Book Notes #117: Effortless by Greg McKeown

Title: Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most
Author: Greg McKeown
Year: 2021
Pages: 272

Greg McKeown’s book Effortless is all about something I strongly believe: achieving more doesn’t have to mean working harder or feeling overwhelmed.

What I love most is how McKeown explains clearly and simply that the best way forward is often by making things easier—not more complicated. He gives real, practical advice that anyone can use right away.

He shows how we can simplify tasks, prioritize clearly, and make things feel effortless instead of stressful. For me, this is exactly what we need, especially when life feels too complicated or busy.

If you’re tired of feeling overloaded and want a smarter way to accomplish more, I’d definitely recommend reading Effortless. It’s practical, helpful, and honestly pretty calming to read.

As a result, I gave this book a rating of 8.0/10.

For me, a book with a note 10 is one I consider reading again every year. Among the books I rank with 10, for example, are How to Win Friends and Influence People and Factfulness.

3 Reasons to Read Effortless

Book Overview

Greg McKeown’s book Effortless is all about making life simpler, easier, and more meaningful. I think that’s something we all could use more of.

What I really like is how McKeown shares practical, straightforward tips to achieve more by actually doing less. His main point makes so much sense: if we focus on what’s truly important and cut out things we don’t really need, life gets easier—and way more satisfying.

He introduces this idea called “the effortless state,” which is basically when things flow smoothly and you feel like everything is easy. For me, that sounds amazing.

One of my favorite ideas in the book is “doing less but better.” Instead of juggling too many tasks and feeling overwhelmed, McKeown says we should choose fewer things and really excel at those. This approach not only reduces stress, but I think it also makes life more enjoyable.

Honestly, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or too busy, Effortless is a great book to help you simplify your life, find clarity, and start feeling good about your achievements again.

Another great insight I took from Effortless is the idea of making things simpler. Greg McKeown says clearly—and I completely agree—that finding the easiest, most direct way to do things is usually the best path forward.

He suggests taking a closer look at how we handle everyday tasks. By cutting out unnecessary steps, we save time, energy, and frustration. Honestly, I think we’ve all had times when we’ve made things more complicated than they needed to be, right?

Throughout the book, McKeown offers practical tips for simplifying almost every area of life—from work and relationships to personal habits. He encourages trying out new ways of doing things and seeing what fits best.

To start applying these ideas, the first step is simply figuring out what matters most to you. Reflect a bit on what you really want to achieve—today, this month, even long-term—and then focus your energy on those things. Say no to distractions and tasks that don’t match your goals. For me, this is a simple but powerful shift.

Next, embrace the idea of “doing less but better.” Instead of spreading yourself thin trying to do everything, just pick a few important things and really commit to doing them well. Quality over quantity makes a huge difference.

Finally, look closely at your daily routines. Ask yourself, “Could this be easier?” Often, we do things the same way out of habit, not because it’s actually efficient. By simplifying your processes, you’ll free up energy for what truly matters—and life starts to feel effortless.

Chapter by Chapter

Chapter 1 – The Myth of Hard Work

Greg McKeown starts by challenging a belief many of us hold deep down: if something is important, it must be hard. We glorify struggle, celebrate exhaustion, and assume that effort equals value. But what if we’re wrong? What if we’ve been making life harder than it needs to be?

The author introduces the idea of the Effortless State, a mindset where we perform at our best—not by pushing harder, but by making things easier. He shares the story of Kim Jenkins, who worked at a university undergoing massive expansion. Policies became more complex, workloads increased, and she felt guilty whenever she took time for herself. She had absorbed the idea that unless something was difficult, it wasn’t valuable.

Then one day, she had an epiphany. What if this was all unnecessarily complicated? What if work didn’t have to feel like a never-ending uphill battle? When a professor requested months of high-quality video recordings for a student, she questioned whether there was an easier way. Instead of setting up a full production team, she realized a simple smartphone recording would do the job. The professor was thrilled, and the solution took minutes instead of months.

McKeown argues that we often trap ourselves in complexity, believing that “hard-earned” means “well-earned.” Our language reflects this bias—phrases like “blood, sweat, and tears” or “no pain, no gain” reinforce the idea that struggle is noble. But just because something is challenging doesn’t mean it’s the best way. Instead, he introduces Effortless Inversion—flipping our perspective to ask: What if this could be easy?

