Finding the Signal in the Noise: A Lecture with Greg McKeown
Finding the Signal in the Noise: A Lecture with Greg McKeown Last night, I attended a lecture by Greg McKeown at Lipscomb University as part of the Don R. Elliott Distinguished Presidential Lecture Series . He began with several engaging exercises, and as he moved into the presentation, I immediately recognized portions of his opening remarks from the introduction and first chapter of his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less . A few ideas and statements stayed with me after the lecture ended. One of his early observations was simple but profound: You don't wake up and say, "I would like my day to be full of unimportant things today." And yet, how often does that happen? McKeown began talking about the difference between noise and signal, and offered another statement that I found particularly memorable: Every yes to something nonessential is a no to something essential. He briefly brought Henry David Thoreau into the conversation, referencing Walden and Th...
