#786: Tactics and Strategies for a 2025 Reboot — Essentialism and Greg McKeown

Greg McKeown is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. 200,000 people receive his weekly 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter, and he recently released The Essentialism Planner: A 90-Day Guide to Accomplishing More by Doing Less. 

Sponsors:

Momentous high-quality supplements: https://livemomentous.com/tim (code TIM for 20% off)

Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: https://eightsleep.com/tim (save $350 on the Pod 4 Ultra)

Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (Start earning 4.00% APY on your short-term cash until you’re ready to invest. And when new clients open an account today, you can get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Terms apply. Tim Ferriss receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of Wealthfront Brokerage. See full disclosures here.

*

Timestamps:

[00:00] Who is Greg McKeown? 

[05:12] Handling destabilizing events and personal turmoil.

[10:47] Writing as therapy and “screaming onto the page.”

[13:35] Using Morning Pages and AI tools for personal reflection.

[17:52] Carl Rogers and the power of deep listening.

[20:33] Reviewing the core concepts of Essentialism and Effortless.

[24:54] Temporal landmarks and the fresh start effect.

[29:25] Personal quarterly offsites and the importance of direction over speed.

[31:13] The three essential questions for quarterly reviews.

[34:16] Making essential tasks effortless — practical examples and strategies.

[37:03] The law of inverse prioritization — why important things don’t get done.

[38:45] Strategies for making tasks simpler — the microburst concept.

[44:37] The courage to be rubbish.

[47:09] Pre-mortems and anticipating obstacles.

[52:37] Michael Phelps’ preparation and routine.

[01:07:31] The 1-2-3 method and defining what “done” looks like.

[01:15:19] Meaning over productivity, and making vs. managing.

[01:23:14] Radical gratitude and finding meaning in suffering.

[01:36:43] Parting thoughts on deep connection and listening.

*

For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.

For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsors

Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.

For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.

Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.

Follow Tim:

Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss 

Instagram: instagram.com/timferriss

YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss

Facebook: facebook.com/timferriss 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferriss

Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun,