I’ve always been an essentialist before I even knew what it was called.
I’ve been one to always have a strong intuition about a thing and just go for it. It influenced my career choice, right from when I was much younger. My mum would later boast to her friends that I’ve always been one to know what I wanted and to go for it, despite what others said.
After completing my NYSC, I started a lot of jobs; from teaching at an IELTS tutorial centre to volunteering at the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ogun state chapter; to also offering to teach English at a start up school. My days were all filled up with jobs with different modus-operandi and syllabuses and the funniest part of it was that it came with little pay. On the flip side, they were jobs I was truly passionate about. Imagine working yourself out 9-5 daily on different jobs and not getting up to 50,000 per month. Needless to say the least, it was mentally exhaustive and emotionally draining. I kept on pushing through with the consolation that at least, I had something to bring home at the end of every month. Half-bread is always better than none is a cliche that holds true, right?
The turning point was when I decided to just stop and at least recharge. I realised how much I was working myself out and not paying much attention to what was priority for me.
The epiphany came when I picked up ‘Essentialism – the disciplined pursuit of less, but better’. The title had intrigued me and the book itself had piqued my interest from a long time ago, but I had not, prior to this time, had the time nor chance to read it.
‘Essentialists see tradeoffs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking ‘What do I have to give up?’, they ask ‘What do I want to go big on?’
That statement was a hit for me. It brought the realisation of how a little change in perspective and the questions we ask ourselves can go on to shape the quality of our lives.
That is just a little tip of the iceberg of the value loaded in the book and you definitely want to pick it up.
Fun fact : It was also mentioned that ‘to discern what is truly essential, we need space to think, time to look and listen, permission to play, wisdom to sleep and the discipline to apply highly selective criteria to the choices we make’. An essentialist is able to discern the vital few from the trivial many. So, you see, I made the right choice afterall.
This book is one right step in discerning the vital few from the trivial many.
