{"id":9805,"date":"2019-05-17T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-17T18:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=9805"},"modified":"2019-05-16T08:30:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T16:30:55","slug":"effortless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/17\/effortless\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do Some People Get Things Done Effortlessly?"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Question:<\/strong> You know those people &#8211; ones that don\u2019t stress over exam deadlines, never do overtime at work, go to the gym in the morning, file their taxes in advance and somehow go to bed before midnight. While most of us struggle, how come some people seem to be doing it without much effort? <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/2019-05-Effort-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9807\" width=\"572\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/2019-05-Effort-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/2019-05-Effort-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/2019-05-Effort.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Scott:<\/strong><br \/>The amount of effort something takes you depends a lot on your <strong>skill level<\/strong>. Think about doing something simple like reading this sentence. There was a time when this activity was hard and painstaking for you. Recognizing each letter, putting them together to form sounds, realizing that some words aren\u2019t said the way their letters sound.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s easy to think of literacy as being something that\u2019s obviously a skill, most of life is also made up of skills. Passing exams, completing work, habits of exercise and productivity. <\/p>\n<p>The right way to look at someone who is doing something better than you is to recognize that <strong>this person might have learned a skill you haven\u2019t yet<\/strong>. Skill isn\u2019t the only thing that separates people. Someone who is 7\u2019 tall will be able to slam dunk easily while I likely never will. Differences in talent matter as much as differences in skill, depending on the domain. However, I usually opt to focus on skill differences because there\u2019s not much to be done about differences in talent.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the reason is skill or talent, effort is inversely proportional to ability. <\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"text-align:center\" class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Gain ability and the effort goes down. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Removing the struggle in life is about gaining abilities\u2014either through learning skills, knowledge or building habits. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related:<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/27\/success-effort\/\">Are Successful People Just Putting in More Effort?<\/a><br \/> As someone who writes advice for a living, I\u2019m always interested in the ways advice works, how it gets distorted and what the typical advice-receiver can do about it.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2014\/11\/04\/20-percent-effort\/\">Make Plans Work on 20% Effort<\/a><br \/> Your ability to commit to things in theory, is much stronger than in practice. Now imagine you were a person with a fifth of your normal discipline, willpower and free time. How would you make a plan to accomplish the goal in front of you?<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/15\/focus-not-effort\/\">Why Focus (not Effort) is the Key to Getting Stuff Done<\/a><br \/> Stop doing so much stuff. Being more focused is easy: stop having so many damn goals.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/31\/the-effort-threshold\/\">The Effort Threshold<\/a><br \/> The idea that all goals have a minimum effort threshold is a powerful one. If you know roughly what the effort threshold is for any particular goal, you can stop worrying about which tactics to use until you\u2019ve committed at least that much effort.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: You know those people &#8211; ones that don\u2019t stress over exam deadlines, never do overtime at work, go to the gym in the morning, file their taxes in advance and somehow go to bed before midnight. While most of us struggle, how come some people seem to be doing it without much effort? Scott:The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nc-mindset","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why Do Some People Get Things Done Effortlessly? - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why do some people float through life easily, while you always seem to struggle? 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