One of my favorite books of all time is Essentialism by Greg McKeown. I first read it early on in my career, and I continue to come back to it again and again. It’s that good.
Part of what makes it so good is that it focuses on both the why and the how of keeping what’s on your plate minimal—so that you can build a maximally fulfilling life. It’s not minimalism, nor is it maximalism, but it’s somewhere in between. You focus not on how little or how much you have or are doing—but rather on how important that stuff is.
One key principle that McKeown offers is “Keep a tight purpose, but loose agenda.” And that’s especially helpful for us—who are filling out a card each day with our tasks (or at least trying to). But it’s also especially tricky.
On one hand, it’s extremely helpful to lay out, in painful detail, what needs to be done—so that you don’t have to plan all over again before getting to work. On the other hand, it can be just as unhelpful to pigeon-hole yourself into a set list of actions that don’t allow you the levity to re-assess and pivot during the day.
So it’s important to find that balance between being too vague and too narrow in laying out your day. We all know that things come up, and so we know we need some buffer time. We also know that we can get new ideas about important tasks, and change the specifics of the task we’re going to do. So that right balance is important.
Unfortunately, there’s no formula that will work for everyone. We’re each comfortable with a different level of looseness in our agendas. The best way to find your own is to really put the time and effort in as you lay out your card for the day. Your emotional reactions as you think through your tasks for the day will be a great guide, but you have to be aware of that.
