Essentialism is a term used by Greg McKeown, who wrote a book entitled Essentialism. He defines it as “the disciplined pursuit of less.” The idea is, you can prevent burnout and maximize your energy by doing less, but better. When we try to do several things at once, we scatter our energy. Have you experienced this feeling? Sometimes when we’re trying to keep all the balls in the air, we realize we’re not giving anything our best effort. Essentialism asks you to entertain the question: What is essential? Let’s dive into essentialism and how to use it daily life.
What is Essentialism?
Essentialism is all about energy conservation through prioritizing. It requires, first and foremost, that you look around at your life and state of mind. Do you feel burned out or spread thin? What do you wish you were putting more energy into? Are you putting enough effort and focus on your recovery? Signs that it’s time to employ the essentialism strategy include: feeling like you need to “do everything”, feeling out of control, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of “fitting everything in”, and saying yes to things without thinking.
Tips for Maximizing Your Energy Through Essentialism
When you’re living in the mindset of essentialism, you feel in control and calm, able to know what really matters, and you make choices with care. Most importantly, you’re able to relax and find more joy in the process. Ask yourself what you want to prioritize and try to devote more energy to the most important things in your life, such as healthy relationships, your recovery, and your self-care. To begin the process, you might want to make a list of where you’re putting most of your energy vs. where you want to be putting it. Soon you’ll be feeling like your best, most productive, and calmest self. Essentialism asks you to release the mindsets and habits that no longer serve your greater well-being.
Tree House Recovery of Orange County, California is a premier men’s addiction treatment facility that uses eight different modalities to help our men become the best versions of themselves they can be. We teach our men that every day of their journey is something to celebrate and that recovery isn’t a sprint– it’s a marathon. To get started with Tree House Recovery, call us today at (855) 202-2138.
