Effortless Quotes

“Whether it’s “miles per day” or “words per day” or “hours per day,” there are few better ways to achieve effortless pace than to set an upper bound.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Holding back when you still have steam in you might seem like a counterintuitive approach to getting important things done, but in fact, this kind of restraint is key to breakthrough productivity.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Overachievers tend to struggle with the notion of starting with rubbish; they hold themselves to a high standard of perfection at every stage in the process. But the standard to which they hold themselves is neither realistic nor productive.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is essential.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“To see others more clearly, set aside your opinions, advice, and judgment, and put their truth above your own.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Listening isn’t hard; it’s stopping our mind from wandering that’s hard. Being in the moment isn’t hard; not thinking about the past and future all the time is hard. It’s not the noticing itself that’s hard. It’s ignoring all the noise in our environment that is hard.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“We can do the following: Dedicate mornings to essential work. Break down that work into three sessions of no more than ninety minutes each. Take a short break (ten to fifteen minutes) in between sessions to rest and recover.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“So if you are feeling overwhelmed by an essential project because you think you have to produce something flawless from the outset, simply lower the bar to start. Whether it’s writing a book, composing a song, painting a canvas, or any other creative pursuit that calls to you, inspiration flows from the courage to start with rubbish.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Remember: When you focus on what you lack, you lose what you have. When you focus on what you have, you get what you lack.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“You don’t have to be overwhelmed by essential projects. Often, when you name the first obvious step, you avoid spending too much mental energy thinking about the fifth, seventh, or twenty-third steps. It doesn’t matter if your project involves ten steps or a thousand. When you adopt this strategy, all you have to focus on is the very first step.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Past a certain point, more effort doesn’t produce better performance. It sabotages our performance. Economists call this the law of diminishing returns.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Quando uma estratégia é tão complexa que cada passo é como empurrar uma pedra morro acima, faça uma pausa. Inverta o raciocínio. Pergunte: “Qual é o jeito mais simples de obter esse resultado?”
― Greg McKeown, Sem Esforço: Torne Mais Fácil O Que É Mais Importante

“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.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“He teaches his language students to imagine they have a bag full of one thousand beads. Every time they make a mistake talking to someone else in the language they take out one bead. When the bag is empty they will have achieved level 1 mastery. The faster they make those mistakes, the faster they will progress.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Simplicity—the art of maximizing the steps not taken—is essential.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Looking at that first step or action through the lens of 2.5 seconds is the change that makes every other change possible. It is the habit of habits.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“In recent years neuroscientists and psychologists have found that the “now” we experience lasts only 2.5 seconds.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“1: Prepare Your Space (two minutes) Find a quiet place. Turn off your phone. Let people know you will be taking ten minutes. Take a moment to clear off your desk. To put things back in their proper place. 2: Rest Your Body (two minutes) Sit comfortably with your back straight. Close your eyes. Roll your shoulders. Move your head from side to side. Release tension in every part of your body. Breathe normally and naturally. 3: Relax Your Mind (two minutes) It’s natural for your mind to be full of thoughts. Just acknowledge them. Notice them. Let them come and let them go. 4: Release Your Heart (two minutes) If thoughts of someone who has wronged you arise, say, “I forgive you,” and imagine you are cutting a chain that tethers you to them. 5: Breathe in Gratitude (two minutes) Relive a moment in your life that you are really thankful for. Experience it again, using all of your senses. Remember where you were, how you felt, and who you were with. Really breathe the gratitude in. Repeat this step three times.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Each of us has an inner teacher, a voice of truth, that offers the guidance and power we need to deal with our problems.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“One study found that by training our attentional muscles we can improve our processing of complex information moving at great speed.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“After four weeks Wise’s deep sleep shot up to almost two hours a night, an 800 percent increase. His uninterrupted sleep went up 20 percent. He felt sharper, more creative, and more present.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“Wise took some simple steps. He went to bed at the same time every night, turned off digital devices an hour before bed, and before turning in, took a hot shower. He then tracked his sleep on his smartwatch for a month. He noted his heart rate, time in bed, time asleep, quality of sleep, and percentage of deep sleep.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“People who sleep less than seven hours a night are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, asthma, arthritis, depression, and diabetes and are almost eight times more likely to be overweight.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“We are conditioned over the course of our lifetimes to believe that in order to overachieve we must also overdo. As a result, we make things harder for ourselves than they need to be.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“What job have I hired this grudge to do?”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“aspects of health; even if we manage a full night’s sleep, unless enough of that sleep is in a deep state, we’ll suffer from sleep deprivation. Unlike in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, in the deep sleep stage, your body and brain waves slow down. This is the stage where information is stored in long-term memory, learning and emotions are processed, the immune system is energized, and the body recovers. Healthy adults spend an average of 13 to 23 percent of their night in deep sleep. So if you sleep for seven hours, that translates to just fifty to one hundred minutes in a deep state. Each minute, in other words, is precious.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“As Parker Palmer, an expert in the Clearness Committee process, has written, “Each of us has an inner teacher, a voice of truth, that offers the guidance and power we need to deal with our problems.” The intent of the exercise is to help people amplify this inner voice and gain clarity on how to move forward.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“We started with something that was vitally important but also complete drudgery: our weekly financial meeting. I say “weekly,” but in reality it was far less frequent, as it was something I often put off in favor of almost any other activity. I knew that once we endured it, there would be a payoff: the feeling that we had our finances in order. But because the reward happened after the fact, it was easy to put off the meeting. So we often did.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“How can I make it easier to do what matters most?”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

“When you simply can’t try any harder, it’s time to find a different path.”
― Greg McKeown, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most