The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the non-essentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.

One of the best ways to seed an opportunity is to allow someone to discover the opportunity for him- or herself.

Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will.

The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years. Only in the 1900s did we pluralize the term and start talking about priorities. Illogically, we reasoned that by changing the word we could bend reality. Somehow we would now be able to have multiple “first” things.

The word priority was singular for 500 years—what does priorities mean—'many many first things.'

There should be no shame in admitting to a mistake; after all, we really are only admitting that we are now wiser than we once were.

I think we’ve been oversold the value of more and undersold the value of less.