Before reading this book, think about three questions:
• Ever been stretched too thin?
• Sometimes feel busy but not productive?
• Ever had your day hijacked by someone else’s agenda?
If the answer(s) is/are yes, then this book is for you....
What I am about to recommend is this book called "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less", by Greg McKeown, because I think it is really important for you to figure out what matters to you and your life. There are so many of us who are struggling to do "everything". Eventually, we just feel frustrated by stretching ourselves too thin.
This book teaches us how to be an essentialist by changing our way of thinking, discerning from the . Try to replace the false assumptions like "I have to”, “It’s all important”, “I can do both”, with three core truth: "I choose to...", "only a few things really matter", "I can do anything but not everything."
If you choose to do something, it means you take action and do it purposefully. Think about the time when you are really plunged into a game, nothing can take you out, right? But researches show that things like the "game", most of them, are not always good for us. They are actually kind of distraction that deviate us from our trajectory. When we, however, choose to do something that really matters, such as reading a book, working out, or working on a project that is approaching the deadline, we always overestimate the external aspects (environment around us) of choice and ignore our internal ability to take action.
Choice is at the very core of what it means to be an Essentialist. If you fail to make a choice for yourself, your life will be lived by default. You are going to be hijacked by someone else agenda.
To be on top of your game, good enough sleep should be thought of as something inevitable, not something just a waste of time. Sleep is a driver of making our high contribution. Bill Clinton said that every major mistake he had made in his life had happened as a result of sleep deprivation.
After reading this mind-blowing book, I realized some interesting fact in life. Never sacrifice sleep to try to do more. Why not just have a good sleep and get up early the next morning? Try to appreciate small wins from each period of your project. Figure out blocking time during which to put my focus into an important task. Of course, Dr. McKeown also mentioned another advice that may be adoptable to you. (see Key note)
只要读好一本英语书，三个月就会改变你的英语学习的现状。如有志同道合者，可以加我微信，互相研究。改变生活从改变自身开始。Changing our life starts from changing ourselves internally.
Key note:
Straddle Strategy: Why Southwest Airline's profit is booming while this industry is notoriously bad at generating profit?
Experiment explains how do we forget our ability to choose.
Learn to say no and set your boundary.
Trade-off: Figure out what is more important。 （权衡利弊）
Flow：when all of these become your habit... （一切来自你的自然而然）
80/20 rules... (20 percent of what you do can generate 80 percent of the effectiveness)