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The Art Of Less Doing: One Entrepreneur's Formula for a Beautiful Life
At the peak of his career and success, Ari Meisel nearly killed himself from exhaustion and overwork.He had to make a he could let his “success” destroy him physically and mentally, or he could find a better way to live. He spent the next few years redesigning his life from scratch. Ultimately he found the way to reduce his workload by 80%, while actually increasing results and success. Furthermore, he could spend time on what matters his family.This book describes his method. Using Meisel’s revolutionary Optimize, Automate, Outsource approach, you will learn how to take almost anything you do and make it work smarter, instead of harder. Modern methods like the 80/20 rule, the 3 D’s, and multi-platform repurposing let you build a high-powered, traditional-style “success factory” that only requires one employee to run.Less work, more results, more happiness.
152 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 25, 2016
86 people are currently reading
1078 people want to read
About the author
Ari R. Meisel
19 books40 followersAri Meisel is a self described, “Overwhelmologist” who helps entrepreneurs who have opportunity in excess of what their infrastructure can handle, to optimize, automate, and outsource everything in their business, so they can make themselves replaceable and scale their business.
Ari is the Founder of Less Doing, author of the best-selling book, “The Art of Less Doing”, and its sequel, the forthcoming “The Replaceable Founder”, coming this September.
He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, an Ironman, and a devoted husband to Anna and father to four children, Ben, 6, Sebastien and Lucas, 4 and Chloe, 2.
When Ari Meisel was diagnosed with a severe case of the incurable digestive ailment known as Crohn’s disease, he quickly found himself in the hospital and soon thereafter on a host of medications. After hitting a truly low point, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. Putting himself on a strict regiment of yoga, healthy eating, nutritional supplements and intense exercise, Meisel not only beat back the symptoms, he was in fact eventually declared cured of his "incurable" disease.
One of the outcomes of this log and difficult journey was the deep realization that he wanted to live his precious gift of healthy life much more fully. He quickly saw how much of his time was wasted by tasks that could just as easily be done by others. Thus was born his blog, the art of Less Doing, so that we all might have more living.
Ari is the Founder of Less Doing, author of the best-selling book, “The Art of Less Doing”, and its sequel, the forthcoming “The Replaceable Founder”, coming this September.
He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, an Ironman, and a devoted husband to Anna and father to four children, Ben, 6, Sebastien and Lucas, 4 and Chloe, 2.
When Ari Meisel was diagnosed with a severe case of the incurable digestive ailment known as Crohn’s disease, he quickly found himself in the hospital and soon thereafter on a host of medications. After hitting a truly low point, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands. Putting himself on a strict regiment of yoga, healthy eating, nutritional supplements and intense exercise, Meisel not only beat back the symptoms, he was in fact eventually declared cured of his "incurable" disease.
One of the outcomes of this log and difficult journey was the deep realization that he wanted to live his precious gift of healthy life much more fully. He quickly saw how much of his time was wasted by tasks that could just as easily be done by others. Thus was born his blog, the art of Less Doing, so that we all might have more living.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
November 16, 2021
A great read to remind myself that things that I keep doing are actually helpful, that some things are absolutely unnecessary. It's a great direction for me personally to work smarter, not more.
Some thoughts from the book:
-Limitations help us succeed.
-When you have restrictions, you become more creative about your time.
-Remove any obstacles for good habits to form.
-Exercise the delegation process.
-By simply being more conscientious of how we spend our time we can free up time for our precious activities.
Some thoughts from the book:
-Limitations help us succeed.
-When you have restrictions, you become more creative about your time.
-Remove any obstacles for good habits to form.
-Exercise the delegation process.
-By simply being more conscientious of how we spend our time we can free up time for our precious activities.
April 5, 2022
Very valuable.
Core principles are taken from some of the most influential productivity books over the last century. This book compiles all these notes together into a shorter and more digestible crash course on being more productive.
However, it loses steam at the end when it becomes an ad for the author’s virtual assistant business, and some of the references and examples used are not practical for middle class Americans.
First half is amazing.
Core principles are taken from some of the most influential productivity books over the last century. This book compiles all these notes together into a shorter and more digestible crash course on being more productive.
However, it loses steam at the end when it becomes an ad for the author’s virtual assistant business, and some of the references and examples used are not practical for middle class Americans.
First half is amazing.
May 7, 2017
WOW! great book for a productivity framework in Optimize Automate and Outsource. Its practical tips and easily digested. Great add on book to David Allens Getting Things Done, Think Fast and Slow and so on. Recommend buying both Audio version on Audible and Kindle version for revieing later.
February 2, 2022
a modicum of bedside manner
One of the problems with Western medicine is that we treat the symptoms and not the cause
pescatarian
optimize, automate, and outsource
This means breaking down any challenge you face to its bare minimum, and eliminating anything that’s not completely necessary.
Tim Ferriss introduced the idea of the minimum effective dosage in his 4-Hour Body book. We should not try to do the most possible; we should try to do the least necessary.
If you’re misallocating resources, you’re doing it inefficiently.
As a productivity consultant
highly functioning people tend to think they could always do more.
The neurological term for multitasking is “context switching.”
