Greg McKeown wrote the New York Times best-seller, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.  As well as frequently being the #1 Time Management book on Amazon, this book challenges core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success. His latest book is titled, Effortless: Make It Easier To Do What Matters Most.

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  • Essentialism was about doing the right things; Effortless is about doing them in the right way…
  • The best free-throw shooter ever is not Michael Jordan or Steph Curry… It’s Elena Delle Donne. 93.4%. “If you keep it simple, less can go wrong.”
  • The word NOW comes from the Latin phrase, novus homo, which means “a new man” or “man newly ennobled.” The spirit of this is clear: each new moment is a chance to start over. A chance to make a new choice.”
  • “Whatever has happened to you in life. Whatever hardship. Whatever pain. They pale in comparison to the power you have to choose what to do now.”
  • The question to ask yourself: “What’s something essential that you’re under-investing in?”
    • The second question is: How can you make that effortless?
  • Life changes the day you discover residual results
  • How to make it effortless? Create a routine so you don’t have to think about it.
  • The competition to the South Pole — The difference between Amundsen versus Scott
    • Amundsen — 15 miles per day, no matter what. The “15-mile march.”
    • Scott — Push to exhaustion every day.
  • Amundsen and four others arrived at the pole on December 14, 1911. Five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as part of the Terra Nova Expedition. Scott and his four companions died on the return journey. Amundsen made it to the South Pole and back to base camp without suffering a death in the party.
    • Consistency day in and day out help Amundsen “achieve the goal without particular effort.”
  • Effortless is about simplification. Ask, “what if it could be easy?”
  • Ask: “Is there an effortless way to do this?
  • Highland High School Rugby – Won 19 national championships: Systems were put in place
  • Consistent systems are the key
  • How to deal with the guilt when we don’t work as hard?
    • Give your best to what you’re doing, but have an open mind to finding a better way to do something
  • This book for Greg grew out of agony… His daughter was living an ideal life… And then had health issues that completely changed their family.
  • They had two possible paths to help her:
    • The harder, heavier path of 24/7 always-on work… OR
    • Easier path of being grateful. Sharing optimism, and live in the state to help re-wire the brain. “Be grateful for everything possible.”
  • They chose the latter and Eve got better… How they chose to respond was everything…
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