Great at Work: How Top Performers Work Less and Achieve More — Book Notes

Morten T. Hansen

Published: 2018

Work Habit #1: Do Less, Then Obsess

Two misconceptions of work:

• We should increase the scope of our activities, pursuing multiple responsibilities and options.
• People should only select a few items to work on and say no to others (this view is incomplete).

Picking a few priorities is only half the equation. The other half is the harsh requirement that you must obsess over your chosen area of focus to excel.

• Greatness in work, art and science requires obsession over quality and an extraordinary attention to detail.
• Attaining that quality demands obsession and focus.

There are three main reasons for failing to focus (and how to overcome them):

1. Broad scope of work activities

• Instead of asking how many tasks you can tackle given your working hours, ask how many you can ditch given what you must do to excel.
• Follow Occam’s Razor — as few as you can, as many as you must.
• “Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when…