If you apply this principle to your e-mail inbox, you could easily eliminate close to 60–75 percent of the volume. Set a f ilter to file every e-mail that has the word “unsubscribe” in it to an optional folder. That way, all of those e-mails will immediately bypass your inbox, thereby greatly reducing the feeling of being overwhelm. The lower number of unopened e-mails taunting you will allow you to focus on the messages that are of the highest importance.
John Paul DeJoria has never had an e-mail address or owned a computer. DeJoria does all of his business in person or on the phone. “pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many.”
The best way to start optimizing your time, energy, and resources is to start tracking things at work and at home. Start by tracking what you’re working on, how long it takes, how many things you are doing at once, how much money you spend on food, how many times you ate at your desk
I was working with a client who wanted me to help him with his nutrition. He was texting photos of his meals and caloric intake at the end of each day
Money is something that a lot of people would like to have better control over. The app, Mint, is a fantastic way to track where you are spending all of those precious dollars. It syncs with your bank account, and in just a week’s time, you’ll have enough data to analyze your spending behaviors. You may not even be aware that you’re eating out four nights a week or spending $300/week on groceries. The morning double halfcaf cappuccino probably adds up to much more than you think. If you’re someone who has a hard time finding $1,000 for your savings account, take a close look at your daily spending habits to determine what you can minimize or eliminate altogether.
How you spend your time is also valuable information. Parkinson’s Law says, “Work expands to fill the time allotted to complete it.” Many people need a sense of urgency to get things done. I’m guilty of this myself, which is one of the reasons I live and die by my Google calendar. I put every activity, meeting, and phone call in my calendar to set a parameter for myself.
As human beings, we tend to be very sure of ourselves and have strong opinions, but we can also be very weak when it comes to defending those opinions.
Basically, we tend to think that whatever we’re doing is the baseline for appropriate action, and we form very strong opinions about others’ behaviors.
The first step of optimizing is identification.
1. Collect data by tracking your time, energy, and resources to identify patterns.
2. Focus on one thing at a time. Eliminate multitasking and other unproductive behaviors.
3. Implement the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule). Focus on the things in your life that give you the highest return on investment.
Humans have a very limited working memory. a data dump in which key ideas are transferred from one system (your brain) to another (a notebook or an app). Then you can set reminders to yourself to take action on them at a later time.
How many times have you had an amazing idea in the shower? Stanford University actually conducted a research study on the phenomenon of shower inspiration. Science has proven that people tend to think more creatively when they’re in a warm and happy place.
We use Aquanotes at our house, which are basically waterproof post-it notes.
Instead of fighting against our natural human tendencies, we must learn to adapt to them.
The spoken word is 150,000 years old, but the written word is only 30,000 years old. Even professional writers will tell you that it is very di cult to sit down and write. The reason for this is that writing is not ingrained in our DNA as deeply as storytelling through speech.
One of my favorite tools to capture ideas is Evernote.
every minute that you take away from a core activity, or spend distracted by something else, it takes about twenty-three minutes to get back into that flow state of productivity. Those distracted moments represent an enormous opportunity cost
As human beings, we have a natural tendency toward closure in that we like to finish things. Even the worst procrastinators like to complete their tasks. She also noted that once a task is complete, people tend to forget the details associated with it. Only when the task is interrupted or incomplete are people able to remember the details. the Zeigarnik Effect.
Francesco Cirillo developed his time management method, the Pomodoro Technique. twenty-five minutes, separated by short (five-minute) breaks. Your productivity is measured by the amount of work intervals you’ve completed, aptly referred to as Pomodoros.
Using the Pomodoro Technique is dierent than crossing items o of your to-do list. With the interval approach, your focus is on productivity over tasks completed. Inevitably, several tasks will be completed during the Pomodoro intervals. Your brain will have had an opportunity to rest in between work cycles, and it will work more eciently because of the interruption.
This feeds into one of the main problems with to-do lists. Most of the items on the list are not things that you can accomplish immediately, either because they are too big to do in a day, or you’re waiting on someone else. Nevertheless, our brain scans the list, it sees a series of things that it cannot yet complete, and the Zeigarnik Eect kicks in. No matter how conscientious you’ve been about prioritizing your list, the brain looks for tasks that can be completed next, which creates cognitive dissonance. It puts the brakes on your productivity
I know that I cannot do any creative work before 8:00 p.m. I have to be in the right frame of mind and the house needs to be quiet so I can focus. If the Daily Beast sends me an e-mail asking for an article, I defer it using an app called followup.cc, and don’t even think about it until after eight when I can focus.
Increasing productivity is all about finding systems that work for you, not other people.
1. Off-load ideas and knowledge for safe storage and to free up brain space.
2. Get rid of your to-do list.
3. Implement the Pomodoro Technique to maximize work efficiency. Work in sprints, not marathons.
each one of us has roughly a ninety-minute period of peak productivity. you should be able to be two to one hundred times more effective than during any other time of the day. “What would you do if you could only work one hour each day?”
