This authors books are always so insightful.

This one wasn’t as page turning and engaging as his book before this but I still learned a lot.

Some stuff in this book wasn’t anything groundbreaking but is a good reminder of how you can learn and grow to live a better life.

Effortless picks up where Essentialism left off. While Essentialism may have been light on the actionable suggestions that we can use to better our lives, Effortless provides the tips. This book is similar to Atomic Habits by James Clear, and will appeal to fans of productivity and self-development.

Great book it continues where his first left off on building habits. Well written and approachable. I’ve been incorporating his tips into my daily life.

I like making things easier! Any time that someone can help make things easier for me, I am interested. I felt that the author covered some of the same ground that he did in "Essentialism", but from a different angle. Doing the essential things in life makes life easier. You can exert less effort if you focus on the essential items. McKeown does an excellent job of presenting his ideas.

I'm a huge fan of McKeown's previous book "Essentialism". This second book continues by making the most of your effort when it comes to doing the essential things. Really enjoyed this book. Give it a read.

His advice is practical and makes you realize how simple it can be to reduce burnout. Gives examples that are relatable and can help simplify your own responsibilities. While some don't like the examples I found it helpful when applying to my own life.

In EFFORTLESS, McKoewn shows us how to get out of our own way, so we can lead a more contended, productive life. While his ideas may be those you have heard in other ways before, EFFORTLESS sets them down in a manner that makes them easy to remember.

A long-awaited sequel to McKeown's Essentialism. Simple (not easy) solutions to reduce the effort and. Inspiring and thought-provoking advice, helpful and illustrative real-life examples. I'll be reading this again to keep working on implementing these rules to live by in my work and life.

This book was fine. I wouldn’t say there was anything extraordinary about it, I enjoyed reading it. It was effortless. That’s for sure.

Sometimes we make things harder than they need to be. But with the right steps, we can learn to make life easier instead.

McKeown focuses on making it easy to do what matters. He says we sometimes fail because we’re trying too hard. Instead, maybe we should “make the most essential activities the easiest ones.”

The book doesn’t give a one-size-fits-all answer, because what matters to you, to me, and to McKeown might be three different things. But the approach we use to arrive at that answer can be similar.

Here are 6 pieces of advice from the book to make life easier, among many others.

1. Make it a pair.

Reduce the lag time between the action and satisfaction by pairing an essential activity with a reward (such as, listening to a podcast only when you’re walking on the treadmill).

2. Create habit recipes.

“After [X] I will [Y].” For example, after I complain I will say something I am thankful for.

3. Create a “Done for the Day” list.

Only include on this list what constitutes meaningful and essential progress. Don’t make it a completion list, just a done-for-the day list.

4. Take the first obvious action.

Break projects down into their simplest parts. Too often we think of the first series of steps as the first step. Instead, find the true first step and start there.

5. Embrace the rubbish.

Don’t try to get everything exactly right the first time.

6. Grow a knowledge tree.

To repeat the residual results of knowledge, leverage what others know.

Effortless is full of more practical tips like these six. None are extreme or difficult, but are all designed to help us go the distance by choosing a lighter path.

McKeown ends the book with this takeaway:

“Life doesn’t have to be as hard and complicated as we make it. Ask yourself, “How am I making things harder than they need to be?” When you have your answer, you will know what to do next. It is as simple, it is as easy, as that.”

My thanks to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the review copy of this book.

Despite some obvious oversimplification, McKeown provides a good checklist of behaviors or habits that may reduce chances of a burn-out while pursuing one's goals. As with earlier work, the cartoonish representations of ideas sometimes fall flat and silly, but the ideas are worth exploring.

In three sections, ideas on intent, execution and habit formation are synthesized. The pithy discussions draw from various disciplines but superficial; a more curious reader could use some key terms from behavioral psychology to hunt for a nuanced and detailed understanding. The narrative tone is mostly conversational and cheerleading.. Perhaps, the best part of the book is the well curated and presented summary and actionable ideas presented in each of the three parts; and in a combined manner towards the end of the book. Starting from that summary tables may be the best way to read the book.

Overall, a good source of ideas. 3.5*

Greg McKeown's Effortless is more or less the next level of the ideas introduced in his book Essentialism.

The premise of the book is pretty simple: things don't have to be so hard. In this book, Greg addresses how once we've gotten to the state of "essentials only" we sometimes still feel we have too much. There are ways to get the results we want and need without putting so much effort out. It is amazing looking around and seeing how often effort or time is associated with a good result. We're finally starting to not view things so black and white in society, but there is still a long way to go. Greg does a great job addressing this and suggesting practical ways to do more with less effort. The book is broken down into 3 sections: Effortless State, Effortless Action, and Effortless Results. The sections each offer practical advice that can be easily applied.

I really enjoyed this book and can highly recommend that if you've read Essentialism you need to read this as well.

Effortless is a great and much needed sequel to Essentialism. Once you get the concept of Essentialism, which is prioritization, you can still find that you are overwhelmed by the number of "essential" activities. The author acknowledges this fact, and this is where Effortless picks up the thread and takes you on a path to simplification of the essential life. Some books you read and download to the memory banks as good concepts that might be relevant at some future juncture, and some books you can walk away with simple actionable takeaways that feel good to start putting into practice, and this is one of the latter. You'll find some extremely relevant examples of steps you can take to make some changes that are not only direct takeaways, but the point is clear enough that you can easily expand from the list in the book to similar activities while you are reading.

What if you could achieve more without overexerting and overthinking? McKeown stresses the importance of simplifying processes to get effortless results. McKeown focuses on how to get yourself in the right mindset, how to simplify your actions, and then how to automate them to reach even greater results. 

When I read McKeown's Essentialism last year, its simplicity spoke to me in a way few books have. Needless to say, my expectations for Effortless were rather high. Unfortunately, McKeown's newest book just didn't have the same power that Essentialism had, and I struggled to stay engaged with the uninspired advice.

If you like McKeown's previous book (Essentialism) you'll like this one. Some readers will find much of this trite, and others will love its simplicity and brevity and illustrations. There are some excellent approaches here that can be very helpful. I suspect this will sell well.

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!