He shares a personal story of preparing a high-stakes leadership presentation. Wanting to impress, he overthought it, scrapped everything at the last minute, and worked through the night. The result? He bombed. He had tried too hard, overcomplicating something that could have been simple. He realized that overdoing was often his biggest mistake. Trying harder wasn’t the solution—trying smarter was.

The lesson is simple: we’ve been conditioned to believe that worthwhile things must be difficult. But if we reframe our thinking, we can often achieve the same results—if not better—by taking the easier path.

Chapter 2 – The Power of Enjoyment

Many of us separate work and play, assuming that important things are serious and fun things are trivial. This artificial divide makes life harder than it needs to be. McKeown argues that the best way to sustain effort over time is to make essential tasks enjoyable.

He tells the story of Jane Tewson, who wanted to tackle global poverty. But she knew that traditional fundraising—pressuring people to give—felt like a chore. Instead of forcing people to donate, she made it fun. She combined comedy and charity, creating Comic Relief and the now-famous Red Nose Day. By pairing giving with laughter, she removed resistance. People wanted to participate, and as a result, the initiative raised over £1 billion.

McKeown suggests we can apply this same principle to our daily lives. Often, the hardest part of important work is simply starting. The brain resists tedious tasks, so why not make them enjoyable? He shares how he turned returning voicemails—a task he dreaded—into something he looked forward to by doing it in his hot tub. Instead of gritting his teeth through the calls, he transformed them into moments of relaxation.

Another example comes from Ron Culberson, who struggled with his son’s Pinewood Derby car race. He wasn’t skilled at woodworking, and every year, he and his son placed last. Instead of suffering through the process, they decided to embrace their strength—humor—and built a car designed to look like an ice cream sandwich. Instead of focusing on speed, they focused on fun. And while they didn’t win first place, they found a way to enjoy the experience instead of dreading it.

McKeown suggests we rethink essential tasks and pair them with joy. If you love listening to podcasts, reserve them for when you’re exercising. If you enjoy singing, play music while cleaning up. The trick is to reduce the gap between effort and reward, so we don’t just endure tasks but actually enjoy them.

This chapter flips the script on hard work. Instead of seeing enjoyment as an afterthought, McKeown suggests using it as a tool. The more fun we make something, the more likely we are to keep doing it—turning effort into something effortless.

Chapter 3 – Clearing Mental Clutter

Imagine your mind as a computer. The more unnecessary programs you run in the background, the slower everything becomes. Over time, your mental energy gets drained—not by the things you need to do, but by old assumptions, outdated goals, and unresolved emotions.

McKeown shares a personal example. As a child, he had a dream: to own a real Star Wars Stormtrooper costume. Years later, standing in a store with one in his hands, he realized he no longer cared about this goal—it had just been sitting in his brain for decades. He calls these forgotten mental programs Stormtroopers—old ambitions, grudges, and assumptions that take up valuable mental space without us realizing it.

Our minds get cluttered with “must-dos” that no longer serve us. We hang onto outdated goals out of habit. We hold onto resentment over small slights, replaying them in our heads long after they should have faded. We get stuck in cycles of complaint, which only reinforce negativity and drain our energy.

McKeown introduces the idea of gratitude as a reset button. When we focus on what’s wrong, negativity expands. But when we focus on what we’re grateful for, our energy shifts. He explains the broaden-and-build theory, a psychological concept that shows how positive emotions make us more creative, open, and resilient. Gratitude doesn’t just make us feel good—it rewires our brain to be more effective.

A practical takeaway from this chapter is learning to ask: Is this a Stormtrooper? If something is taking up mental space but no longer serves a purpose, let it go. The key to the Effortless State is not just doing less—it’s thinking less about the things that don’t matter.

Chapter 4 – The Art of Trying Less

We’ve been conditioned to believe that working harder is always the answer. But what if that’s not true? McKeown introduces the idea of Effortless Action—a way of working where results come not from excessive force but from a natural, almost automatic state of flow.