Personally, my peak time is between 10:00 a.m. and noon
My company recently created an app called Less Doing Peak Time to help people identify their unique period of peak productivity. Basically, someone taps their finger on their phone screen for ten seconds and the app counts the number of taps.
your nervous system is firing on all cylinders.
advocates having a “brain-dead” list of activities that you can accomplish when you’ve exhausted. activities that don’t require your top-level focus such as preparing food, light housekeeping
1. Identify your hour of peak productivity with the Less Doing Peak Time app.
2. Respect and optimize your hour of power.
3. Utilize “downtime” by churning through low-focus tasks.
most meetings can be reduced to fifteen minutes
communicate via a method such as Slack
Technology, convenient though it is, can also be one of the greatest time sucks in a day.
I was determined to have only Chrome, Dropbox, and Skype on my computer.
Minimum limits are actually more challenging than maximum limits. It’s easier to be restrictive than it is to be expansive. For example, it’s much easier to say, “I have to turn the TV o by ten o’clock at night” (maximum limitation) than it is to say, “I will read ten pages of nonfiction every night” (minimum limitation).
Better yet, if you can combine the two, you’re setting yourself up to win. Tell yourself that you can only listen to podcasts while you’re on the treadmill. In that scenario, you’ve set up a restriction to help you succeed.
One of the problems with Western medicine is that we treat the symptoms and not the cause
pescatarian
optimize, automate, and outsource
This means breaking down any challenge you face to its bare minimum, and eliminating anything that’s not completely necessary.
Tim Ferriss introduced the idea of the minimum effective dosage in his 4-Hour Body book. We should not try to do the most possible; we should try to do the least necessary.
If you’re misallocating resources, you’re doing it inefficiently.
As a productivity consultant
highly functioning people tend to think they could always do more.
The neurological term for multitasking is “context switching.”
If you apply this principle to your e-mail inbox, you could easily eliminate close to 60–75 percent of the volume. Set a f ilter to file every e-mail that has the word “unsubscribe” in it to an optional folder. That way, all of those e-mails will immediately bypass your inbox, thereby greatly reducing the feeling of being overwhelm. The lower number of unopened e-mails taunting you will allow you to focus on the messages that are of the highest importance.
John Paul DeJoria has never had an e-mail address or owned a computer. DeJoria does all of his business in person or on the phone. “pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many.”
The best way to start optimizing your time, energy, and resources is to start tracking things at work and at home. Start by tracking what you’re working on, how long it takes, how many things you are doing at once, how much money you spend on food, how many times you ate at your desk
I was working with a client who wanted me to help him with his nutrition. He was texting photos of his meals and caloric intake at the end of each day
Money is something that a lot of people would like to have better control over. The app, Mint, is a fantastic way to track where you are spending all of those precious dollars. It syncs with your bank account, and in just a week’s time, you’ll have enough data to analyze your spending behaviors. You may not even be aware that you’re eating out four nights a week or spending $300/week on groceries. The morning double halfcaf cappuccino probably adds up to much more than you think. If you’re someone who has a hard time finding $1,000 for your savings account, take a close look at your daily spending habits to determine what you can minimize or eliminate altogether.
How you spend your time is also valuable information. Parkinson’s Law says, “Work expands to fill the time allotted to complete it.” Many people need a sense of urgency to get things done. I’m guilty of this myself, which is one of the reasons I live and die by my Google calendar. I put every activity, meeting, and phone call in my calendar to set a parameter for myself.
As human beings, we tend to be very sure of ourselves and have strong opinions, but we can also be very weak when it comes to defending those opinions.
Basically, we tend to think that whatever we’re doing is the baseline for appropriate action, and we form very strong opinions about others’ behaviors.
The first step of optimizing is identification.
1. Collect data by tracking your time, energy, and resources to identify patterns.
2. Focus on one thing at a time. Eliminate multitasking and other unproductive behaviors.
3. Implement the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 Rule). Focus on the things in your life that give you the highest return on investment.
Humans have a very limited working memory. a data dump in which key ideas are transferred from one system (your brain) to another (a notebook or an app). Then you can set reminders to yourself to take action on them at a later time.
How many times have you had an amazing idea in the shower? Stanford University actually conducted a research study on the phenomenon of shower inspiration. Science has proven that people tend to think more creatively when they’re in a warm and happy place.
We use Aquanotes at our house, which are basically waterproof post-it notes.
Instead of fighting against our natural human tendencies, we must learn to adapt to them.
The spoken word is 150,000 years old, but the written word is only 30,000 years old. Even professional writers will tell you that it is very di cult to sit down and write. The reason for this is that writing is not ingrained in our DNA as deeply as storytelling through speech.
One of my favorite tools to capture ideas is Evernote.
every minute that you take away from a core activity, or spend distracted by something else, it takes about twenty-three minutes to get back into that flow state of productivity. Those distracted moments represent an enormous opportunity cost
As human beings, we have a natural tendency toward closure in that we like to finish things. Even the worst procrastinators like to complete their tasks. She also noted that once a task is complete, people tend to forget the details associated with it. Only when the task is interrupted or incomplete are people able to remember the details. the Zeigarnik Effect.
Francesco Cirillo developed his time management method, the Pomodoro Technique. twenty-five minutes, separated by short (five-minute) breaks. Your productivity is measured by the amount of work intervals you’ve completed, aptly referred to as Pomodoros.
