Take a photo of a barcode or cover
651 reviews for:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Celeste Headlee
3.87 AVERAGE
651 reviews for:
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
Celeste Headlee
3.87 AVERAGE
I liked the concept and all the research, but some times it felt like it got off topic.
Outstanding book on overworking, being busy, life, and balance.
Really makes me reconsider a lot in life.
This is another one of those life changing books.
4.8/5
Really makes me reconsider a lot in life.
This is another one of those life changing books.
4.8/5
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5 ish stars rounded down. It was a good book, but not life changing. A lot of it was like “yeah, I knew that” but there were some fun stats and studies peppered in that I hadn’t heard. I do wish there was more emphasis on how to actually do nothing at all (I can find the time to do nothing but really struggle to actually be satisfied in doing nothing)
challenging
informative
medium-paced
“It’s time to stop viewing your off-hours as potential money-making time. It’s not worth it. You can’t put a monetary value on your free time, because you’re paying for it in mental and physical health.”
I started this book for nonfiction November, and it came at a great time to read for me. It’s full of reminders on working to live vs living to work. I’ve been working more overtime packed weeks than normal 40 hour ones since the pandemic started. This talks a lot about the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality and how it’s ingrained in us to moralize work.
The first half of this book covers what people thought of work and how they worked historically and has supporting current studies on how where we are now isn’t working. The second half covers actionable steps of how to re-examine working a bit smarter and achieving rest time.
While the author acknowledges privileges many times over of having some sort of flexibility over your schedule, I’d have to say the actionable portion of the book isn’t as feasible for people in hourly or consistently “on” front facing positions. The history provided of work though is fascinating and it did give me multiple moments of pause and re-examination of how I felt about our work culture.
Certainly worth the read! I would let you borrow my copy if you don't mind notes in the margins. :)
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
A lot of the recommendations/discussion seemed too impractical.
informative
medium-paced
Interesting exploration of where our ideas about work come from.