He begins with a fascinating study about free throws in basketball. Larry Silverberg, a researcher at North Carolina State University, analyzed thousands of free throws and found that the best shooters don’t rely on brute force. Instead, they develop a smooth, natural release—one where their body “tries without trying.” If they force the shot, their muscles tense up, their aim worsens, and they miss. The key is letting the movement happen effortlessly.

McKeown connects this to a broader issue—our obsession with effort. Many overachievers believe that if something isn’t working, they must push even harder. They work longer hours, double down on effort, and exhaust themselves, expecting results. But past a certain point, more effort actually decreases performance. Economists call this the law of diminishing returns: after a certain threshold, each additional unit of input produces less and less output.

In fact, working too hard can lead to negative returns—where effort doesn’t just produce less, but actually damages performance. Writers overedit and make their work worse. Musicians overpractice and lose their creative spark. Workers burn out and become less productive. McKeown calls this overexertion, and it shows up in many parts of life. Trying too hard to connect with someone can make a conversation awkward. Trying too hard to get promoted can come off as desperation. Even trying too hard to fall asleep makes sleep impossible.

The solution? Effortless Action—a state of doing where work flows naturally. Eastern philosophy calls this wu wei (literally, “without effort”). It’s the art of accomplishing things with less strain, not more. The key is learning when to ease up rather than always pushing forward.

Chapter 5 – Defining “Done”

One of the biggest reasons people fail to complete projects is that they never define what “done” looks like. If you don’t have a clear finish line, you’ll keep making adjustments, tweaking endlessly, and never actually finish.

McKeown illustrates this with a historical disaster: the Swedish warship Vasa. In the 1600s, King Gustav II wanted the biggest, most powerful warship ever built. He constantly changed the design—adding more cannons, expanding the deck, and demanding ornate sculptures. The shipbuilders kept adjusting, trying to meet his impossible demands. The result? A ship so heavy and unstable that it sank less than a mile into its maiden voyage.

The Vasa is a perfect example of a common problem: perfectionism disguised as progress. We tinker endlessly, believing that making just one more improvement will lead to the perfect result. But this lack of a defined endpoint can ruin projects, careers, and even entire companies.

McKeown suggests a simple fix: before you start any major project, take 60 seconds to visualize what “done” looks like. The clearer the finish line, the easier it is to reach it.

A practical example is the Done-for-the-Day list. Instead of overwhelming yourself with an endless to-do list, decide in advance what meaningful progress looks like. If you complete those essential tasks, you can call the day a success. This prevents burnout and helps you feel a sense of accomplishment.

The key takeaway? Define what “done” looks like before you start, or you may never finish.

Chapter 6 – Start with the First Obvious Step

Big goals can feel overwhelming, which is why so many people procrastinate. But the trick to making progress isn’t to have a perfect plan—it’s simply to take the first obvious step.

McKeown shares the story of Netflix’s founding. Reed Hastings, frustrated by a $40 late fee at Blockbuster, had an idea: a DVD rental service by mail. But instead of building a complex business plan, Hastings started with one tiny test—he mailed himself a single DVD to see if it would survive the trip. It did. That simple action gave him confidence to move forward, and Netflix was born.

This principle applies to everything. A woman struggling to clean her house thought her first step was buying bookshelves. But after some reflection, she realized she couldn’t order them yet—she first had to measure the space. But she couldn’t do that because she didn’t have a tape measure. Her actual first step? Find a tape measure.

Once she named the first small action, progress became effortless.

McKeown calls this the Minimum Viable Action. Instead of obsessing over the entire journey, identify the smallest step that moves you forward. The key is momentum—once you start, each step builds on the last, making progress feel natural instead of overwhelming.

Chapter 7 – Remove Friction

Sometimes, the hardest part of a task isn’t the work itself—it’s the friction that makes starting difficult. McKeown argues that making things easier to start can create massive improvements in productivity.

He tells the story of how Amazon revolutionized online shopping with One-Click Ordering. In the early days, buying something online took multiple steps—entering your name, address, credit card, and more. Jeff Bezos realized that the more clicks a customer had to make, the more chances they had to abandon the purchase. So Amazon removed all friction, creating a one-click checkout. The result? Billions of dollars in extra sales.