Using the Pomodoro Technique is dierent than crossing items o of your to-do list. With the interval approach, your focus is on productivity over tasks completed. Inevitably, several tasks will be completed during the Pomodoro intervals. Your brain will have had an opportunity to rest in between work cycles, and it will work more eciently because of the interruption.
This feeds into one of the main problems with to-do lists. Most of the items on the list are not things that you can accomplish immediately, either because they are too big to do in a day, or you’re waiting on someone else. Nevertheless, our brain scans the list, it sees a series of things that it cannot yet complete, and the Zeigarnik Eect kicks in. No matter how conscientious you’ve been about prioritizing your list, the brain looks for tasks that can be completed next, which creates cognitive dissonance. It puts the brakes on your productivity
I know that I cannot do any creative work before 8:00 p.m. I have to be in the right frame of mind and the house needs to be quiet so I can focus. If the Daily Beast sends me an e-mail asking for an article, I defer it using an app called followup.cc, and don’t even think about it until after eight when I can focus.
Increasing productivity is all about finding systems that work for you, not other people.
1. Off-load ideas and knowledge for safe storage and to free up brain space.
2. Get rid of your to-do list.
3. Implement the Pomodoro Technique to maximize work efficiency. Work in sprints, not marathons.
each one of us has roughly a ninety-minute period of peak productivity. you should be able to be two to one hundred times more effective than during any other time of the day. “What would you do if you could only work one hour each day?”
Personally, my peak time is between 10:00 a.m. and noon
My company recently created an app called Less Doing Peak Time to help people identify their unique period of peak productivity. Basically, someone taps their finger on their phone screen for ten seconds and the app counts the number of taps.
your nervous system is firing on all cylinders.
advocates having a “brain-dead” list of activities that you can accomplish when you’ve exhausted. activities that don’t require your top-level focus such as preparing food, light housekeeping
1. Identify your hour of peak productivity with the Less Doing Peak Time app.
2. Respect and optimize your hour of power.
3. Utilize “downtime” by churning through low-focus tasks.
most meetings can be reduced to fifteen minutes
communicate via a method such as Slack
Technology, convenient though it is, can also be one of the greatest time sucks in a day.
I was determined to have only Chrome, Dropbox, and Skype on my computer.
Minimum limits are actually more challenging than maximum limits. It’s easier to be restrictive than it is to be expansive. For example, it’s much easier to say, “I have to turn the TV o by ten o’clock at night” (maximum limitation) than it is to say, “I will read ten pages of nonfiction every night” (minimum limitation).
Better yet, if you can combine the two, you’re setting yourself up to win. Tell yourself that you can only listen to podcasts while you’re on the treadmill. In that scenario, you’ve set up a restriction to help you succeed.
January 3, 2022
The Art Of Less Doing by Ari Meisel
⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚Overview: Book on how to work smarter, not harder.
👍Likes: I didn’t expect much from this little book but was pleasantly surprised. It’s short and to the point. Good steps which are practical to apply into everyday life.
👎Dislikes: Most of the concepts, I have come across in other books. Nothing overly new or ground breaking, but nonetheless a good reminder.
🎧Format: Audio via Audible
🤓Recommend For: People who overwork themselves and feel they’re not getting the most effective results.
📚Book Summary:
✅3 key steps: (1) optimise (2) automate and (3) outsource
✅Use the Modoro Technique- Set a 25 mins timer, focus during that time, then take a 5 mins break, and repeat.
✅Optimise the Power Hour- your peak time of productivity, which is different for everyone.
✅ Utilise down time- Use your least productive time to complete mundane tasks, e.g. household chores
✅3D Matrix for decision making- Delete, Defer (including Delegating) or Deal with messages received, e.g. emails
✅Off
⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚Overview: Book on how to work smarter, not harder.
👍Likes: I didn’t expect much from this little book but was pleasantly surprised. It’s short and to the point. Good steps which are practical to apply into everyday life.
👎Dislikes: Most of the concepts, I have come across in other books. Nothing overly new or ground breaking, but nonetheless a good reminder.
🎧Format: Audio via Audible
🤓Recommend For: People who overwork themselves and feel they’re not getting the most effective results.
📚Book Summary:
✅3 key steps: (1) optimise (2) automate and (3) outsource
✅Use the Modoro Technique- Set a 25 mins timer, focus during that time, then take a 5 mins break, and repeat.
✅Optimise the Power Hour- your peak time of productivity, which is different for everyone.
✅ Utilise down time- Use your least productive time to complete mundane tasks, e.g. household chores
✅3D Matrix for decision making- Delete, Defer (including Delegating) or Deal with messages received, e.g. emails
✅Off
August 10, 2022
This book is basically a giant advertisement for the authors business ventures. Would not recommend.
Read
September 22, 2021Outsourcing your outsourcing !!! :-) I will keep that in mind...
December 21, 2025
BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)
The Art of Less is a contrarian reminder that much of modern organizational life is unintentionally bloated with performative busyness (a.k.a. “Sludge”)—and that subtraction, not addition, is often the most intellectually honest path to better work and clearer thinking.
