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The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life Hardcover – January 1, 2009
Purchase options and add-ons
The Power of Less will show you how to:
- Break any goal down into manageable tasks
- Focus on only a few tasks at a time
- Create new and productive habits
- Hone your focus
- Increase your efficiency
By setting limits for yourself and making the most of the resources you already have, youll finally be able work less, work smarter, and focus on living the life that you deserve.
- Print length192 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBalance
- Publication dateJanuary 1, 2009
- Dimensions6 x 0.75 x 8.6 inches
- ISBN-101401309704
- ISBN-13978-1401309701
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Balance; First Edition (January 1, 2009)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 192 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1401309704
- ISBN-13 : 978-1401309701
- Item Weight : 11.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 6 x 0.75 x 8.6 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #416,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #378 in Time Management (Books)
- #2,350 in Business Motivation & Self-Improvement (Books)
- #7,223 in Motivational Self-Help (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Leo Babauta is a simplicity author and creator of Zen Habits (http://zenhabits.net), one of the most-read blogs in the world.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book provides valuable insights and common-sense ideas on simplifying and finding what's truly essential in life. They find it easy to read and understand the key concepts of living with less and achieving goals. The book helps them stay focused and motivated, helping them enjoy life more. However, opinions vary on whether the book is worth the price or not.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
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Customers find the book helpful and insightful. They say it provides common-sense ideas on simplifying and finding what's truly essential in life. The book helps them rethink how they use their time and brings perspective to a hectic lifestyle. Some strategies for productivity and simplifying one's life have already been put into practice. Overall, customers feel the book is helpful but not a solution by itself.
"...Simplifying in this fashion will not only improve your overall performance, you'll find yourself happier as you discover that those things you once..." Read more
"...There are a lot of reasons to buy this book: it goes a little bit deeper in its explanations, it is a great summary and introduction to everything..." Read more
"...Defining one's goal and values is a valuable process, but is nothing more than an emotional/intellectual exercise if it doesn't turn into action...." Read more
"...This is a valuable insight. Many of us could do well to take it on. It is especially valuable when it comes to productivity systems themselves...." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and find it helpful for simplifying life. They appreciate the common-sense content and direct instructions. The book provides a good summary and introduction to organizing and simplifying one's life.
"...Babauta suggests a different approach: shedding distractions, simplifying and narrowing your focus in order to improve your life and increase your..." Read more
"...book: it goes a little bit deeper in its explanations, it is a great summary and introduction to everything on Leo's site, it supports Leo after all..." Read more
"...Yes, it isn't a big, complicated book with recommendations for further expenditures on fancy file folders, software, special "management tools."..." Read more
"...You'll see that he has mastered the art of simplifying so that we can spend our time working towards our goals." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for living a minimalist life. It provides key concepts and advice on simplifying and organizing one's life. They say it helps them reduce their material possessions and spend less money. The book doesn't teach giving up everything, but rather keeping only what is essential.
"This little book is not about giving up everything, but rather it is about keeping only what really matters--in things, in commitments, and in..." Read more
"...Wouldn't that be the opposite of what this amazing man is teaching, LESS IS MORE, each sentence has impact, doesn't need to have lots of empty..." Read more
"...like to think of it negatively, but as a more effective and manageable way to live...." Read more
"...His books strike a chord with us because they are so humble, honest and true...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for focusing. They say it explains in detail how to stay focused and effective.
"...a different approach: shedding distractions, simplifying and narrowing your focus in order to improve your life and increase your performance...." Read more
"...The general mantra is easy to swallow and understand: focus your efforts on one thing and you will be more effective...." Read more
"...in the morning, less reluctant to exercise, all around healthier, more focused and so on...." Read more
"...books of this kind, but among them I have found the advice I needed: focus, simplify and accept that I cannot do it all if I want to have at least..." Read more
Customers find the book provides good motivation for taking control of their lives. They say it helps improve their attitude and makes life simpler and happier.
"...This book deals with all of that: kindly, encouragingly and with manageable clarity by presenting thoughtful general principles to follow...." Read more
"...way solidly into my life and the difference in my life and my attitude is huge." Read more
"...You have made my already simple & happy life even more simple, happy, effective & enjoyable." Read more
"...great reading for anyone wanting to take control, change and enjoy life to the max." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's ability to keep things simple and efficient.