This principle applies everywhere. Want to start running in the morning? Lay out your clothes and shoes the night before. Want to read more? Keep books in easy-to-reach places. If something feels hard to start, remove any unnecessary steps.

McKeown suggests asking yourself: What is making this harder than it needs to be? Then systematically remove friction until the task feels effortless.

Chapter 8 – Do the Minimum Necessary

We tend to overcomplicate things. We add unnecessary slides to presentations, write overly detailed reports, and add extra steps to every process. But often, less is more.

Steve Jobs was a master at this. When Apple’s product team presented an early version of iDVD, it was feature-packed but complicated. Jobs erased everything and drew a simple rectangle. “Here’s what we’re going to make,” he said. “You drag your video here. Then you click Burn.” That was it. All unnecessary steps were eliminated.

McKeown suggests applying this thinking to our own work. Before starting a task, ask: What is the minimum number of steps needed to get the desired result? The goal isn’t to cut corners—it’s to remove waste. The difference between perfection and completion is knowing when to stop.

Chapter 9 – Embrace Imperfection

One of the biggest barriers to progress is perfectionism. People don’t start because they’re afraid of failing. But failure is part of progress.

McKeown shares the story of Paul MacCready, who won the Kremer Prize for human-powered flight. For years, teams built elegant but impractical aircraft. MacCready, however, focused on fast iteration. He built planes designed to crash and be fixed quickly. His ugly, lightweight designs succeeded where others failed. The lesson? Don’t aim for perfection—aim for rapid improvement.

Pixar follows a similar principle. Ed Catmull, Pixar’s co-founder, says every movie starts out “ugly.” Scripts are messy, ideas are half-baked, and early drafts are bad. But instead of aiming for perfection immediately, Pixar focuses on refining bad ideas until they’re great.

The key takeaway? Perfectionism kills momentum. Start before you’re ready, fail fast, and improve along the way.

Chapter 10 – The Power of Residual Results

We often work under a linear results mindset: effort in, results out. If you work an hour, you get paid for that hour. If you exercise today, you gain health benefits today—but tomorrow, you have to decide all over again whether to work out. Every day, the cycle repeats.

But there’s a better alternative: residual results. Instead of expending effort for a single outcome, residual results allow you to invest effort once and benefit repeatedly. Think of compound interest—money that earns more money over time. The same principle applies to work, learning, relationships, and personal growth.

McKeown tells the story of Jessica Jackley, who founded Kiva, a microloan platform. Instead of just giving $500 to an entrepreneur in need, Kiva allows people to lend small amounts of money, which get repaid and reinvested over and over again. That single act of generosity creates a chain reaction of impact.

To achieve effortless results, we need to shift from linear to residual thinking. Instead of solving the same problem every day, we should look for ways to set things up once and let them run on autopilot. This means creating systems, habits, and scalable processes that generate results long after our initial effort.

Chapter 11 – Learn the Fundamentals

Newton’s laws of motion didn’t tell engineers exactly how to build cars or airplanes, but they provided a framework that made those innovations possible. Instead of memorizing random methods, Newton gave the world principles that could be applied repeatedly.

McKeown argues that first principles thinking is the key to long-term, effortless success. Instead of just memorizing facts or following step-by-step methods, we should focus on understanding the core principles behind things.

Elon Musk, for example, didn’t have a background in rocketry when he started SpaceX. But instead of just copying what was already being done, he broke things down to first principles—asking what makes a rocket work, what materials are needed, and how to make them more cost-effective. This kind of thinking allows you to create something truly innovative and scalable.

A simple example: If you want to get in shape, don’t just follow a trendy workout program. Learn the principles of exercise, nutrition, and recovery—then you can adapt them to any situation, making health effortless over time.

The key takeaway? When you invest in fundamental knowledge, you get residual results for life.

Chapter 12 – Teach to Learn

One of the best ways to solidify knowledge is to teach it. When we teach, we engage more deeply, think more critically, and distill complex ideas into simple, memorable lessons.

McKeown shares an example from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when volunteers in Utah needed to make five million face masks in five weeks. Instead of sewing all the masks themselves, they taught volunteers how to teach others. This cascading knowledge system allowed them to scale their impact at an unprecedented speed.