Executive Summary
Mats Alvesson and André Spicer argue that contemporary organizations suffer from chronic excess—too many meetings, strategies, metrics, initiatives, and buzzwords—creating activity without proportional value. Drawing on organizational research and real-world examples, they suggest leaders and knowledge workers should practice deliberate restraint. Key ideas include:
• Functional stupidity — environments that reward compliance and activity over critical thinking.
• Means–ends inversion — when tools (KPIs, frameworks, rituals) become more important than outcomes.
• Subtractive leadership — improving performance by removing unnecessary processes rather than adding new ones.
• Clarity through reduction — fewer priorities lead to better judgment and deeper work.
Review
Reading The Art of Less, I kept thinking about curriculum maps bloated with outcomes no learner remembers, meetings that exist mainly to justify themselves, and LMS features that solve problems no student actually has. Alvesson and Spicer gave language to a discomfort I’ve felt for years: we often mistake motion for meaning.
As a learning scientist, I was especially struck by how closely their critique mirrors what cognitive science tells us about load, attention, and transfer. More content does not equal more learning. More metrics do not equal more insight. In fact, excess actively interferes with sensemaking. This book feels like an organizational-scale argument for cognitive load theory.
What I appreciated most is the authors’ refusal to offer shiny replacement frameworks. There’s no “Five-Step Model of Less.” Instead, they model intellectual humility—asking readers to slow down, question inherited practices, and notice how often complexity is self-inflicted. That restraint felt refreshing, almost radical.
The book isn’t perfect. At times, its examples lean heavily toward managerial and corporate contexts, leaving readers in education or public-sector work to do some translation. I also wanted a deeper exploration of the emotional side of subtraction—how fear, identity, and politics make “less” feel risky even when it’s rational.
Still, this is a book I’ll return to when I feel the gravitational pull of adding one more objective, one more initiative, one more meeting. It doesn’t just argue for less—it trains you to notice when less is the wiser, braver choice.
Similar Reads
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown — A more prescriptive but complementary case for disciplined prioritization.
• Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber — A cultural and moral critique of meaningless work.
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman — Foundational insight into how cognitive shortcuts shape organizational behavior.
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
The Art of Less is a contrarian reminder that much of modern organizational life is unintentionally bloated with performative busyness (a.k.a. “Sludge”)—and that subtraction, not addition, is often the most intellectually honest path to better work and clearer thinking.
Executive Summary
Mats Alvesson and André Spicer argue that contemporary organizations suffer from chronic excess—too many meetings, strategies, metrics, initiatives, and buzzwords—creating activity without proportional value. Drawing on organizational research and real-world examples, they suggest leaders and knowledge workers should practice deliberate restraint. Key ideas include:
• Functional stupidity — environments that reward compliance and activity over critical thinking.
• Means–ends inversion — when tools (KPIs, frameworks, rituals) become more important than outcomes.
• Subtractive leadership — improving performance by removing unnecessary processes rather than adding new ones.
• Clarity through reduction — fewer priorities lead to better judgment and deeper work.
Review
Reading The Art of Less, I kept thinking about curriculum maps bloated with outcomes no learner remembers, meetings that exist mainly to justify themselves, and LMS features that solve problems no student actually has. Alvesson and Spicer gave language to a discomfort I’ve felt for years: we often mistake motion for meaning.
As a learning scientist, I was especially struck by how closely their critique mirrors what cognitive science tells us about load, attention, and transfer. More content does not equal more learning. More metrics do not equal more insight. In fact, excess actively interferes with sensemaking. This book feels like an organizational-scale argument for cognitive load theory.
What I appreciated most is the authors’ refusal to offer shiny replacement frameworks. There’s no “Five-Step Model of Less.” Instead, they model intellectual humility—asking readers to slow down, question inherited practices, and notice how often complexity is self-inflicted. That restraint felt refreshing, almost radical.
The book isn’t perfect. At times, its examples lean heavily toward managerial and corporate contexts, leaving readers in education or public-sector work to do some translation. I also wanted a deeper exploration of the emotional side of subtraction—how fear, identity, and politics make “less” feel risky even when it’s rational.
Still, this is a book I’ll return to when I feel the gravitational pull of adding one more objective, one more initiative, one more meeting. It doesn’t just argue for less—it trains you to notice when less is the wiser, braver choice.
Similar Reads
• Essentialism by Greg McKeown — A more prescriptive but complementary case for disciplined prioritization.
• Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber — A cultural and moral critique of meaningless work.
• Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman — Foundational insight into how cognitive shortcuts shape organizational behavior.
Authorship Note: This review was co-authored using a time-saving GPT I built to help structure and refine my thoughts.
August 20, 2022
Šiam gyvenimo etape ieškau įkvėpimo kaip daryti mažiau dalykų. Man džiugu, kad pokalbiuose ir skaitiniuose jau pradeda dingti mitas, kad produktyvumas = padarymas daugiau. Atvirkščiai, produktyvumas yra darymas to, kas iš tikrųjų kuria vertę (emocinę, finansinę, fizinę etc)
Man labai patiko “4000 weeks”, tad renkantis ką klausyti toliau suintrigavo “Art of doing less” pavadinimas.
