Name: James Bedford's review of Effortless by Greg McKeown
Item: Effortless
Rating: 3.5
Author: James Bedford

Greg McKeown

From the New York Times bestselling author of the million-copy bestseller Essentialism comes an empowering guide to achieving your goals. It all starts with a simple principle: Not everything has to be so hard. "In a world beset by burnout, Greg McKeown's work is essential."--Daniel H. Pink, author of When, Drive, and To Sell Is Human "At a time when fear, uncertainty, and our ever-growing list of responsibilities have come to feel like much too much to handle, Effortless couldn't be timelier, or more necessary."--Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play Do you ever feel like: * You're teetering right on the edge of burnout? * You want to make a higher contribution, but lack the energy? * You're running faster but not moving closer to your goals? * Everything is so much harder than it used to be? As high achievers, we've been conditioned to believe that the path to success is paved with relentless work. That if we want to overachieve, we have to overexert, overthink, and overdo. That if we aren't perpetually exhausted, we're not doing enough. But lately, working hard is more exhausting than ever. And the more depleted we get, the more effort it takes to make progress. Stuck in an endless loop of "Zoom, eat, sleep, repeat," we're often working twice as hard to achieve half as much. Getting ahead doesn't have to be as hard as we make it. No matter what challenges or obstacles we face, there is a better way: instead of pushing ourselves harder, we can find an easier path. Effortless offers actionable advice for making the most essential activities the easiest ones, so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out. Effortless teaches you how to: * Turn tedious tasks into enjoyable rituals * Prevent frustration by solving problems before they arise * Set a sustainable pace instead of powering through * Make one-time choices that eliminate many future decisions * Simplify your processes by removing unnecessary steps * Make relationships easier to maintain and manage * And much more The effortless way isn't the lazy way. It's the smart way. It may even be the only way. Not every hard thing in life can be made easy. But we can make it easier to do more of what matters most.

Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

Effortless

Rina

James Bedford

Sarah Schumacher

So many good nuggets in this book. I don’t remember loving Essentialism - I thought it was a great book, but it didn’t cover a lot of new ground for me. But I’m also a natural minimalist and I read a lot of this kind of thing, so purely a personal opinion, and still a book worth reading.

Effortless, I’d like to own. He begins by discussing this myth that everything good must be hard/take effort, and references the fact that it might be due in part to Puritanism. Yes, but also overwork and the productivity cult are a product of Capitalism that could be an entire book in and of itself (and probably is). Stopping to think about that fact alone is worth the price of admission, but there are many practical tips that are incredibly valuable. The one that most stood out to me was to set an upper limit on tasks/habits. I have a set schedule for business development projects: minimum 30 minutes. I tend to go way over. The simple idea of setting a limit (no more than 1 hour per session) is kind of brilliant, and it’s the kind of gem you’ll find in Effortless.

You will not find any deep dive into habit development here, which I appreciate. For that we have Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, and James Clear’s inestimable Atomic Habits.

Nick Gracilla

What is the simplest way to achieve a result? McKeown asks us this, in various ways, to nudge our thinking away from "grind through it relentlessly with discipline," and towards a more joyful, enjoyable way of work. Consider this a followup to his book, Essentialism, with more practical advice on how to implement a more essential life. This is a quick read, but one that deserves regular revisits.

Christine Vogel

Fand es sehr gut und an einigen Stellen sehr hilfreich. Konnte einiges für mich mitnehmen.

Scott Wilson

Don’t work harder, find the way of effortless.

Offering a variety of examples from sources as different as science, business, and even in ordinary life in your family. Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, explains the pattern or rhythm of life – you can do things the hard or easy way, or more accurately the effortless way.

I suggest you start at the end. There you will find out the secret for why this great book was written. The meaningful depiction you will find will prompt you to want to savour every hint Greg has to offer on why the effortless way is the way that life is meant to be lived.

Drawing on advice from greats such as Sir Isaac Newton, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple Computers, to lesser known examples like the race to the south pole, and McKeown’s own personal anecdotes. I couldn’t put this book down – it was enjoyable, and easy to read.

Thanks to Crown Publishing for an advance copy provided to me through NetGalley!

Wie man Aufgaben ohne Stress und Mühe erledigt Sie würden gerne mehr erreichen, fühlen sich aber zu erschöpft? Sie rennen immer schneller, aber das Ziel ist immer weiter entfernt? Viele Dinge scheinen oftmals weitaus anstrengender, als sie sein sollten. Woran das liegt und was man dagegen tun kann, beschreibt der New-York-Times-Bestsellerautor Greg McKeown. Meist mangelt es weder an der Motivation noch an dem Willen, Aufgaben zu erledigen, ganz im Gegenteil: Wir arbeiten zu viel und überanstrengen uns und irgendwann sind die Akkus leer. McKeown zeigt, wie man Ablenkungen reduziert, langweilige Aufgaben in angenehme Rituale verwandelt, Prozesse vereinfacht, Frustration vorbeugt und lernt, auch Unvollkommenheit zu akzeptieren. Denn dann lassen sich Aufgaben wieder mühelos erledigen und die eigenen Ziele viel leichter erreichen. "Ein dringend benötigtes Korrektiv zur Burnout-Kultur." – Cal Newport, Autor von Eine Welt ohne E-Mail und Konzentriert arbeiten

