Read the book “Effortless” by Greg McKeown (Greg McKeown, sorry for the pronunciation).

The book is a collection of tips and rules to make it easier to accomplish what’s most important and get more done without putting in a lot of effort. The narrative started with a story about priorities and how you need to do the most important things first, but then the author talked about something completely different: gave random advice like “say what you’re grateful for after complaining” and talked about how to form habits.

The book is like a hodgepodge of random practices and life hacks that supposedly allow you to get everything done and not burn out. However, there were several gems in the book:

“Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow” - about how to properly distribute work/rest.

“Clear the clutter in your physical environment before clearing the clutter in your mind” - a scientifically proven (not mentioned in the book) observation that cleanliness in your external environment promotes inner peace.

“To get started on an essential project, first define what “done” looks like. Write a “Done for the Day” list. Limit it to items that would constitute meaningful progress.” - essentially a copy-paste of the rule of having a definition of ready from Agile and identifying “The 3 Big Things” according to Stephen Covey.

“To simplify the process, don’t simplify the steps: simply remove them. Recognize that not everything requires you to go the extra mile. Maximize the steps not taken” - first time I’ve seen such an insight. Made a note of it.

“Set an effortless pace: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Reject the false economy of “powering through.” Create the right range: I will never do less than X, never more than Y” - essentially about the right pace of work, works well in the professional sphere.

The Best Idea in the Book - About Cumulative Results

There is linear progress - when we learned the answers for a test and immediately forgot them after the test, we got linear progress. When we invested time in understanding the fundamental principles of how the economy works, we got cumulative progress - we can use this knowledge in all areas of life.

The author claims that there are certain “Archimedean levers” that allow us to accomplish big things with minimal effort. The author identifies the following levers:

“Free up space in your brain by automating as many essential tasks as possible. Use checklists to get it right every time, without having to rely on memory. Seek single choices that eliminate future decisions” - the best part of the book in my opinion, about automation.

Conclusion

Overall, I extracted something new and non-obvious from about 30% of the book’s content, so the book gets 3/5 in my humble opinion.