Atrodytų, kad nieko naujo čia nepasakyta, bet man reikėjo daugelio priminimų ir įkvėpimo keisti savo įpročius. Labiausiai įstrigę momentai ir idėjos:
- kuo daugiau skirsi laiko užduočiai, tuo ilgiau ji ir truks;
- planuojant reikia galvoti ne ką padaryti To Do sąraše, bet kada. Mes priklausomi nuo daug judančių detalių, kitų žmonių, tad jeigu įsidėsim darbą šiandienai, nors žinom, kad reikia sulaukti konkrečių aplinkybių, tai tiesiog susikursim frustaciją.
- apgalvoti savo dieną ir energijos lygį. Nedaryti darbų, kurie to neatitinka.
- deleguoti. Nereiškia permesti, atvirkščiai - įgalinti kitus.
- gavus užklausas, klausti savęs “ar galiu tam pasakyti ne”, užuot “kada galiu tai padaryti”
- automatizuoti ir optimizuoti. Pvz. nustatyti automatinius maisto užsakymus, pasikartojančius vizitus etc, taip susimažina kognityvinis užkrovimas (set it and forget it)
Knyga rašyta iš pasiturinčio žmogaus perspektyvos, turinčio lėšų daugeliui paslaugų, kurios preinamos ne kiekvienam (virtualūs asistentai, daugelio darbų perdavimas laisvai samdomiems darbuotojams, maisto atvežimo paslaugos etc). Bet nereiškia, kad iš to negalima atrasti idėjų sau :)
Man labai patiko “4000 weeks”, tad renkantis ką klausyti toliau suintrigavo “Art of doing less” pavadinimas.
Atrodytų, kad nieko naujo čia nepasakyta, bet man reikėjo daugelio priminimų ir įkvėpimo keisti savo įpročius. Labiausiai įstrigę momentai ir idėjos:
- kuo daugiau skirsi laiko užduočiai, tuo ilgiau ji ir truks;
- planuojant reikia galvoti ne ką padaryti To Do sąraše, bet kada. Mes priklausomi nuo daug judančių detalių, kitų žmonių, tad jeigu įsidėsim darbą šiandienai, nors žinom, kad reikia sulaukti konkrečių aplinkybių, tai tiesiog susikursim frustaciją.
- apgalvoti savo dieną ir energijos lygį. Nedaryti darbų, kurie to neatitinka.
- deleguoti. Nereiškia permesti, atvirkščiai - įgalinti kitus.
- gavus užklausas, klausti savęs “ar galiu tam pasakyti ne”, užuot “kada galiu tai padaryti”
- automatizuoti ir optimizuoti. Pvz. nustatyti automatinius maisto užsakymus, pasikartojančius vizitus etc, taip susimažina kognityvinis užkrovimas (set it and forget it)
Knyga rašyta iš pasiturinčio žmogaus perspektyvos, turinčio lėšų daugeliui paslaugų, kurios preinamos ne kiekvienam (virtualūs asistentai, daugelio darbų perdavimas laisvai samdomiems darbuotojams, maisto atvežimo paslaugos etc). Bet nereiškia, kad iš to negalima atrasti idėjų sau :)
October 23, 2023
Useful tips and tools!
March 18, 2023
If you’re looking for a perfect self-help book that is engaging and a quick read, but offers a bunch of great frameworks that you can try, give this a read. The 100-odd pages are power packed and contain a wealth of simple and doable tips and tricks that should be as obvious as they are. If you’re a self-help nut like me, I strongly recommend that give this a read!
December 24, 2023
avoidable
October 15, 2021
A short read on productivity uplift. The book was effective in laying out few steps focusing on direction to increase productivity discarding irrelevant tasks in the daily life. Mainly targeted for those who are in too much of work stress finding imbalance in life and lack of control. Though there are other books out there on similar lines, I found this a quick and effective read not leaving it to the reader to go in depth if a particular method sounds convenient to them. Also this book gives few online resources/ websites as reference which might be useful.
April 28, 2023
Short audiobook full of practical productivity tips. 👌🏻
December 22, 2022
Nothing very original for being more efficient. Could help people who haven't read anything like this before.
November 11, 2023
Tl;dr
I have a business, here’s how you can use it.
Didn’t learn anything new on productivity… it became very clear very quickly it’s just an ad for the authors business.
In 2023 most of the productivity hacks and apps are outdated and/or have been replaced or shutdown.
Also the “solutions” are targeted towards people who can afford assistance virtual or otherwise.
“Set it and forget it” which is a phase the authors love to quote is very applicable to this (audio)book. Set it, zone out , and forget it. Good to add a book to your reading goal over an evening.
I have a business, here’s how you can use it.
Didn’t learn anything new on productivity… it became very clear very quickly it’s just an ad for the authors business.
In 2023 most of the productivity hacks and apps are outdated and/or have been replaced or shutdown.
Also the “solutions” are targeted towards people who can afford assistance virtual or otherwise.
