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I enjoyed this book and found some very useful insights in McKeown’s argument, which boiled down to its essence is this: Rather than trying to cram more and more into our lives, and thinking that by doing so we are achieving something, we would be better off doing less, but doing it better. For this to work, there are two crucial words that need to be defined. The first is success, or perhaps achievement. While McKeown does not precisely define this slippery and highly subjective term, it is clear that it doesn’t mean making a lot of money. It has more to do with life satisfaction, meaning, and value. Of course, pursuing these objectives does not preclude making a lot of money, but success should be measured in other ways. The second word needing careful definition is less. By this, McKeown does not mean simply doing fewer things in order to free up calendar space, but doing only the right things. The whole point of Essentialism, both the book and what McKeown calls the “movement” (whether or not that term is really accurate), is to identify the very most important things, i.e., those activities that are essential. Focus on them, and eliminate everything else. Easier said than done, yes, but you’ll never do it if you don’t first decide that it is desirable. Or essential. What this really involves, then, is defining values as you set priorities, because as we all know, if you don’t decide what is the most important use of your time, someone else will. You will end up spending your time—your least renewable resource—pursuing someone else’s agenda rather than your own. Whose success, happiness, fulfillment, and goals are you then working toward? Probably not your own. A lot of McKeown’s advice is simply logical common sense. The fact that in the course of reading the book you so often say “yeah, that makes sense, I should do that,” is probably not an indication that this is all new so much as a reminder that it’s not necessarily easy to take real control of your life. McKeown advises that everyone regularly ask this question: “What is the most important thing for me to do right now?” How often can any of us honestly answer, “Exactly what I’m doing”?