Here is a fact: the worlds highest performers say no 90% of the time. Moreover, the world suffers from an abundance of “people pleasing” intention as the first, and often sole justifier in the decision to take something on.
What is it that the High Performers know that many of us don’t? They perform deep levels of self-reflection often they journal, and they are always asking themselves these three questions:
What inspires me?
What are my talents?
What meets a significant need in the world?
Greg McKeown, in his best selling book “Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less,” applies the metaphor of the overstuffed closet to illustrate the three-pronged approach to preventing the pile-up of well-intentioned commitments
Explore and Evaluate
When thinning out your closet, Marie Kondo will ask of a piece of clothing, “Does this bring me a spark of JOY?” Similarly, regarding an activity, we can ask ourselves “will this effort bring me progress toward my goal?” If you don’t have a goal that you believe is worthy of this type of reflection, remember what Earl Nightengale once said: ”Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” In the absence of anything else, continued holistic personal development for the remainder of your life is eminently worthy.
2) Eliminate
Once you’ve got the filter in place for all incoming requests, then you still have to actively winnow away all the current engagements that do move the needle for your “worthy ideal.”
3) Execute
Maintenance is three syllables that vex many of us. Staying the course through discipline is a lifelong practice. Discipline wanes and discipline rises through the pains and sufferings we are disciplined enough to attack.
If you want to get help at becoming a Ninja at essentialist thinking or want to optimize your life, consider getting yourself a High-Performance Coach. I’ve been personally coached in the High-Performance Institutes framework for two years, and I continue to be amazed at the insight and breakthroughs I gain. As a Certified High-Performance Coach myself, I am currently offering complimentary strategy sessions If you’ve ever thought about hiring a coach, there is no better time than right now.
