Mastering the Art of Essentialism

Mastering the Art of Essentialism

You’ve probably heard of minimalism as a virtue of modern day life to adopt if you want to have a shot at enjoying a satisfactory quality of life, but have you heard of essentialism? Essentialism is the big brother of minimalism, because it in a sense introduces a little bit of hedonism to minimalist principles, which are otherwise devoid of it. Under the principles of minimalism, it’s all about learning how to be satisfied with the least amount of resources to cover your needs, whereas with essentialism you allow yourself to indulge, but focus on the best way of getting whatever it is you need or want in your life.

So as an essentialist, you don’t necessarily deprive yourself, but you focus on the most important aspects of securing your life first. In order to master what is essentially the art of essentialism, you need to pay attention to a few key areas.

Busyness versus productivity

There’s a difference between being busy and being productive, because busyness essentially just has you looking like you’re being productive, while pure productivity has you producing results you can tangibly look back on as part of having made some progress.

Reflection

Reflection builds on from the consideration of busyness versus productivity, because it lets us in on the open secret of being okay with pausing to take a break and refresh if needs be, after which time you can get back to the grind and actually be productive as opposed to just aimlessly appearing to be getting something tangible done. It’s okay to take a rest if it means you can come back with greater momentum, all refreshed and ready to go hard!

Some practical sources from whence to draw practical inspiration

Procrastination in the name of personal development, motivation and preparation is perhaps the most formidable nemesis of effective essentialism. The ultimate aim is to live your best life, having identified some areas in which you want to achieve certain set goals, with essentialism emerging as a great way through which to try and realise that ultimate aim. Consequently, there’s nothing wrong with seeking motivation in the stories of some people who might have gone before you, but at some point you’ll need to stop this kind of procrastination, as it essentially accounts for analysis-paralysis.

At some point you’ll need to stop seeking inspiration which is purely of a motivational nature, rather turning to that inspiration which is of a practical nature.

Now, if you take into account the services of any good personal injury attorney Los Angeles has on offer, for example, would you ever guess that this could make for a practical source of some essentialism inspiration? Probably not, but this is the level of thinking at which you’d need to operate in order to break the barriers of motivational inspiration and apply some practical inspiration.

Personal injury attorneys in that specific area are adept at focussing on what matters and so consultation with one for what would undeniably be an unusual “case” can give you that much-needed perspective as to how to go about selecting important elements of your life to focus on.


Robert Darnell

I’m Robert, the Grey Wanderer. After over 50 years in business, it was time for me to hang up my boots and enter the world of retirement. With so much time on my hands I decided to indulge in the two things I love most, writing and travel and so the Grey Wanderer was born.