Wie man sich mühelos auf das Wichtigste konzentriert

Ich hab schon das vorherige Buch von Greg McKeown – 

 – vor ein paar Jahren gelesen und fand es damals richtig, richtig gut. Lange Zeit war es auf Platz 1 meiner liebsten Self-help-Books. Da ist sein zweites Buch mit Namen Effortless doch sicher auch was für mich…?

Jennifer Kosche

Ich hab schon das vorherige Buch von Greg McKeown – Essentialismus – vor ein paar Jahren gelesen und fand es damals richtig, richtig gut. Lange Zeit war es auf Platz 1 meiner liebsten Self-help-Books. Da ist sein zweites Buch mit Namen Effortless doch sicher auch was für mich…?

„Essentialism was about doing the right things; Effortless is about doing them the right way.“


Was steckt drin im Buch "Effortless"?

Effortless ist aufgeteilt in 3 Teile:

Effortless State: How can we make it easier to focus?

Effortless Action: How can we make essential work easier to do?

Effortless Results: How can we get the highest return on the least effort?


Irgendwie viel geschrieben und wenig gesagt

Mehr auf: https://www.jenni.works/effortless-greg-mckeown

Amit Gawande

I was very inspired by McKeown's Essentialism, so I had high expectations from this book. However, this one couldn't live up to the expectations. It was very shallow - neither the recommendations nor the anecdotes were as profound as they were in the prequel.

Ivaylo Durmonski

How to move from “this is extremely difficult and hard” to “this is easy and enjoyable”?

After writing a best-seller focusing on the essential things in life, Greg McKeown asked himself this question, too. Apparently, simply listing the important things in life and focusing on them doesn’t work. You also need to figure out how to make these essential activities effortless. Yet, I don’t fully agree with everything suggested.

This is how I feel about Effortless…

McKeown’s first book, Essentialism, was like finding a hidden treasure in an impossible-to-navigate dungeon full of obstacles and life-changing moments. Effortless, is like returning home and trying to write a story about your life after the journey, but the story kind of sucks.

Theoretically, the structure of the book makes sense. Greg McKeown shares his concept about the Effortless Way and how you can reach this blissful state of mind where hard tasks are easy.

There are actionable tips. Stories that can help the reader get the idea. And even highlights from the authors’ life.

Still, it’s all kind of blunt. Repetitive. And unoriginal. Besides, a lot of time we do need to hustle, sprint, go crazy about the things we need to do if we want improvements.

The book Effortless boils down to making things simpler.

Our lives are already too hard. Too chaotic. We should do all possible to avoid making them harder.

Key Takeaway:

Don’t strive for adding more things to do. Think about how you can do the things you’re already doing easier. Effortless. That’s the key to a happy life.

An enjoyable read. 

But having only read Essentialism a little while ago, I felt as though I was getting some cross over in topics and themes. I didn't feel I took anything new away from this book, and it felt as though it was covering a lot of topics at a fairly high level rather than diving deep into specifics. The chapters are pretty short, some only a few pages long, and generally follow the format of one or two examples of people living the 'effortless' behaviour, and then some steps to introduce that into your life. 

There are some really handy tables of condensed information at the end of each section, essentially summarising what has been spoken about. I think I will find myself coming back to these in the future to revisit these ideas.

Friedrich S.

Imran

Raven

Oz Lubling

Ana Ferreira

'In a world beset by burnout, Greg McKeown's work is essential' -- Daniel H. Pink 'Effortless shows that achieving more doesn't have to be as hard as we make it out to be' -- Arianna Huffington FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ESSENTIALISM COMES A GUIDE TO MAKING THE MOST IMPORTANT TASKS EFFORTLESS The intricacy of modern life has created a false dichotomy between things that are 'hard and important,' and those that are 'easy and trivial.' Everything has become so much harder than it ought to be. But, Greg McKeown, bestselling author of Essentialism, says, there is a third alternative. In Effortless, he offers practical strategies for making the most vital tasks the easiest ones. Honed over the better part of a decade, these strategies include: · Asking 'What Step Can I Remove?' (accomplish more, in fewer steps) · Having the Courage to Be Rubbish (prioritize progress over perfection) · Deciding What 'Done' Looks Like (don't keep running after you pass the finish line) McKeown's philosophy of essentialism has helped thousands to eliminate nonessential activities and focus on the few that really matter. Working out what is essential is the first step - making these tasks effortless is the next. Effortless will show you how.

James Bedford &
Effortless by Greg McKeown

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