Effortless summary

Sometimes, we rack our brains over problems, only to realize that we’re making things more complicated than they need to be. This was the case when Kim, a multimedia designer at a university, was asked to record a semester’s worth of lectures for her course. Already overwhelmed by work, Kim decided to look for an easy way to fulfill the request. 

Instead of filming and editing videos every week, she first asked what the videos were for. After learning they were for a student who couldn’t attend class in person, she suggested that another student record the lectures on a smartphone. By releasing the assumption that the solution was complicated, Kim achieved her goal effortlessly. This is just one way of getting into the Effortless State.

Imagine this: You’ve been assigned a big project at work, and, eager to impress, you start planning right away. You brainstorm ideas, figure out what resources you’ll need, and create timelines. By the time you’re done planning, the project has so many different aspects that you’re already overwhelmed by how much effort it will require.

But with a few Effortless Action techniques, working on this project – or any other, for that matter – doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

In 1959, industrialist Henry Kremer created a prize for anyone who could build a human-powered airplane. This was about 50 years after the first successful flight, so the challenge seemed doable. But the prize went unclaimed for over 17 years. 

The man who finally won it was Paul MacCready. He realized that participants were building expensive machines that looked impressive but failed the flight test. His approach was to build something cheap and easy to fix. This way, he could test and crash the plane several times, and use the lessons from each attempt to redesign and build a better version. This is a great example of making progress through Effortless Action.

You know how some things require constant effort in order to maintain results? For instance, employees work every month for a salary. They can’t do one month’s worth of work and expect to keep getting paid when they stop. The output will never exceed the input. 

Such linear results are inevitable in certain situations, but they’re not the only possible results. You can apply effort once, and reap the rewards over and over again. Think of how authors get royalties for years after writing one book. These recurring benefits are examples of Effortless Results, and you can achieve them with the help of levers.

We all work and interact with other people in one way or another. And, unfortunately, navigating these relationships and making them productive can be hard. 

We might struggle to get on the same page, or to communicate. Sometimes, there’s conflict that makes every interaction difficult. Or we might not be sure that those around us are capable of doing what’s needed. Because of this, reaching a goal or getting results requires a lot more effort.