“Set it and forget it” which is a phase the authors love to quote is very applicable to this (audio)book. Set it, zone out , and forget it. Good to add a book to your reading goal over an evening.
October 23, 2017
Felt like I've read it before
Feels like a series of blogposts condensed into a book that could be a third of the length. Still plenty of value here, just optimize the reading process ;)
Feels like a series of blogposts condensed into a book that could be a third of the length. Still plenty of value here, just optimize the reading process ;)
December 27, 2023
Want to do less? Just pay an assistant to do the things you don’t want to do☝🏼🤓 -Meisel, basically.
November 2, 2021
Less doing = more living!
What my 👂 heard ⤵️
you became a hard charging workaholic
this is a kick in my already wounded gut
you should not try to do the most possible we should do the least necessary
less is more quality is King
I've never worked 4 hours a week I've always worked more but I am a master of redesigning my life and getting more of what I want out of it
I run my whole business from my phone so I'm 100% mobile
the brain is great for coming up with ideas but it's not so great at holding on to them
the logic of starting a time restriction starts to gel
think about how to grow your revenue by 10 times instead of two times double thinking is bad for your brain you will challenge your brain If you try to double your revenue a healthy challenge would be how to grow your revenue by 10 times opposed to two times because of forces you to stretch and reach into places you've never gone before
small hinges swing big doors
everyone in the world has some unique genius to offer
big s*** like a dinosaur did it
let's doing equals more living
What my 👂 heard ⤵️
you became a hard charging workaholic
this is a kick in my already wounded gut
you should not try to do the most possible we should do the least necessary
less is more quality is King
I've never worked 4 hours a week I've always worked more but I am a master of redesigning my life and getting more of what I want out of it
I run my whole business from my phone so I'm 100% mobile
the brain is great for coming up with ideas but it's not so great at holding on to them
the logic of starting a time restriction starts to gel
think about how to grow your revenue by 10 times instead of two times double thinking is bad for your brain you will challenge your brain If you try to double your revenue a healthy challenge would be how to grow your revenue by 10 times opposed to two times because of forces you to stretch and reach into places you've never gone before
small hinges swing big doors
everyone in the world has some unique genius to offer
big s*** like a dinosaur did it
let's doing equals more living
December 23, 2022
I really wanted to love this book. The first half was legit and really helpful. He really got me thinking of ways to maximize my efficiency at work. Unfortunately, the last half that focused on increasing personal time at home is solely for individuals with lots of money. I would love to be able to have my laundry outsourced, pay a personal assistant, or even have a grocery service send personal chef created food to me on a weekly basis. But the hard truth is that the average American can’t afford most of the luxuries Ari suggests in this book. And part of that was/is me not doing my research - his niche is ceos and wealthy entrepreneurs looking for better efficiency. So as long as you go into this understanding that specific piece (and knowing if it will apply to you or not) may help future readers appreciate it a bit more than I did.
Overall- the concepts and advice are helpful, it’s just hard to put most of the advice to use as an hourly paid individual or someone living on a budget.
Overall- the concepts and advice are helpful, it’s just hard to put most of the advice to use as an hourly paid individual or someone living on a budget.
September 22, 2021
This was an average read for someone who has read extensively on the topic. There were some good points raised by the author but a lot of the recommendations were at a very high level with very few worked examples. I also got a strong sense that the book was designed to promote his outsourcing business. Kudos to him if it is, but it did impact the readability of the book.
The book was based on the initial question " What would you do if you only worked for 1 hour each day?
The answer to that question resulted in int the development of the 3 step productivity framework:
1. Optimise
2. Automate
3. Outsource
*I added eliminate as the first step as there is a lot of time spent on unproductive tasks
Overall, a readable book. If you haven't read the 4-hour workweek, I would suggest reading that instead.
The book was based on the initial question " What would you do if you only worked for 1 hour each day?
The answer to that question resulted in int the development of the 3 step productivity framework:
1. Optimise
2. Automate
3. Outsource
*I added eliminate as the first step as there is a lot of time spent on unproductive tasks
Overall, a readable book. If you haven't read the 4-hour workweek, I would suggest reading that instead.
January 31, 2024
This book has some decent ideas and ties them together well. I appreciated that the author didn’t pretend results were inevitable. He pointed out more than a few times that different systems work for different people and not all people find fulfillment in the same things. Which is a realistic approach for a business book. His concepts revolve around doing the least necessary which I can get behind if it doesn’t compromise quality to a level that is unacceptable.
I like the idea of Peak Times and Dead Head space. Also found value in the concept of having minimum limits for measurement instead of just maximum limits.
l disliked the following concepts -
“I don't believe in priorities.” - Good luck with this.
“Meetings can be reduced to 15 minutes." - Not for collaborative decision making they can’t be.
Keeping your personal stash of books down to 15 books. - Why do you yourself? Is this some act of self-torture? Is your wife anti bookshelves? Marie Kondo - Lol
The Five Whys - Four? Six? Five is so arbitrary.
I like the idea of Peak Times and Dead Head space. Also found value in the concept of having minimum limits for measurement instead of just maximum limits.
l disliked the following concepts -
“I don't believe in priorities.” - Good luck with this.
