Essentialism by Greg McKeown – A Book That Helped Me Choose What Actually Matters

I’ve just finished reading Essentialism, and I’ll be honest – it really spoke to me.

Not in a dramatic, life-flashing-before-my-eyes kind of way. More in a quiet, uncomfortable, “oh… this is exactly what I’ve been doing” sort of way.

Last year was a difficult one in my business, Excel in Property. From the outside, it probably looked solid. Established. Successful. But internally, I felt like I was working relentlessly and somehow standing still.

For years, I’d been pushing hard. When growth didn’t come in the way I’d hoped, I did what many ambitious business owners do – I added more. More services. More products. More ways to try and move the needle.

All it really added was stress.

Around the middle of the year, I started paring things back. I stopped taking on new one-to-one clients. I focused on finishing what I’d already committed to. I kept the core parts of the business – the EIP Academy and the Model Library – and began quietly simplifying.

At the same time, I started reading Essentialism. On the back cover are three questions:

Have you ever found yourself stretched too thin at home or at work?

Have you ever felt both overworked and underutilised?

Do you ever feel busy but not productive?

My answer to all three was yes.

This book gave language to what I’d been feeling – and helped me articulate what needed to change.

Essentialism Is Not About Doing Less Work

One of the biggest misconceptions about essentialism is that it’s about being lazy or unambitious. It isn’t.

It’s about doing less of the wrong work so you can do more of the right work.

When I first started my business, I said yes to everything. Every client. Every project. Every opportunity. I was running at full capacity and making decent money. But I was exhausted.

I assumed the problem was time management. Or that I needed to work smarter.

What I realised – and what McKeown makes very clear – is that the issue wasn’t how I was working. It was what I was choosing to work on.

You simply cannot do everything. So you have to be ruthless about what you choose to do. Not every opportunity is a good opportunity. Not every client is a good client. And every time you say yes to the wrong thing, you are saying no to something better.

If you don’t choose what matters, everything will.

Stretched Too Thin – The Reality of a Solo Business

As a solo founder, I was doing every job in the company.

Client delivery. Marketing. Sales. Invoicing. Chasing unpaid invoices. Admin. Paying suppliers. Paying myself. The lot.

From the outside, people see the service. They don’t see the machinery behind it.

Chasing invoices doesn’t sound complicated – until you’re doing it weekly for a month because someone hasn’t paid. Social media sounds quick – until you’re spending an hour on a single LinkedIn post because you want it to be thoughtful and valuable. Add email marketing, proposals, follow-ups… it all stacks up.

Early on, I tracked my time because I was charging hourly. I wanted to understand what my effective hourly rate was on fixed-fee projects.

I was shocked.

I assumed most of my day was billable. In reality, billable work often made up around 50 percent of my time – sometimes less. The rest was non-billable operational work.

If your income depends on you actively delivering a service, that’s a problem.

I felt completely stretched.

Now, things look very different. I’ve built more automation into the business. Systems and metrics are properly set up. Revenue isn’t entirely dependent on me being present eight hours a day.

In the Academy model, students pay a monthly subscription. I show up where I’m needed, but I’m not tied to a desk all day. I can go on holiday and still generate income – something that was impossible before.

That shift alone changed everything.

Overworked and Underutilised

This was the part that surprised me most.

Yes, I was overworked. But I also felt underutilised.

Financial modelling is technically demanding. It requires precision and deep thinking. That challenge is what I loved about it.

But over time, I found myself building similar models again and again. Busy – but not stretched. Productive – but not growing.

And at times, I felt underappreciated.

It took me a while to admit that what I actually enjoyed more was teaching. Mentoring. Helping other professionals upskill and think critically.

That’s now the intentional focus.

For Excel in Property, my essential intent is clear: to set a new standard for real estate financial capability in the UK – developing technically exceptional professionals who can think critically and model with precision.

For Lucy Gordon & Co, the intent is different but equally specific: helping high-achieving yet unfulfilled professionals stop living by default and start living deliberately.

Both are about helping people. But they are focused. Defined. Filtered.

That clarity has been freeing.

Busy But Not Productive

Before reading the book, I was constantly busy.

Every time I ticked something off my to-do list, three more things appeared. But I didn’t feel like I was making meaningful progress. I felt like I was maintaining.

That’s disheartening when you have big ambitions.

One of the most powerful ideas in Essentialism is the concept of an essential intent. Not a vague mission statement like “we provide excellent service” – because that should be the baseline.

An essential intent becomes a decision filter.

If something doesn’t move you towards it, it’s a no.

I now run opportunities through that lens. If a project doesn’t align with one of my essential intents, I decline it. I don’t give my time and energy to things that pull me sideways.

And yes – there was guilt involved at first.

Ending long-standing client relationships felt uncomfortable. But I realised that keeping them, simply because they were familiar, meant saying no to my own growth.

Once I reframed it that way, the guilt eased.

What Happened When I Applied It

Here’s the counterintuitive part.

By doing less, I achieved more.

When I reduced the number of services I offered and focused on what truly aligned, my working hours dropped dramatically. My stress reduced. The quality of my thinking improved.

Not because I suddenly became more efficient.

But because I was finally putting my energy into the right things.

Who I’d Recommend This Book To

If you are:

• Stretched too thin

• Busy but not progressing

• Successful on paper but quietly frustrated

• Saying yes more than you want to

Then I would highly recommend Essentialism.

It won’t magically solve your problems. But it will force you to confront what you’re choosing – and what those choices are costing you.

And sometimes, that clarity is exactly what you need.