The Power Of Less

The Power Of Less shows you how to align your life with your most important goals, by finding out what’s really essential, changing your habits one at a time and working focused and productively on only those projects that will lead you to where you really want to go.

Yes, there are a few questions in this summary to help you figure out what your priorities are. But don’t you already know what’s important to you?

If not, there’s an endless sea of blog posts, Youtube videos and guides out there, to help you ask the right questions. Trust me, I know, I’ve written one of them.

Leo carries a much more important reminder to us through one of the blinks: once you know your priorities, live them! The whole idea behind priorities is deliberately limiting yourself, which, counterintuitively, will lead you to a life of incredibly gratifying freedom.

So if you know spending time with your wife and kids means everything to you, then what the hell are you doing helping a random coworker after hours fix their computer problems? Focus is about saying no.

Ruthlessly living your priorities won’t make you as disliked as you might fear – more often than not people respect us and value our time more, when we don’t instantly run to their side every time they raise a finger.

Don’t just know your priorities. Live them.

Leo’s blog is called Zenhabits, not Zengoals for one simple reason: Habits are at the root of all lasting change.

When you know you need 1 extra hour each day to work on that dream business of yours, the only way to get it is to find that extra hour, for example by learning how to quit work early every day, or rising 1 hour earlier.

No habits, no change. Leo wonderfully allows us to start simple and easy.

Try picking up one new habit, and one habit only. Even more so, make doing the habit so easy that it becomes impossible to fail.

For example, when you want to rise 1 hour earlier, start by rising 5 minutes earlier for a week. Then move down another 5 minutes. Or even just change your wake up time by 1 minute every day. Do whatever it takes to make sure you succeed.

Even the smallest win motivates you more than the slightest failure. An accountability partner will help as well, whether it’s a friend or a professional coach.

If you start today, what could your life look like in 6 months, 5 years, or 10 years? The possibilities are limitless, as long as you get started, so don’t waste another second and start.