Noise

Chapter 12Take Aim: Set Your Sights on What Matters Most

In this chapter, the word “most” is what I want you to embrace.

What is the most important thing right now? Not what is more important between many choices, but what’s the most valuable—the top, highest, maximum, chief, greatest, uppermost. You get the point; that is where we all need to take precise aim.

In the infamous words of Yogi Berra, “If you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there.” Consider that funny line and start to carefully consider how you set your priorities at work or at home.

Do you know your priorities? Are they effective? Are there things you’d like to accomplish but never seem to get to? Do you find distractions derail you, or do you notice at all?

For many of us, it’s similar to setting out on a journey without determining a specific destination (i.e. an address, a hotel, a landmark, etc.). In your mind, you’re just headed in a general direction.

Retracing your steps later, you see how you were all over the road, wasting energy and time along the way. In our age of infobesity and interruptions, our lives can meander in wild twists and turns. Many times, we may not even notice we do this at all.

We won’t get very far unless we take aim at what matters most.

Essentialists versus Non-essentialists

In his remarkable book Essentialism, Greg McKeown sets out powerful ways to avoid the burden of excess by embracing fewer things in your daily life. He challenges people to become essentialists. ...