“A welcome antidote to our toxic hustle culture of burnout.”—Arianna Huffington “This book is so important and could truly save lives.”—Elizabeth Gilbert “A clarion call to work smarter [and] accomplish more by doing less.”—Adam Grant We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? Despite our constant search for new ways to optimize our bodies and minds for peak … search for new ways to optimize our bodies and minds for peak performance, human beings are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally and reaching for a bar that keeps rising higher and higher. Why do we measure our time in terms of efficiency instead of meaning? Why can’t we just take a break?
In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing. As it turns out, we’re searching for external solutions to an internal problem. We won’t find what we’re searching for in punishing diets, productivity apps, or the latest self-improvement schemes. Yet all is not lost—we just need to learn how to take time for ourselves, without agenda or profit, and redefine what is truly worthwhile.
Pulling together threads from history, neuroscience, social science, and even paleontology, Headlee examines long-held assumptions about time use, idleness, hard work, and even our ultimate goals. Her research reveals that the habits we cling to are doing us harm; they developed recently in human history, which means they are habits that can, and must, be broken. It’s time to reverse the trend that’s making us all sadder, sicker, and less productive, and return to a way of life that allows us to thrive.
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Despite working harder than ever, people have never been more depressed, anxious, and unhappy. Without a doubt, our modern way of life is not working. In fact, it’s killing us. But what is to be done? With intelligence and compassion, Headlee presents realistic solutions for how we can reclaim our health and our humanity from a technological revolution that seems hell-bent on destroying both. I’m so grateful to have read this book. It delivers on its promise of a better life.
Celeste Headlee makes a powerful case that productivity is not an inherent virtue—if you’re not careful, it can become a vice. Sometimes you accomplish more by doing less.
As a self-employed person and the result of an upbringing steeped in the protestant work ethic, I needed to read this book. If you’re feeling driven by your to-do lists and always putting aside the more meaningful moments, you may need to read it, too.
Headlee explores the different trends that have brought us where we are today, from the societal changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution to the blending of home and work lives. And she wraps up with six “life-backs” instead of Life Hacks, that bring it all home. It’s an interesting read and offers solid, practical advice.
I heard about this book on NPR recently and immediately downloaded it because of the subtitle: HOW TO BREAK AWAY FROM OVERWORKING, OVERDOING, AND UNDERLIVING (and the sloth hanging from a branch on the book cover). Headlee points out that our tech addiction didn’t start with the iPhone and that the roots of our chronic busyness (viewed as a positive thing while leisure is viewed as a negative) began as long ago as the Industrial Revolution. Got me thinking about the need to take more breaks from work, stop counting those steps every time I take a walk and just enjoy the time outdoors, and when I DO work, to silence my phone, turn off email, and stop my distracted brain from checking social media. The result: it’ll probably take me half the time to write my daily quota of words–and have hours left over to work on that quilt that’s been languishing forever in my sewing room or maybe have a cup of tea and curl up with a good book.
Through deep research and evocative storytelling, Celeste Headlee shows us how to break free from constant pressure and live the life we truly want.
This book is honest, heartbreaking, and hopeful. It’s that kind of gem that you read and know you need to hear, know you need to embrace, even if it’s challenging. Incredibly well-researched and yet never preachy or dull, this book will help us all reclaim a bit of our humanness if we allow it.
This book is one that makes you consider your lifestyle. As someone who often overdoses everything I thought it might be a worthwhile read. I am retired and still way over committed, sometimes to the point of anxiety. The book has helped me see where I should take a few steps back and relax about life.
At a time when so many people are feeling overworked, overwhelmed and addicted to busyness, work, and ever-present technology, Celeste Headlee offers a pathway out. Drawing on extensive research and her own experience, Do Nothing is a powerful reminder that taking the time to stop, connect with others, and forge real bonds is vital for building community, fostering empathy, and ultimately leads to joy.
In this thought-provoking, well-researched book, Celeste invites readers to push back against the I’m-too-busy narrative and discover what it means to be truly successful.