Another example: A software company struggling to get employees to understand their business strategy simplified their message into a 10-minute whiteboard sketch. Instead of just explaining it once, they taught employees how to teach it to others. Soon, the entire company was aligned.

The lesson? If you want your knowledge or impact to spread effortlessly, teach it in a way that makes it easy for others to pass on.

Chapter 13 – Automate Essential Work

McKeown argues that automation is one of the greatest tools for effortless results. The more decisions we can remove from our daily lives, the more energy we have for what truly matters.

He shares the story of a surgical team that left an instrument inside a patient’s knee—not because they lacked skill, but because they relied on memory rather than a checklist. When Boeing test pilots faced a similar problem, they introduced checklists, and their planes became dramatically safer. The lesson? Don’t rely on memory for critical tasks—automate them.

Automation can be low-tech (using a checklist) or high-tech (like automatic bill payments or email filters). The key is to identify recurring tasks and find ways to make them happen without constant effort.

Expedia, for example, discovered that 58 out of every 100 customers called customer service just to retrieve their itinerary. Instead of continuing to handle calls manually, they automated the process—saving millions of dollars and thousands of hours of effort.

A simple way to apply this: Block out time for what matters most—whether it’s family time, exercise, or deep work. Set a repeating calendar event so you don’t have to decide every day.

Chapter 14 – Remove Bottlenecks

Warren Buffett is one of the world’s greatest investors, but what’s surprising is how simple his deal-making process is. In 2003, when he wanted to buy McLane Distribution (a $23 billion company owned by Walmart), he closed the deal in one conversation—no lengthy back-and-forth, no excessive due diligence.

Buffett operates under a simple rule: If a decision is important and repeatable, streamline it. Instead of treating every decision as if it’s the first time, remove unnecessary bottlenecks.

Many people, however, create unnecessary friction in their work. Meetings drag on, emails go back and forth, and approvals take forever. McKeown suggests a simple exercise: Look at your work and ask, “Where am I creating bottlenecks?” Then, systematically remove them.

One way to do this is by delegating. If you find yourself answering the same questions repeatedly, document your answer once and share it widely. If a process requires multiple approvals, ask if they’re all truly necessary.

The goal? Make important tasks flow effortlessly by eliminating unnecessary friction.

Effortless Results come from small, smart investments that continue to pay off indefinitely. Instead of working harder every day, we should focus on setting up systems, automating essential tasks, learning foundational principles, and teaching others.

McKeown’s final challenge: What can you set up today that will generate results for years to come? If you shift your mindset from one-time effort to ongoing impact, success can truly become effortless.

Whether it’s organizing your workspace, optimizing your daily schedule, or simplifying your decision-making process, find ways to make your life easier and more efficient. By simplifying your routines, you can save time and energy that can be better spent on activities that bring you joy and fulfilment.

4 Key Ideas From Effortless

6 Main Lessons From Effortless

My Book Highlights & Quotes

Strangely, some of us respond to feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by vowing to work even harder and longer. It doesn’t help that our culture glorifies burnout as a measure of success and self-worth. The implicit message is that if we aren’t perpetually exhausted, we must not be doing enough. That great things are reserved for those who bleed, for those who almost break. Crushing volume is somehow now the goal.

Burnout is not a badge of honour.

Perfectionism makes essential projects hard to start, self-doubt makes them hard to finish, and trying to do too much, too fast, makes it hard to sustain momentum.

Do not do more today than you can completely recover from today. Do not do more this week than you can completely recover from this week.

Past a certain point, more effort doesn’t produce better performance. It sabotages our performance.

Conclusion

What I love about Effortless by Greg McKeown is how it flips the idea of productivity completely upside down. Instead of pushing us to do more, he encourages us to slow down, simplify, and be kinder to ourselves.

McKeown shows clearly—with great stories and practical tips—that by being compassionate toward ourselves, setting clear priorities, and keeping things simple, we can actually become more productive. It’s about working smarter, not harder.

For me, one of the best parts is his advice on letting go of perfection. He reminds us that enjoying the process, accepting things as they come, and finding a sense of flow is what truly leads to success and happiness—both at work and at home.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by life or work, Effortless offers a practical, calming guide to making things easier and more enjoyable. It’s exactly what we need when life starts feeling a little too complicated.

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