Essentialism
Why doing less, but better may be the only growth hack that still works in 2025
Hey friends,
Quick story for a Monday.
A year ago, my friend Ron handed me a paperback with a red headline on the cover:
“Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less”
Greg McKeown
I tossed it in my backpack and forgot about it. Ironically, my backpack already contained another unfinished book, a laptop, and enough airport lounge receipts to start a bonfire.
I promised myself I would read it, and I did, on my vacation in Greece last summer and… I liked it.
The Core Idea
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
Essentialism is simple, brutal math:
Most things are noise.
A few things matter.
Your job is to cut the noise so the important stuff gets all your energy.
McKeown breaks it into a loop:
Explore – Create space to figure out what really matters.
Eliminate – Say no to anything that doesn’t move the needle.
Execute – Make the vital few effortless by building systems.
Repeat, forever.
Why it hit me
I run multiple companies, flirt with side-projects, and recently hired a small army of AI agents that spin up even more opportunities. My calendar looked like Jenga played by caffeine junkies (totally true fact my team can confirm).
Essentialism asked one unforgiving question:
“Am I investing in the highest point of contribution, or just keeping busy?”
My honest answer is 40 % contribution and 60 % kinetic sand busy work.
Three light‑bulb moments
A · The 90‑Percent Rule
If an option doesn’t score 90/100, treat it as zero.
My tweak: Each OKR now has one “absolutely yes” metric. Nothing else.
B · Boundaries > Discipline
Willpower runs out; boundaries run on autopilot.
My tweak: A few weekdays are now wall‑off days — Slack on DND, phone in airplane mode, deep work only. If something’s truly on fire, the team knows how to reach me.
C · Buffer for the unexpected
Essentialists add 50 % extra time (we can call it margin) to every plan.
My tweak: I added 30 % to every task in roadmaps. The team groaned, then started hitting deadlines.
Stuff I killed (painful, liberating)
A weekly “quick catch‑up” call that spiraled into two‑hour wander sessions.
A half‑built micro‑SaaS whose TAM was smaller than my newsletter audience.
Three speaking gigs that stroked the ego but didn’t serve the mission.
Total hours saved per month: ≈ 46.
I reinvested 20 of those hours into a single high‑leverage play: refining the Folderly Circles rollout.
Circles
Not long ago, I found myself staring at an org chart that looked like it was frozen in time. I and probably you, too, used to take that classic chart for granted: a big box labeled “Founder & CEO” at the top, lines branching down to “VPs and Heads,” more boxes for “Managers,” and eventually trickling down to the rest of the team.
Results: faster onboarding, clearer roles, clear focus on the future
My essential intent for 2025
Build human and AI systems that let founders grow 10× with 10 % of the usual clutter.
If a task advances that sentence, it’s in.
If it doesn’t, it dies politely, gratefully, immediately.
Try Essentialism this week
Take a two‑hour personal off‑site — no phone. Write every commitment.
Rate each 0‑100. Anything under 90 gets a polite no.
Protect one asset — sleep, workout, date night — like it’s revenue.
Add a big buffer to one key project. Watch stress drop.
Closing thought
Minimalism is owning fewer things. Essentialism is making fewer decisions.
In a world where AI can clone work at no cost, focused human intention is the scarce resource.
Post-Credit Scene · Further Fuel
Podcast: Greg McKeown’s What’s Essential — chat with Tim Ferriss on hard choices.
Experiment: Delete one app from your phone today. Feel the itch. Notice it fade.
Less, but better. See you next edition.
Thank you for reading.
Vlad