Greg wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Essentialism. So when his next book Effortless came out I bought it without thinking.
Initially the book was disappointing but almost anyone puts out it’s really hard to recreate the magic when there is nothing to lose. However, overtime the book got better and better. Then I noticed myself throughout the week considering how I can make more of my activities effortless.
Here’s my major takeaways to help make your life more effortless
Whenever your efforts yield a one-time benefit, you are getting a linear result. With residual results you put in the effort once and reap the benefits again and again.
Ask yourself, “What’s the simplest way to achieve this result?”
If something sucks wonder, “how can I do this as an enjoyable experience?”
FUN – There is power in pairing our most enjoyable activities with our most essential ones. Greg starts his family dinners with toasts, praising one another for the accomplishments of the day and expressing what we are thankful for.
When we experience negative emotions our mindset narrows.
The Tynan Effect – After I complain I will say something I am thankful for. After guilt / self-doubt I will compliment myself.
When you focus on what you have, you get what you lack.
Discover the art of doing nothing to get rest.
Resting to power. Holding back when you still have steam in you might seem like a counterintuitive approach to getting important things done but this could be major key to breakthrough productivity.
Train your brain to focus on the important and ignore the irrelevant.
If you want to make something hard, make the end goal as vague as possible. It’s Absolutely necessary to define what “done” looks like.
Slides simplicity – With presentations, use six slides, with fewer than ten words total.
When Steve Jobs approached problem…He started at zero and tried to figure out the absolute minimum number of steps required to achieve the desired outcome.
A language teacher told students to imagine they have a bag full of 1000 beads. Every time they make a mistake they take out one bead. When the bag is empty they’ve achieved level 1 mastery. The faster they make those mistakes, the faster they will progress.
Reading a book is among the most high-leverage activities on earth. For an investment of a single workday (and a few dollars) you can gain access to what the smartest people have already figured out.
Being an expert in something nobody is doing is exponentially valuable.
“Life does not have to be as hard and complicated as we make it.”
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