

We can also experience joy in the activity itself.”īy pairing essential activities with enjoyable ones-such as listening to a particular podcast while washing the dishes after dinner-we can make tackling even the most tedious and overwhelming tasks more effortless and enjoyable.įor a similar idea, read about temptation bundling in Atomic Habits by James Clear.

“But essential activities don’t have to be enjoyed only in retrospect. “It’s no secret that many essential activities that are not particularly joyful in the moment produce moments of joy later on,” writes McKeown. He adds that, while not every essential activity is enjoyable, we can make them so when we reduce the lag indicator. McKeown writes that we all have things we like to do, and things we don’t, but must do due to their importance. As a result, Red Nose Day has managed to raise £1 billion for the most disadvantaged people in Africa and depressed areas within the UK. Reduce the Lag Indicator to Make the Essential Effortlessīritish activist Jane Tweson brought charity and comedy together as a way to make giving easier. (For more on Ferriss’ other questions, read Tools of Titans.) 2. When Tim Ferriss needed to make a sales quota in an earlier job, he asked himself, “What would this look like if it were easy?” and realized he could close more prospects if he called earlier than the other sales reps. He calls this idea, Effortless Inversion and, while rooted in problem-solving, is helpful in other areas, too. McKeown invites the reader to look at problems from the opposite perspective and ask, “What if this could be easy?” as a means to reset one’s thinking. As a result, we make things harder for ourselves than they need to be.

This is because we’re conditioned to believe that we must also overdo if we are to overachieve. McKeown realized, later, that trying too hard makes it harder to get the results you want.
#Effortless book professional
In his own words, “It was my most humiliating professional failure-ever.” However, due to his over-preparedness, he bombed. In chapter 1, McKeown shares an experience where a company invited him to present to an audience on leadership.

McKeown’s New York Times bestselling book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less has sold more than a million copies worldwide. He is also a Young Global Leader for the World Economic Forum. He is a speaker, a bestselling author, and the host of the popular podcast, What’s Essential. Greg McKeown has dedicated his career to discovering why some people and teams break through to the next level-and others don’t.
