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Kindle Notes & Highlights
Break the first obvious action down into the tiniest, concrete step. Then name it.
Start with a ten-minute microburst of focused activity to boost motivation and energy.
To simplify the process, don’t simplify the steps: simply remove them. Recognize that not everything requires you to go the extra mile.
Adopt a “zero-draft” approach and just put some words, any words, on the page.
Set an effortless pace: slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Effortless Results: not to achieve a result once through intense effort, but to effortlessly achieve a result again and again.
Principles, however, can be applied broadly and repeatedly. At their best, they are universal and timeless.
when we have the solid fundamentals of knowledge, we have somewhere to hang the additional information we learn. We can anchor it in the mental models we already understand.
four books a year.
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.
Warren Buffett uses three criteria for determining who is trustworthy enough to hire or to do business with. He looks for people with integrity, intelligence, and initiative,
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?
Part III: Effortless Results
now you want those results to continue to flow to you, again and again, with as little additional effort as possible. You are ready to achieve Effortless Results.
Learn principles, not just facts and methods.
Tell stories that are easily understood and repeated.
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.
Follow the Three I’s Rule: hire people with integrity, intelligence, and initiative.
If you take away just one message from this book, I hope it is this: life doesn’t have to be as hard and complicated as we make it. Each of us has, as Robert Frost wrote, “promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep.” No matter what challenges, obstacles, or hardships we encounter along the way, we can always look for the easier, simpler path.
