Greg McKeown quotes

Greg McKeown is a renowned leadership and business strategist, best-selling author, and keynote speaker. He is known for his book "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less," which teaches readers how to focus on what truly matters and eliminate distractions. With over a decade of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, Greg's insights have helped countless individuals and organizations achieve greater success. Follow Greg McKeown for valuable tips on prioritization, productivity, and achieving peak performance.

You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.

- Greg McKeown

When we play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality.

- Greg McKeown

When we forget our ability to choose, we learn to be helpless.

- Greg McKeown

What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance?

- Greg McKeown

We overvalue nonessentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the way we look in our Facebook photos. As a result, we neglect activities that are truly essential, like spending time with our loved ones, or nurturing our spirit, or taking care of our health.

- Greg McKeown

We can either make our choices deliberately or allow other people’s agendas to control our lives.

- Greg McKeown

There should be no shame in admitting to a mistake; after all, we really are only admitting that we are now wiser than we once were.

- Greg McKeown

The word school is derived from the Greek word 'schole', meaning 'leisure'. Yet our modern school system, born in the Industrial Revolution, has removed the leisure—and much of the pleasure—out of learning.

- Greg McKeown

The word priority came into the English language in the 1400s. It was singular. It meant the very first or prior thing. It stayed singular for the next five hundred years.

- Greg McKeown

The reality is, saying yes to any opportunity by definition requires saying no to several others.

- Greg McKeown

Sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.

- Greg McKeown

Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life someone else will.

- Greg McKeown

Remember that a clear 'No' can be more graceful than a vague or noncommittal 'Yes'.

- Greg McKeown

One wrong hire is far costlier than being one person short.

- Greg McKeown

If you don’t set boundaries—there won’t be any. Or even worse, there will be boundaries, but they’ll be set by default—or by another person—instead of by design.

- Greg McKeown

If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.

- Greg McKeown

Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, ‘What do I have to give up?’ they ask, ‘What do I want to go big on?’

- Greg McKeown

Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.

- Greg McKeown

Done is better than perfect.

- Greg McKeown

Boundaries are a little like the walls of a sandcastle. The second we let one fall over, the rest of them come crashing down.

- Greg McKeown

A choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do.

- Greg McKeown

Is this the very most important thing I should be doing with my time and resources right now?

- Greg McKeown