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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
informative
slow-paced
informative
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
“These are the essential qualities of a human being: social skills and language, a need to belong that fosters empathy, rule-making, music, and play. We excel at these things, and we need them in order to be healthy.”
Notice what’s not in that list: work. Celeste makes a powerful argument that, contrary to what our modern world would have you believe, work is not a requirement for a flourishing existence. Of course, the vast majority of us need to work in order foster the sort of lifestyle we enjoy and are accustomed to, but there’s not much of a legit reason to put as much focus on productivity and efficiency as many of us do.
In the first part of the book, Celeste gives us a bit of her personal story, mixed in with a really interesting look at how work has functioned for humans, and especially Americans, in the last couple centuries. Our culture is vastly different from others when it comes to our obsession with growth and production. As for the modern pace of work, plenty of authors take the bait and blame the tech itself, but Celeste is more nuanced than that — there’s plenty of blame to be spread out across a number of factors.
In the second part of the book, she gives us what she believes are the elements of a lifestyle that brings true joy rather than stress and anxiety. Instead of demonizing words like “idleness,” “leisure,” and even “laziness,” Celeste calls for us to actually embrace them. I’m here for that!
In a quarantined existence, it’s tempting for me to pull my hair at the decrease in “production.” As I’m sure it is for everyone who has a busier, more stir-crazy household right now than they did a few weeks ago. Which is why this book is perfect for this place in time. Turns out a pandemic can be a really interesting opportunity to explore our relationship with our work, our family, our social connections, and our larger community.
What are you missing more of: Your productivity and efficiency? Your uninterrupted hours in the office? Or your time with your neighbors, your parents, your friends? The once-insignificant chit-chats with your local baristas and bartenders and retail clerks of all sorts (which no longer seem so vapid)? The answer is obvious when you really think about it and Celeste does a great job revealing it. The “unproductive” moments of our lives are often the most nourishing.
Notice what’s not in that list: work. Celeste makes a powerful argument that, contrary to what our modern world would have you believe, work is not a requirement for a flourishing existence. Of course, the vast majority of us need to work in order foster the sort of lifestyle we enjoy and are accustomed to, but there’s not much of a legit reason to put as much focus on productivity and efficiency as many of us do.
In the first part of the book, Celeste gives us a bit of her personal story, mixed in with a really interesting look at how work has functioned for humans, and especially Americans, in the last couple centuries. Our culture is vastly different from others when it comes to our obsession with growth and production. As for the modern pace of work, plenty of authors take the bait and blame the tech itself, but Celeste is more nuanced than that — there’s plenty of blame to be spread out across a number of factors.
In the second part of the book, she gives us what she believes are the elements of a lifestyle that brings true joy rather than stress and anxiety. Instead of demonizing words like “idleness,” “leisure,” and even “laziness,” Celeste calls for us to actually embrace them. I’m here for that!
In a quarantined existence, it’s tempting for me to pull my hair at the decrease in “production.” As I’m sure it is for everyone who has a busier, more stir-crazy household right now than they did a few weeks ago. Which is why this book is perfect for this place in time. Turns out a pandemic can be a really interesting opportunity to explore our relationship with our work, our family, our social connections, and our larger community.
What are you missing more of: Your productivity and efficiency? Your uninterrupted hours in the office? Or your time with your neighbors, your parents, your friends? The once-insignificant chit-chats with your local baristas and bartenders and retail clerks of all sorts (which no longer seem so vapid)? The answer is obvious when you really think about it and Celeste does a great job revealing it. The “unproductive” moments of our lives are often the most nourishing.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
"We have been convinced through more than two hundred years of propaganda that inactivity is the same as laziness, and that leisure is a shameful waste of time."
Though the catchy, slightly deprecating title makes it seem otherwise, I found this book to be surprisingly meaty. Celeste Headlee's research first has readers examining the history of individualism and labor in America. Our country's values, forged during the Industrial Revolution, have become so much a part of our society that we rarely stop to question it: time is money, and being busy means being worthwhile. But what if more work and more money doesn't necessarily equate to more happiness?
