Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

by Greg McKeown

The lower bound should be high enough to keep us feeling motivated, and low enough that we can still achieve it even on days when we’re dealing with unexpected chaos. The upper bound should be high enough to constitute good progress, but not so high as to leave us feeling exhausted.

Instead of asking, “Why is this so hard?,” invert the question by asking, “What if this could be easy?”

When faced with work that feels overwhelming, ask, “How am I making this harder than it needs to be?”

Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow.

To see others more clearly, set aside your opinions, advice, and judgment, and put their truth above your own.

Clear the clutter in your physical environment before clearing the clutter in your mind.

To get started on an essential project, first define what “done” looks like.

Establish clear conditions for completion, get there, then stop.

Recognize that not everything requires you to go the extra mile.

Measure progress in the tiniest of increments.

Fail cheaply: make learning-sized mistakes.

Linear results are limited: they can never exceed the amount of effort exerted.

Residual results are completely different. With residual results you exert effort once and reap the benefits again and again.

Results continue to flow to you, whether you put in additional effort or not.

There are two ways to approach getting things done: the hard way is with powerless effort, and the easy way is with effortless power.

Levers give us effortless power.

fundamental beginnings or elements.” First principles are like the building blocks of knowledge: once you understand them correctly you can apply them hundreds of times.

He replied: “It is important to view knowledge as sort of a semantic tree—make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or there is nothing for them to hang on to.”

when we have the solid fundamentals of knowledge, we have somewhere to hang the additional information we learn.

Being good at what nobody is doing is better than being great at what everyone is doing. But being an expert in something nobody is doing is exponentially more valuable.

To reap the residual results of knowledge, the first step is to leverage what others know. But the ultimate goal is to identify knowledge that is unique to you, and build on it.

If you try to teach people everything about everything, you run the risk of teaching them nothing. You will achieve residual results faster if you clearly identify—then simplify—the most important messages you want to teach others to teach.

Make the most essential things the easiest ones to teach and the easiest ones to learn.

When you have low trust on teams, everything is hard. Just sending a text or an email is exhausting as you weigh up every word for how it might be taken.

Trust Is the Engine Oil for High-Performing Teams

Without trust, conflicting goals, priorities, and agendas rub up against each other, creating friction and wearing everyone down. If the team runs out of trust, it is likely to stall or sputter out. Trust is like the engine oil for that team. It’s the lubricant that keeps these people working together smoothly, so the team can continue to function.

high-trust structure is one where expectations are clear. Goals are shared, roles are clearly delineated, the rules and standards are articulated, and the right results are prioritized,

High-Trust Agreement Results: What results do we want? Roles: Who is doing what? Rules: What minimum viable standards must be kept? Resources: What resources (people, money, tools) are available and needed?

the long tail of time management. When we invest our time in actions with a long tail, we continue to reap the benefits over a long period.

To break this habit, ask yourself: What is a problem that irritates me repeatedly? What is the total cost of managing that over several years? What is the next step I can take immediately, in a few minutes, to move toward solving it?

Mistakes are dominoes: they have a cascading effect. When we strike at the root by catching our mistakes before they can do any damage, we don’t just prevent that first domino from toppling, we prevent the entire chain reaction.

What is the Effortless State? The Effortless State is an experience many of us have had when we are physically rested, emotionally unburdened, and mentally energized. You are completely aware, alert, present, attentive, and focused on what’s important in this moment. You are able to focus on what matters most with ease.

INVERT Instead of asking, “Why is this so hard?,” invert the question by asking, “What if this could be easy?”

ENJOY Pair the most essential activities with the most enjoyable ones.

Allow laughter and fun to lighten more of your moments.

REST Discover the art of doing nothing. Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow.

NOTICE Achieve a state of heightened awareness by harnessing the power of presence. Train your brain to focus on the important and ignore the irrelevant.

Clear the clutter in your physical environment before clearing the clutter in your mind.

What is Effortless Action?

Effortless Action means accomplishing more by trying less. You stop procrastinating and take the first obvious step. You arrive at the point of completion without overthinking. You make progress by pacing yourself rather than powering through.

DEFINE To get started on an essential project, first define what “done” looks like. Establish clear conditions for completion, get there, then stop.

START Make the first action the most obvious one. Break the first obvious action down into the tiniest, concrete step.

Start with a ten-minute microburst of focused activity to boost motivation and energy.

SIMPLIFY

To simplify the process, don’t simplify the steps: simply remove them. Recognize that not everything requires you to go the extra mile.

PROGRESS When you start a project, start with rubbish. Adopt a “zero-draft” approach and just put some words, any words, on the page.

AUTOMATE Free up space in your brain by automating as many essential tasks as possible.

Use checklists to get it right every time, without having to rely on memory.

TRUST Leverage trust as the engine oil of frictionless and high-functioning teams.