"...Great book on how to keep things simple and efficient." Read more
"...There really is a POWER of less." Read more
"Leo Babauta's latest thought provoking book, Power of Less, is more about the action of simplicity and it's incredible ability to clarify and..." Read more
"Less is powerful!..." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the book's value for money. Some find it worth the price and a gift to those feeling overwhelmed. Others feel it lacks substance and is not worth the time or money. The content is simplistic and unoriginal, leaving some unfulfilled.
"...So simple...but not so easy. Yet, so worth it. Thank you, Leo...." Read more
"...I felt like it was just a regurgitation of blog content, and not worth ten dollars." Read more
"...This book is a priceless gift to all of us who feel overwhelmed with all the "stuff" cluttering our lives, business and personal...." Read more
"...Not worth the time to read it." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2009The minimalist beauty of the Haiku poetry form is attractive because the central thought, though it may be nuanced, is simple and easy to decipher and enjoy. Imagine transferring this simplicity to your lifestyle and countering the Illiad like push to expand our lives to fit in more and more activities, more and more things, more commitments, more goals, and on and on until we come to the point where we realize that we just cannot handle anything more and break down. Leo Babauta's new book The Power of Less is a turn in the other direction.
Many other books of this type encourage and attempt to teach skills for handling an ever-increasing set of goals, projects, and tasks. These systems are complex in design and often involve myriad lists and charts and numerous steps of analysis and planning. Some people may thrive in this environment and truly enjoy taking on more commitments but there is always a twin pair of risks. The first is that the next task we take on might be the one that breaks us down. Second, these complex planning systems can consume our attention and become the focus themselves.
Babauta suggests a different approach: shedding distractions, simplifying and narrowing your focus in order to improve your life and increase your performance. His system is built around the notion of limiting yourself to only the most important things and ruthlessly treating everything else as a distraction to be avoided. As you read, you begin to realize how many things that you now see as necessary (the little chime announcing each incoming email) are really distractions that are keeping you from accomplishing the things that you deem most important.
Consider your list of goals right now. You may have two or three or even more goals. If you're the type who sets goals for yourself then you probably also divide your attention amongst these goals as you work toward their accomplishment. Leo suggests a different approach. Select the most important goal and devote all of your attention to attaining it. Your attention will be more focused, your stress reduced (because you won't be trying to keep multiple plates spinning), and your motivation enhanced as you work toward the goal. When the first is finished - and only then - you start on the next. Simplifying in this fashion will not only improve your overall performance, you'll find yourself happier as you discover that those things you once thought were crucial were really just distracting you from reaching your most important objectives.
Leo offers this approach up for consideration in many personal and professional areas in Less. Filing, email, and the Internet all threaten to overwhelm us if we let them. What if you only checked you email twice a day? What is the worse thing that would happen? How about unplugging from the Internet? How many times have projects become sidetracked by a quick troll through your favorites bookmarks that turns into an hour or two? In so many areas, Leo points out how many times we have become dissatisfied with ourselves because we have allowed the multitude of things demanding our attention to distract us from what we want to accomplish. Removing clutter from our life, home, and work allows us to focus on what is truly important and to find greater personal joy and satisfaction.
The Power of Less is the exact opposite of The Seven Habits... though both seek the same end, greater personal performance and achievement. If you've spent hours developing your mission and moving big rocks around and still find yourself unsatisfied, give Babauta's ideas a try. Simplify, reduce, and de-clutter and you may just discover the one or two things that are most important to you buried beneath.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2009First, let me say this: The content in this book is worth 5 stars. Leo is the absolute best at making anyone realize what is important in the world, and act on it. If you've had it with other self-empowerment books, the kind that use phrases like "thrive off of synergy" and "discover the true version of yourself" and "unlock the millionaire within you" and other absurdities that clog the self-improvement industry of books, then The Power of Less will be an absolute relief. The general mantra is easy to swallow and understand: focus your efforts on one thing and you will be more effective.
