this out.  I know a lot of people struggle with sleeping well, so I know I’m not alone.

The part that adds to my interest in what the author has to teach about sleep is that I want to get up and do my morning routine and start my day off in the way I’ve chosen to. 

My dilemma comes because there are so many reports on the importance of sleep.

So, do I let myself sleep in longer if I can sleep after a restless night or do I get up and get going?

How many of you relate?  Can’t sleep when you want, AND still want to get up early!!

In the book, there’s a chart on page 96 that compares the Non-Essentialist (NE) vs the Essentialist (E) views on sleep.

The Non-Essentialist thinks:

-One hour less of sleep equals one more hour of productivity.

The Essentialst thinks:

-One hour more of sleep equals several more hours of much higher productivity.

NE:

Sleep is for failures.

E:

Sleep is for high performers

NE:

Sleep is a luxury

E:

Sleep is a priority

NE:

Sleep breeds laziness

E:

Sleep breeds creativity

NE:

Sleep gets in the way of “doing it all”

E:

Sleep enables the highest levels of mental contribution.

I don’t know where you fall on these two sides, I don’t even know where I fall but I do know where I WANT to fall.

So, here’s what I’m going to try.

I’m going to give myself one more hour in the morning devoted to sleep.

I’m going to try to teach myself to sleep in one hour longer.

I’ll be honest with you and say that I don’t have a lot of faith in my ability to sleep longer but I want to give it a try anyway.

So, I’m excited to hear more from you about what is standing out to you from this book.  I’m excited to hear what you’re struggling with from his examples of an essentialist like I’m struggling with sleep.  Is there an area that’s harder for you than others from the book?  I told you mine, so I’d love to hear yours too.

What have you changed or are wanting to change that will help you feel like you are doing more of what’s essential to YOU?

Send me an email with a few thoughts.

If you want to make it even easier, reply to an Instagram post today with a voice message.  Just talk to me.  Go to the messages and press the little microphone.  Tell me what you’re thinking.  What is essential to YOU?  Your ideas and thoughts will help others.  I know they will.  Don’t overthink it and just share.

One more thing before I go today,

I wanted to let you know about something I’ve recently started doing over on Instagram.  I’ve been posting Reels (which are short video clips if you’re not familiar with what a Reel is.  Usually there is a lot of dancing, but don’t worry, I’m not doing that) My Reels walk you through different styles of Travelers Notebooks and inserts that I make.  I’m doing this so you can better understand how they work and how you can use them.

 I hope you know that the purpose of everything I do is to help you keep it all together. 

Obviously, none of us are All together ALL the time but we can try to do that. 

Keeping it together doesn’t look a certain way, it’s unique for each of us and what’s important to us to keep together. 

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I’ve started doing that with my Instagram account.  You can see all my reels by searching in my bio for them over on Instagram.  They’re kinda fun and I’m enjoying sharing all the details about Travelers Notebooks so you can find the right one to hold all your stuff together!

Thanks for joining me today and I’ll talk to you again next week.