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Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of LessBook

by Greg McKeown, 2014

Who uses, recommends or left Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, in their own words: each a verbatim quote with a link to where it was said.

2 people

Jason Evanish
Founder and CEO of Get Lighthouse, a management-coaching software company; former product lead at KISSmetrics who writes about leadership and product management.
likedaffiliate link

It's never been easier to fill your life with things, tasks, and activities. Essentialism is a super-actionable break down of how to take control of your life and focus on what really matters. Whether you need more balance in your life, or focus in your work, this book will help you. It has helped me think a lot more about my priorities in life and how to get them.

His continuously-updated books page, where every book he reads gets a 1-10 rating and a "Why Read it" note; the book links carry his Amazon affiliate tag. The page carries no publication date for individual entries — its own metadata gives article:published_time 2012-12-16 and article:modified_time 2020-10-28, and books were added across that whole span. (undated page)

2020-10-28·jasonevanish.com ↗

Rakhim Davletkaliyev
Programmer and educator. Keeps a public bookshelf with a short comment on every book.
read

Make no mistake — as any self-help book, this too could be shortened to a medium-sized blog post. Somewhat ironic. Yet, it’s a pleasant read, filled with interesting stories and references. In an ongoing battle with the complexities of systems, life and work, I found this book deeply calming.

On his public bookshelf, with his comment.

2026-08-16·rakhim.org ↗

What they also use

Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.

The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.

A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.

The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.

What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:

Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.