Greg McKeown is the author of two New York Times bestsellers, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less and Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. 200,000 people receive his weekly 1-Minute Wednesday newsletter, and he recently released The Essentialism Planner: A 90-Day Guide to Accomplishing More by Doing Less.
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Timestamps:
[00:00] Who is Greg McKeown?
[05:12] Handling destabilizing events and personal turmoil.
[10:47] Writing as therapy and “screaming onto the page.”
[13:35] Using Morning Pages and AI tools for personal reflection.
[17:52] Carl Rogers and the power of deep listening.
[20:33] Reviewing the core concepts of Essentialism and Effortless.
[24:54] Temporal landmarks and the fresh start effect.
[29:25] Personal quarterly offsites and the importance of direction over speed.
[31:13] The three essential questions for quarterly reviews.
[34:16] Making essential tasks effortless — practical examples and strategies.
[37:03] The law of inverse prioritization — why important things don’t get done.
[38:45] Strategies for making tasks simpler — the microburst concept.
[44:37] The courage to be rubbish.
[47:09] Pre-mortems and anticipating obstacles.
[52:37] Michael Phelps’ preparation and routine.
[01:07:31] The 1-2-3 method and defining what “done” looks like.
[01:15:19] Meaning over productivity, and making vs. managing.
[01:23:14] Radical gratitude and finding meaning in suffering.
[01:36:43] Parting thoughts on deep connection and listening.
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