Self-help · Book club
Do Less, Get More book club questions
Here are 11 book club questions for Do Less, Get More by Shaa Wasmund, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Do Less, Get More is Shaa Wasmund's argument that most people's productivity problem is not a shortage of effort or time but an excess of wrong activity.
Shaa Wasmund · 2014 · 2h 45m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 11 questions
- 1.
If you applied a strict 80/20 audit to how you spent your last week, what would the top 20 percent look like? Would you want to see that answer?
- 2.
Wasmund argues that busyness is social currency. Where in your professional or personal life do you trade busyness for status or approval?
- 3.
What is the hardest no you have had to say in the last year? What made it hard, and what happened after you said it?
- 4.
The book is aimed primarily at entrepreneurs and self-employed professionals. How well does the advice transfer to people inside organizations with less control over their schedule?
- 5.
What single commitment in your current life, if removed, would free the most meaningful time or energy?
- 6.
Wasmund suggests perfectionism is often avoidance. Is there a project you've been 'perfecting' that you're actually afraid to finish and release?
- 7.
What does your ideal week look like, and how far is the current reality from it? What specific changes would close that gap?
- 8.
The book encourages delegation as returning time to highest-value work. What would you need to let go of — control, quality standards, visibility — to delegate more than you do now?
- 9.
What are the two or three things that, if you did them consistently, would most change your results? Are they in your schedule right now?
- 10.
How do you distinguish between the discomfort of genuinely important, hard work and the discomfort of simply doing the wrong things?
- 11.
Wasmund writes from an entrepreneurial context. If you work in a large organization, how do you carve out protected time for your highest-value work?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Do Less, Get More?
Here are 11 book club questions for Do Less, Get More by Shaa Wasmund, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on focus, simplicity, productivity.
How long should a book club discussion of Do Less, Get More last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Do Less, Get More?
Focus, Simplicity, Productivity, Decision-making, Priorities. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Do Less, Get More or questions for other book club picks.
