Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most
Reflections about Greg Mckeown’s book
Hello, my climate honey :)
Here we are, on my time, to reflect on a book. I was so tired of being tired all the time that I decided to read a book about how to make work easier. Greg Mckeown, the same author who wrote essentialism, caught my attention when he said:
“If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.”
He is completely right! Unfortunately, we are living in a burnout society (spoiler: this will be my next book review) and people have become used to living their life exhausted!
Among my group of friends, it is common to ask when someone had his first burnout or what kind of medicine the person is taking. But please listen to me when I say : burnout is not a badge of honor! Everything does not have to be soooo hard, getting to the next level doesn’t have to mean chronic exhaustion, and making a contribution doesn’t have to come at the expense of mental and physical health.
For some of us, the idea of working less hard feels uncomfortable, we feel lazy, guilty, and unbearable. This is the time to change this limiting mindset and start to ask: what are the minimum steps required for completion?
So, how to make things effortless?
The first step toward making things effortless is to clear the clutter in our heads and hearts. Do you remember how you felt when you were rested, focused, and fully present at the moment? This is the effortless state!
The Effortless State is one in which you are physically rested, emotionally unburdened, and mentally energized. You are completely present, attentive, and focused on what’s important at that moment. You are able to do what matters most with ease. (Greg Mckeown)
We need to stop to sacrificing our time, energy, and sanity to get things done. Effortless inversion means looking at problems from the opposite perspective and learning to solve problems from a state of focus, clarity, and calm. It’s simply getting good at getting things done putting in less effort. If it looks too complex, you could start asking:
- What if this could be easy? / What’s the simplest way to achieve this result?
Work easy, Play Easy
You have probably heard the sentence: “Work hard, play hard”, but I want to invite you to change the words and resignify the meaning. It’s possible to stack and combine the most essential and the most joyful activities to construct new effortless experiences. As Greg says:
“It’s not just that work and play can co-exist, it’s that they can complement each other. Together they make it easier to tap into our creativity and come up with novel ideas and solutions.”
Stop complaining and start being grateful. When we focus on something we are thankful for, the effect is instant: it immediately shifts us from a negative state (regrets, worries about the future, the feeling of being behind) and puts us into a positive state (what is going right, what progress you are making, what potential exists at this moment). It reminds us of all the resources, assets, and skills we have.
Do you know what is beautiful?
When we are grateful, the benefits don’t stop with us! When we express gratitude to others we see their faces light up, they seem less burdened and more expansive. We create a positive cycle for good feelings ❤
Dear readers, if you take away just one message from this book, I hope it is this: life doesn’t have to be as hard and complicated as we make it.
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Amanda Costa is a climate activist, young adviser to the UN Global Compact, founder of the Sustainable Perifa Institute, and presenter of #TemClimaParaisso?, a program about the climate crisis. Graduated in International Relations, Amanda was recognized as #Under30 in Forbes magazine, TEDx Speaker, LinkedIn Top Voices and Creator and in 2021 she was deputy curator of Global Shapers, the youth community of the World Economic Forum.
