"Essentialism" in Health & Healing

Considering Our Vital Few (Tools) Over the Trivial Many

“Life is Short” - Paper, acrylic on 30 x 40" canvas - Courtney Snyder

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown (leadership and business strategist) is a book about doing less better. As I read it for the third time, I couldn’t help but wonder how this principal could be applied to healing, especially in the world of functional medicine where it can feel like there are so many things we should be doing.  But first…

What is “Essentialism?”

“The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us.”  - Greg McKeown

We live in a world of excessive information and choices.  We receive endless input.  We even have a new condition  - FOMO - fear of missing out.  Obviously all of this is stress inducing, not good for our health or for finding meaning in our fleeting moment here.  

This book provides a map of how we can get out from under all of that and move forward.  This image from the book says it all….

From Page 6 of Essentialism: The Disciplined Puruit of Less by Greg McKeown

Essentialism in Healing

How can this principle of doing less better be applied to our health, brain health included?  How can we move forward and not be burdened with the stress of endless information, treatment options, protocols, supplements, online information and shoulds and shouldn’ts? How do we know which tests or treatments will be the most impactful?