As high achievers, we’ve been indoctrinated to think that hard effort is the key to success. that we must overthink, overdo, and overexert if we wish to overachieve. Because we’re not accomplishing enough if we’re not always worn out.
However, it is more tiring than ever to work hard these days. Additionally, advancement becomes more difficult the more exhausted we become. In a never-ending cycle of “Zoom, eat, sleep, repeat,” we frequently put in twice as much effort to accomplish half as much. It doesn’t have to be as difficult as we think to succeed.
Regardless of the difficulties we encounter, there is always a better way: rather than exerting more effort, we may choose a simpler route. Effortless provides practical tips for simplifying the most important tasks so you can accomplish your goals without being burnt out.
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About the Author
Greg McKeown is the joyful father of four children with his wife, Anna.
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, both of which McKeown wrote, are New York Times bestsellers that have sold three million copies and been translated into forty different languages.
Essentialism has permeated popular culture since its release. On The Joe Rogan Podcast, Kanye West proclaimed himself an essentialist. Steve Harvey’s favourite book is this one. At her highly sought-after Sunday luncheons, former First Lady of California Maria Shriver gives her thoughts on the book. Its transforming impact has even been endorsed by presidential candidates.
Essentialism has been outselling Harry Potter in Brazil. These concepts form the basis for a number of graphic novels published in Japan. Online courses at The Essentialism Academy are taken by students from more than 100 nations.
McKeown’s 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter reaches hundreds of thousands of people. To assist individuals in implementing these concepts on a daily basis, he developed The Essentialism Planner. His podcast has developed into an ongoing dialogue with individuals all across the world.
McKeown is now one of the world’s most sought-after public speakers. He has visited more than 45 countries and addressed hundreds of organisations. Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Nike, X, and the Navy Seals are among his clientele.
He is doing a PhD study at the University of Cambridge on how to accomplish the right things together, and he has a master’s degree from Stanford University.
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Review
An inspiring manual for reaching your objectives without destroying your relationships, your sanity, or your health.” —Forbes’ Rodger Dean Duncan
The book “Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most” provides us with the much-needed authorization to choose the easiest route. Effortless is profound in its simplicity in a world that rewards hard effort with more hard work, yet expects hard work. —Vice
Greg McKeown offers advice on how to work smarter, not harder, in his new book Effortless, which draws on behavioural economics, philosophy, physics, and neuroscience. These tactics are straightforward but effective, making them simple to implement. —For Forbes, Ruth Gotian, PhD
This book is your salvation if you’re wasting your energy on useless activities and finding it difficult to finish what’s truly important. It demonstrates how to reverse the script and make the important things easier and the unimportant things more difficult with its sharp insights, compelling stories, and lively style. Greg McKeown’s contributions are crucial in a society plagued by burnout. —Daniel H. Pink, author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human, New York Times bestseller
Even while I really like Essentialism, I believe Effortless is superior and just what the world—and at least me—needs right now. The insight and excellent narrative of McKeown will be helpful to many. —James M. Citrin, Spencer Stuart, CEO Practice | Board Practice
Occasionally, a brand-new book is released at the ideal time. Greg McKeown’s latest book is more needed than ever at a time when anxiety, uncertainty, and our ever-increasing list of obligations—both at work and at home—feel like too much to bear. —Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play, a New York Times bestselling book
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We’ve been taught that the more important the objective, the more we have to work to reach it, which inevitably results in overwork and tiredness. Greg McKeown skillfully rewrites this narrative in his significant and inspirational sequel to Essentialism, contending that the more important the work, the easier it should be to do. A much-needed remedy for the culture of burnout— Cal Newport, author of Deep Work and A World Without Email
We all take pleasure in working hard, but what should we do when we’ve hit our limit and want to push ourselves even further? Greg McKeown provides the answer in his latest book: We can discover a simpler way rather than giving up, burning out, or compromising our sanity.
Effortless demonstrates that reaching more need not be as difficult as we think by offering straightforward tactics that we may implement immediately.—Thrive Global’s founder and CEO, Arianna Huffington
I needed this book more than anything else. I’ve listened to Essentialism while working out and read it more than once. Essentialism is brought into the doing world by Effortless. The novel interpretation of the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” was one that caught my attention.
He connected the concept to another long tails book I’ve read. Until you increase it by a big quantity, a lengthy tail doesn’t appear like much. Prevention seems insignificant until you consider the cumulative effect.
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Summary
Greg McKeown’s much-anticipated sequel to his best-selling first book, Essentialism, is Effortless. Even while I liked Effortless, I couldn’t help but think that a lot of McKeown’s concepts had already been discussed elsewhere (and in more detail).
For example, Shane Parrish’s The Great Mental Models, Vol. 1, contains a chapter dedicated to the mental model known as “Effortless Inversion,” or simply “inversion.” Naturally, it’s OK to discuss subjects that have already been written about, but I was expecting for a novel approach.
Having said that, I like McKeown’s ability to condense difficult concepts into a single book with a single main topic. It may have been difficult for McKeown to go beyond Essentialism, but he did a great job crafting a book that is on par with his first.