And if you were to summarize Effortless in one word, it would be simplification. Greg McKeown: If you had to summarize Essentialism in one word it’s prioritization. So just tell us how Essentialism and Effortless relate to each other, and the journey of your thinking between the two. I want someone to be able to read it and say like, I think I could do this.Īlison Jones: Tell us a little bit about the thinking behind it because many people will be familiar with Essentialism of course. Yes, it does make you feel, Oh, I’ve got this. And so I wanted it…Īlison Jones: That would have been an own goal, wouldn’t it? There’s no hard edges. I certainly didn’t want to write a book on Effortless that was hard on the eye and difficult to read. Greg McKeown: Well, that’s nice of you to say, I want them to be. It’s funny you say that, the graphics actually in the book are very friendly, aren’t they? I’m sure your publisher’s going to be really, really relieved to hear that. So this is for me personally, a good omen about the book.Īlison Jones: Well, that is relief. And I just feel, I don’t know, it has like a nice vibe about it and I like holding it. And so I was quite curious about how I would feel when this arrived, whether I would slightly hate it or whatever. Greg McKeown: That’s right, exactly, and I love the look, the graphics, the feel of a book.Īnd I think I care about that as much as, or almost as much as, the content of it itself. So that’s, it’s a little fateful,Īlison Jones: Yeah.

It’s too late to change anything for a start.

The actual hardcover book just arrived a couple of days ago, I’m holding it right now, and that’s always a key moment. Thank you.Īlison Jones: It’s really good to have you here.Īnd so obviously, firstly, congratulations on the book. And his latest book is called Effortless: Make it easier to do what matters. His New York Times bestselling book Essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less has sold more than a million copies worldwide. He’s among the most popular bloggers for LinkedIn, and he’s also a young global leader for the World Economic Forum. He’s been covered by the New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Politico and Inc, he’s been interviewed on NPR, NBC, Fox and the Steve Harvey Show. The Extraordinary Business Book Club bookshop: Īlison Jones: I’m here today with Greg McKeown, who is a speaker, a best-selling author and the host of the popular podcast, What’s Essential. The Extraordinary Business Book Club on Facebook: Profound wisdom about life and robust advice for writing that might just change your life (and your business book).

And this is no theoretical treatise: the truths behind the book were born out of a deeply traumatic personal experience, and Greg and his family’s conscious decision to choose the ‘lighter path’. If his first book, Essentialism, was about prioritization, Greg McKeown’s second book, Effortless, is about simplification. ‘One of the first principles to make progress in writing is to have the courage to be rubbish because all writing, literally absolutely all of it, starts rubbish.’

Effortless greg mckeown