Today I’m going to take a little time to think about editing. In the context of my life. I’ve always been ‘editing,’ but there’s always room for improvement; to do it a little bit better.

According to McKeown in Essentialism (bold emphasis mine):

An editor is not merely someone who says no to things. A three-year-old can do that. Nor does an editor simply eliminate; in fact, in a way, an editor actually adds. What I mean is that a good editor is someone who uses deliberate subtraction to actually add life to the ideas, setting, plot, and characters.

Improving the version of my life will involve some trade-offs. An important question to ask myself is, “Will this ‘character’ and ‘plot twist’ or ‘detail’ make it better?” It will call for some sacrifices, some elimination. “Kill your darlings,” said Stephen King.

With the potent combination of good accounting (zero-based budgeting), sound editing (this means knowing when to restraint from editing too), and focused execution (do it now, for example), I (and we!) are on the way to making significant progress and, eventually, a masterpiece. My masterpiece of life is simply a good, meaningful life well-lived.

This post is inspired by Greg McKeown’s Essentialism.