“Meetings can be reduced to 15 minutes." - Not for collaborative decision making they can’t be.
Keeping your personal stash of books down to 15 books. - Why do you yourself? Is this some act of self-torture? Is your wife anti bookshelves? Marie Kondo - Lol
The Five Whys - Four? Six? Five is so arbitrary.
October 9, 2022
The beginning went into too much detail about the author's health condition. In a book meant to focus on productivity, this felt like a waste of time.
The last part was very focused on services available for offloading work. Hardly any of those services are available in my country. If they were, most would also be too expensive for me due to a higher cost of labor here.
The information relevant to me, I've already heard or read about elsewhere.
It's not a bad summary and a good reminder to delegate where you can, which is why I still gave it 3 stars. But as I am neither rich, nor living in a large city, I am very clearly not the target audience.
The last part was very focused on services available for offloading work. Hardly any of those services are available in my country. If they were, most would also be too expensive for me due to a higher cost of labor here.
The information relevant to me, I've already heard or read about elsewhere.
It's not a bad summary and a good reminder to delegate where you can, which is why I still gave it 3 stars. But as I am neither rich, nor living in a large city, I am very clearly not the target audience.
June 11, 2018
I love Ari’s intention. He asserts that much of what we do can be delegated to virtual assistants and therefore taken off our plates. This frees us up to focus on the big picture goals of our respective professions. He talks a lot about learning to let go and not feel compelled to control every tiny detail. I hear him, but I’m enough of a control freak to have difficulty making the leap. That said, I’m willing to try. Somewhere between Ari’s idea of a perfect world and my, slightly controlled version, is a smart way to work.
October 25, 2019
Similar in style and content to Tim Ferriss's "4-Hour Workweek," the main idea is to outsource, automate, and optimize as much as possible to run your business so you can avoid spending all your time working.
My favorite tip is for email overwhelm. Separate the essential from the optional: if an email has “Unsubscribe” in it, automatically skip the inbox, and filter them out or archive/delete directly.
Save your decision making for bigger things such as deeper and more creative work.
My favorite tip is for email overwhelm. Separate the essential from the optional: if an email has “Unsubscribe” in it, automatically skip the inbox, and filter them out or archive/delete directly.
Inbox zero is not an email problem, it’s a decision making problem.
Save your decision making for bigger things such as deeper and more creative work.
October 21, 2021
I think this was a nice, quick read on productivity. I appreciated that the author did not belabor things too much, and touched on things like the Pomodoro technique and Pareto principle without over explaining them. Main focus was to optimize, automate and outsource tasks to find lost time, space and resources. I have some good takeaways including imposing limitations on my time more, batching tasks and utilizing my most productive time better, and striving for “ABD” or “always be done.” That goes hand in hand with another motto I’ve adopted, only handle it once.
July 8, 2022
Beautiful book written by a great guy
It’s a really great book for learning how to optimize your life. It’s starts by teaching you how to recognize the robotic mundanities that oftentimes fill our days and then teaches you how to restructure your day and automize so that you can perform better while having more free time to do the simple things that really do matter most. If you apply any of these simple frameworks to your thinking process and then take action, the quality of your life is bound to improve. Beautiful book written by a great guy. Thanks Ari
It’s a really great book for learning how to optimize your life. It’s starts by teaching you how to recognize the robotic mundanities that oftentimes fill our days and then teaches you how to restructure your day and automize so that you can perform better while having more free time to do the simple things that really do matter most. If you apply any of these simple frameworks to your thinking process and then take action, the quality of your life is bound to improve. Beautiful book written by a great guy. Thanks Ari
December 8, 2022
So many resources are shared in this book! I’m a little overwhelmed. I wonder if there’s a workshop that goes through all the resources suggested in this book that helps focus start all these automated processes. Even a list of all the resources to work down would be great. It sounds like it really would be life changing to implement it all. But, unfortunately, I do think starting this process, creating these habits can be easier said then done.
If there’s a workshop like I mentioned above, sign me up haha
If there’s a workshop like I mentioned above, sign me up haha
December 31, 2020
Sure, I’ve read the Koch’s “80/20”, Ferris’s “4-Hour work week”, but what harm could a reading another short book which talks about new methodologies do? It’s a fine enough book – if you don’t take everything you read as the last word.
Nothing dramatic or new here, but I like that fact that it’s a swift read – and it prompts me to think I’ve so much more to do in the case of optimising my time.
Nothing dramatic or new here, but I like that fact that it’s a swift read – and it prompts me to think I’ve so much more to do in the case of optimising my time.
March 28, 2021
I didn't get the hype tbh... and stopped reading in Part 2 "Automate."
The book just scratches the surface of some other productivity books. For example "the 80/20 rule" and "flow state" and "pomadoro technique" and other well known productivity techniques.
It's a good read (no pun intended) if you are a complete beginner in productivity books. But for me (as a productivity nerd) it was a waste of time.
The book just scratches the surface of some other productivity books. For example "the 80/20 rule" and "flow state" and "pomadoro technique" and other well known productivity techniques.
It's a good read (no pun intended) if you are a complete beginner in productivity books. But for me (as a productivity nerd) it was a waste of time.
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