The book is simple and direct with little fluff. It's aimed at everyone, not just the big-time business managers and the yuppie type. As a student and writer, I find that 7 Habits and Getting Things Done and the like, while they're great, just don't feel like they're aimed at me. The Power of Less is, though. And it's undiluted greatness. There's no New Age-y stuff in here, nothing really abstract. Just solid, practical approaches to the problems that everyone faces.
Here's the one catch, though: at least 85-90% of the content in this book is fundamentally equivalent to what's been posted on his blog, Zen Habits (zenhabits dot net). Leo's techniques rely on simplicity so much that there are really only so many ways you can spin it.
There are a lot of reasons to buy this book: it goes a little bit deeper in its explanations, it is a great summary and introduction to everything on Leo's site, it supports Leo after all of the hard work he has put in to helping your average Joe like me make his life and his world a little bit better, and it introduces his ideas in a logical order.
But you can get explanations the same fundamental approaches and set of tips for free on Zen Habits, so if you're looking to pinch pennies while still taking serious steps forward in your life, you might instead just want to go through his site.
This review is not a knock on the book at all. It's just a reminder that there's a free digital alternative. That's a tip Leo himself would approve of.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2009Every year I dutifully make a list of New Year's Resolutions. At the end of every year, I review my resolutions and realize that I am no further in realizing them than I was when I resolved them initially!
My big problem: Overcomplicating the process. I've read every time management, goal management, productivity resource out there (or so it seems) starting with Alan Laekin in college through Dave Allen and Stephen Covey more recently. Each has added value to my life, but having read so many resources I want to employ every tip and task management strategy.
Leo's book simplifies the two halves of accomplishing one's "big" goals and daily tasks which keep life operating semi-smoothly: goal defining and time management.
Defining one's goal and values is a valuable process, but is nothing more than an emotional/intellectual exercise if it doesn't turn into action. Managing one's time through processes and tools creates a sense of purpose and accomplishment, but frequently becomes merely a way of creating the illusion of progress though endless busyness.
Leo's book simply describes how to achieve both...defining one's goals and structuring one's time to achieve those goals.
Yes, it isn't a big, complicated book with recommendations for further expenditures on fancy file folders, software, special "management tools." And, that is the beauty of it. You can start now and following a few exceptionally simple steps make progress towards your goals every day. So simple...but not so easy. Yet, so worth it.
Thank you, Leo. I look forward to reviewing my New Year's Resolutions at year's end and being able to check many of them off as realized.
Top reviews from other countries
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Angelica PennasilicoReviewed in Italy on March 18, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Ripetitivo.
Per me che sono risoluta… troppa ripetizione, parole per arrivare al nocciolo. Abbandonata la lettura dopo qualke capitolo.
- Mike HalesReviewed in the United Kingdom on May 22, 2022
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy steps and encouraging
I read a lot of books like this, self-help, guides, how tos and so on. I often find that I fee like I have to stop and absorb what I’ve read but the great thing about this book is that 99% is common sense but the act of reading it and having the mental ah ha moment is often more than enough to stimulate you. I quite often found myself sitting and reading, would notice that actually yes my desk is a mess or the kitchen table is covered in stuff, stop, clear it and then carry on reading. Simple, small things but with instant rewards. A thoughtful and well-written book, if you like me gravitate towards books like this, well this one is better than most and worth your time and money.
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Canada on June 6, 2019
5.0 out of 5 stars greatest book ever
The cd's are in great condition- this book is so inspirational - helps clarify many self help issues...
thanks
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SakiReviewed in France on December 4, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Très bien
Livre reçu en parfait état. (Les petits défauts sur la couverture visible sur la photo sont dus à mon utilisation personnelle.)
Un livre à l'image de la générosité de son auteur. Une approche pratique et pragmatique des bénéfices apportés par un mode de vie minimaliste - ou du moins beaucoup plus simplifié et épuré que ce lui que la majeure partie d'entre nous mène. Leo Babauta nous livre son mode d'emploi pour une vie plus apaisée, moins encombrée... et donc centrée sur l'essentiel.
Less is more !
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MARTA FERNANDEZReviewed in Spain on October 13, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Libro de cabecera
Muy buen libro de productividad y minimalismo. He aplicado muchos de sus consejos y hasta el momento son perdurables y efectivos.