“Perhaps Shakespeare’s Hamlet said it best—‘To thine own self be true,’” exclaims Greg McKeown, author of the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. He is also the founder and CEO of McKeown, Inc., a leadership and strategy design agency based in California. According to McKeown, “Every time you say yes to anything, you’re saying no to many other things.” In other words, living the essential life means honestly recognizing what really matters and embracing the trade-offs. That’s the filter through which this self-described essentialist deliberates decisions both big and small. Says McKeown, “It’s removing this clouded set of distractions that make us believe everything is equally important and suddenly to see clearly that only a few things really matter.” Do less, but better. Cut out nonessential tasks, obligations, and commitments to hone in and excel at the remainder.

Essentialism is seeing clearly what really matters and doing it.

According to Greg McKeown, essentialism rejects the idea that you can do it all or that you should accomplish everything. Instead, it promotes choosing only some fields or directions in which to shine. It’s more important to “make great strides in a few things that matter, rather than an inch of progress in a million directions,” says McKeown. He encourages clients to continuously ask questions, update plans, and refresh the decisions regarding what’s worth doing. Reinvest in productive areas.

The guidelines for living the essential life are simple. Do the important thing now. The next moment, the same. Clear away the clutter. Clear away the distractions. Turn the TV way down. Turn the social media off. Get still. Get quiet.

What’s important now? Do it.