Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

Just as you can find small actions to make your life easier in the future, you can look for small actions that will prevent your life from becoming more complicated. This principle applies in every type of endeavor.

What is a problem that irritates me repeatedly? What is the total cost of managing that over several years? What is the next step I can take immediately, in a few minutes, to move toward solving it?

This is what I call the long tail of time management. When we invest our time in actions with a long tail, we continue to reap the benefits over a long period.

Because on any given day it usually takes less time to manage a problem than to solve it.

High-Trust Agreement Results: What results do we want? Roles: Who is doing what? Rules: What minimum viable standards must be kept? Resources: What resources (people, money, tools) are available and needed? Rewards: How will progress be evaluated and rewarded?

While other labor-intensive industries have seen efficiency improve since the 1960s, today in the United States a whopping 70 percent of construction projects are delivered late and over budget, and, more concerningly, eight hundred construction-related deaths and thousands more injuries are reported each year. The LCI sees lean principles as being

A high-trust structure is one where expectations are clear. Goals are shared, roles are clearly delineated, the rules and standards are articulated, and the right results are prioritized, incentivized, and rewarded—consistently, not just sometimes.

Consider taking the high-tech, low-effort path for the essential, and the low-tech, high-effort path for the nonessential.

Essential Domains: Your health Effortless Automation: Schedule your annual physical as a recurring appointment on the same day each year, and your dentist appointments on the same day every six months. Sign up for regular delivery and automated payment of your recurring medicines from your pharmacy. Set your phone to turn on “nightlight” mode two h