Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

by Greg McKeown

For example, when our children were younger, Anna and I wanted them to have the chance to be rubbish with money while the stakes were low. After all, we’d much rather they made mistakes with their allowance at the ages of eight and ten than make mistakes with their life savings as adults. So we gave them three glass jars: one for charity, one for saving, and one for spending. When they received their allowance, it was up to them to divide up the money. We didn’t try to advise them on how much should go to saving or spending. We wanted them to make the decisions, especially the rubbish ones. For example, our son once spent $40 he’d saved on an electric racing car, and he regretted it afterward. He wished he had that money for a major LEGO purchase he was saving up for. Now he is a teenager and is saving up for a major service mission he wants to go on that will cost thousands of dollars, and I am confident he won’t regret it. That’s because he got to learn from his mistakes while the risks were lower. I call these kinds of mistakes learning-sized mistakes.