Five takeaways from effortless by Greg McKeown

At its heart, Greg McKeown's book Effortless is about making it as easy as possible to determine the most effective ways to achieve what really matters to you. In this post, I want to explore my biggest takeaways and share any lessons I have implemented from the book.

Embrace the ebb and flow of life

“There is an ebb and flow to life” Greg McKeown.

Greg believes we have to live by the ebb and flow of life to lead an effortless life. When we are working, we should work hard, but at other times, we must rest and unwind.

It reminded me of the concept of the recharge mental state from David Kadavy's book Mind Management, Not Time Management. This mental state is a key mental state in human creativity, as incubation happens in this state.

Incubation is a stage of the creative process where you are no longer working on resolving a problem, but your subconscious mind is still working. This is the process that can lead to "Eureka" moments.

Another reason for resting is to replenish one of our finite resources: energy. In his book The Productivity Project, Chris Bailey states that daily productivity is the management of your energy and that time just forms the backdrop.

So, to become successful, you must embrace life's ebb and flow.

We achieve two types of results

The second takeaway I took from this book is that our work results in one of two types of results.

The first result is a linear outcome. This is when you get paid once for the work you have done. An example of this is my day job; I get paid once a month for each month I work for my employer. I am, in reality, trading my time for money.

The second type is a residual outcome. It is the creation or purchase of assets that you own and can potentially receive payment for over and over again.

An example of a residual outcome is the post you are currently reading, as I could potentially receive income from it repeatedly.

Residual outcome is better known as passive income. The potential income of this type of work is virtually infinite.

Embrace rubbish

I plan to expand on this idea in another post, which requires further research. The concept of embracing rubbish really resonated with me as an aspiring writer.

The point I think Greg McKeown is trying to make with this idea is that you need to get started. By creating something, even if it is rubbish, you will get the opportunity to learn and grow from the experience and feedback provided, allowing you to build something better next time.

This fits in with my experiences as a blogger. My first blog post wasn’t very good, but three hundred or more posts on, I’m now a far better blogger who is still learning from turning up and publishing every week.

Even now, my mantra is to publish the best content I can at that time under the time constraints I’m working under.

Defining the right range for the things you want to change

The idea is to set a range for any daily habits you do. It will allow you to make progress without overextending yourself.

The lowest end of the range should be enough to keep you feeling motivated, but low enough to be achievable on even the worst days, while the higher value in the range is there to prevent burnout.

This is one piece of advice I’m currently using with my writing habit, though I have modified it slightly, even if that wasn’t the original intent. I am currently tracking my writing habit as I want to write something every day, and I have set a minimum target of 100 words. However, according to my notes, I had set an upper target of 1,000 words.

Reap the residual benefits of Knowledge

Reap the residual outcome of knowledge by leveraging what you have learned from others. Work on finding and identifying what knowledge is unique to you and start making use of it. This will help to develop your reputation and attract opportunities.

This idea from Greg made me realize that a Zettelkasten like my own can generate a residual outcome as it links the ideas of others from across domains with my own thoughts, which I have added to my Zettelkasten, such as the idea I have shared in this paragraph.

These ideas and thoughts should compound over time as I continue to add even more ideas and thoughts to my ever-expanding Zettelkasten.

Further Reading

Greg McKeown Effortless
David Kadavy Mind Management not Time Management
Chris Baily The Productivity Project
Unleashing Creativity: A Deep Dive into “Mind Management, Not Time Management” by David Kadavy
Introductory guide to Zettelkasten
5 books that have influenced my life