The second half of this book gives some practical advice: how to use our time to make us happier. This isn't really a "life hack" type book where you try to squeeze out every ounce of time from your day; instead, Celeste encourages mindfulness and even idleness as a way to boost creativity. Through her own experience, the author has found that fewer working hours, when focused and deliberate, actually means the same or greater productivity and much more leisure time. The tips she outlines include:
1. Increase time perception (i.e., keep a time diary)
2. Create your ideal schedule
3. Stop comparing at a distance
4. Work fewer hours
5. Schedule leisure
6. Schedule social time
7. Work it teams
8. Commit small, selfless acts
9. Focus on ends, not means
There is, however, a caveat with these tips:
"In one sense, every one of these suggestions is really about time management, but not in pursuit of more efficiency. The overriding message is this: Stop trading time for money. The simple act of placing a value on an hour has made us loath to waste even a minute, and the more money you have, the more expensive your time is and the more you feel you don't have enough time to spare."
I found this book to be highly readable and interesting than expected. I'm feeling inspired to tune out of social media during as a "break" and do nothing instead.
More quotes:
"Decades of research disprove the theory that constant 'hustle' helps you achieve. Repeated studies show that taking time off boosts productivity, creativity, and creative problem-solving. It can even strengthen you immune system, making it less likely that you'll get sick and be forced to stay home with a cold. So why don't Americans take a break? Because we've been brainwashed to believe that hard work, on its own, is the key to success."
"We engage in busyness that is mostly goal-oriented and designed to create a public persona, rather than hobbies that are merely intended to enrich our lives."
"The truth is, productivity is a by-product of a functional system, not a goal in and of itself. The question is not whether you are productive but what you are producing."
Though the catchy, slightly deprecating title makes it seem otherwise, I found this book to be surprisingly meaty. Celeste Headlee's research first has readers examining the history of individualism and labor in America. Our country's values, forged during the Industrial Revolution, have become so much a part of our society that we rarely stop to question it: time is money, and being busy means being worthwhile. But what if more work and more money doesn't necessarily equate to more happiness?
The second half of this book gives some practical advice: how to use our time to make us happier. This isn't really a "life hack" type book where you try to squeeze out every ounce of time from your day; instead, Celeste encourages mindfulness and even idleness as a way to boost creativity. Through her own experience, the author has found that fewer working hours, when focused and deliberate, actually means the same or greater productivity and much more leisure time. The tips she outlines include:
1. Increase time perception (i.e., keep a time diary)
2. Create your ideal schedule
3. Stop comparing at a distance
4. Work fewer hours
5. Schedule leisure
6. Schedule social time
7. Work it teams
8. Commit small, selfless acts
9. Focus on ends, not means
There is, however, a caveat with these tips:
"In one sense, every one of these suggestions is really about time management, but not in pursuit of more efficiency. The overriding message is this: Stop trading time for money. The simple act of placing a value on an hour has made us loath to waste even a minute, and the more money you have, the more expensive your time is and the more you feel you don't have enough time to spare."
I found this book to be highly readable and interesting than expected. I'm feeling inspired to tune out of social media during as a "break" and do nothing instead.
More quotes:
"Decades of research disprove the theory that constant 'hustle' helps you achieve. Repeated studies show that taking time off boosts productivity, creativity, and creative problem-solving. It can even strengthen you immune system, making it less likely that you'll get sick and be forced to stay home with a cold. So why don't Americans take a break? Because we've been brainwashed to believe that hard work, on its own, is the key to success."
"We engage in busyness that is mostly goal-oriented and designed to create a public persona, rather than hobbies that are merely intended to enrich our lives."
"The truth is, productivity is a by-product of a functional system, not a goal in and of itself. The question is not whether you are productive but what you are producing."
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Picked this up because it was somehow recommended to me - not sure by whom/where. While I'm really not the target audience for this topic and the writing is decent, it definitely felt like this information could have been shared via something other than in almost 250 pages of a book. I didn't find a ton of "meat" here.
challenging
informative
slow-paced