3 Mindful Minutes: Essentialism

0:05 Hi, I'm cast done. I'm a psychologist, a coach, mindfulness meditation teacher, host of the Crappita Happy podcast, and author of the Crappy to Happy books. Welcome to today's three Mindful Minutes. Today, I want to share with you an idea called essentialism and explain to you how this concept can help you live more simply, with less stress and more meaning. I first heard this term when I read the book Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McEwan, and in that book, Greg explains that it is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy. It is a systematic discipline for discerning what is absolutely essential and then eliminating everything that is not, so that we are making our highest possible contribution towards the things that really matter. When you have clarity about what is truly important to you, it becomes much easier to say no to distractions and focus only on your most important priorities.

1:10 Having this alignment reduces stress because you're no longer pulled in multiple directions, chasing after multiple goals, putting your energy into various different activities, whether at work, in your personal life, in your relationships. It also helps you to avoid overburdening yourself with unnecessary responsibilities because you're only focusing on the essential tasks, the ones that are really moving the needle and taking you closer to what is most important to you. This kind of simplification means that you're likely to have a more manageable workload, and at its core, essentialism is really about quality over quantity. It's about doing fewer things, but doing them really well. So this kind of approach leads to higher quality results. It gives you the opportunity to cultivate mastery, to go deeper into anything, whether it is a goal, a hobby, a relationship, your friendship circle, your work tasks. You're no longer juggling numerous low impact tasks or activities. I would say the same if you have your own business, it can be tempting to come up with more products, more services, more offerings, when really all you need to do is go deep on one product or offering or service, become expert at that, and forget the rest. Choose what is going to get the best results, what you really enjoy, what you're good at,

2:43 and go deep on that. Double down on that. This is about focus and discipline. Essentialism helps you live a more meaningful life in various ways. It encourages mindfulness. It forces you to stop and consider, is what I'm doing right now the most important thing? Is this aligned with my ultimate purpose objective? What I have chosen to be my highest priority. Obviously, you can't always one hundred percent of the time be only focusing on what is your highest priority, but it does make you get intentional about what you're doing. Where is your focus? Where is your attention? Are you wasting time, effort, energy on things that ultimately don't matter. When you begin to focus on what is most important, you give yourself the space to grow and develop in those areas. So this can really help you to feel more confident, more skill. This boosts your self esteem, and it also promotes balance and well being because when you start saying no to things, when you stop over committing yourself, you can actually maintain a healthier lifestyle. So if this idea intrigues you, I would encourage you to get the book if you haven't read it already, but you can start by identifying what is essential. Regularly evaluate your activities, your commitments, and ask yourself if they align with your core values and goals, if they give you a sense of satisfaction and meaning. If this is really what is most important to you. As we come to

4:13 the end of a year and start a new year, this might be an opportune time to take a little audit of all of the areas of your life and ask yourself what is essential. When you know what's important to you, you can start politely but firmly declining any office or invitations or requests that don't align with those priorities, knowing that this is because there is something more important to you. I hope you have enjoyed today's three mindful minutes. If you enjoy the show, please consider giving a rating and a review. Subscribe to you never miss an episode, and I cannot wait to catch you on the next episode of Crappy to Happy