“Less but better.”

Why it was said

Greg McKeown borrows this phrase from the industrial designer Dieter Rams, whose German original is 'Weniger, aber besser'. In Essentialism it serves as a motto for the whole book: McKeown takes a principle Rams applied to products and applies it to how people spend their time and energy.

What it actually means

The phrase is often misread as minimalism, as if the goal were simply to have or do less. The weight sits on the second half. Rams cut features so that the ones left could be done properly; McKeown cuts commitments so that the few that remain get real effort. Less is the price, better is the point. That changes the question you ask when something new arrives. The question is not whether it is good, because most things are, but whether it is better than what it would displace. Doing fewer things is only worth it if the freed time goes into doing the important ones well.

How to use it

1. 1List everything you are currently committed to, mark the two or three that matter most, and ask what you would stop to give those more.
2. 2When a new request arrives, compare it with the weakest item already on your plate, not with doing nothing.
3. 3After you drop something, decide in advance where the freed hours will go, or they will fill with noise.