I was recently out for a walk and started thinking about rebirth as the seasons change. It brought me to a topic that I have worked with a lot on the past few years… essentialism. I define essentialism simply as what is most important to you.
WHY ESSENTIALISM?
I’ve spent a lot of time on essentialism. A few years ago I was trying to do it all. And I was starting to fail—mentally and physically—full system shutdown! The harder and longer I worked, the more I was overwhelmed and fatigued. I just couldn’t make up any ground! I knew I needed to make a change, and that became my primary focus in 2015: to create more white space—unscheduled time on my calendar not committed to anything or anyone. This required discipline. It required me to get really clear on what things in my life were essential that I wanted to keep saying yes to, and what things needed to go.
MY CHALLENGE TO YOU
I have truly benefited from restructuring my life based on essentialism, so I pose this challenge to you: Define what is most important to you! This can be a harder question than it seems on the surface. But once you have clarity on what’s important, you can start to let the other things go.
We all face unexpected challenges in our lives, and I am no exception. It is during challenging times that I am thankful that I have already done so much growing and learning in essentialism. It has made me so much more flexible and able to reprioritize, to focus on what is critically important, and weather the challenges. Here’s a tip: you have to be careful because not everything can be essential. If everything is most important then nothing really is. Make sense?
It may seem like an easy concept, but when you try to practice essentialism it can be harder than you think. I know for me just defining what is truly most important was a challenge. It has taken me two years and three assistants (they are still with me ?) to help me on my path to creating more white space.
