Book Byte #348 "Do Nothing" by Celeste Headlee

How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

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📣 Curious Quotes from the Author

“Our level of happiness may change transiently in response to life events, but then almost always returns to its baseline level as we habituate to those events and their consequences over time.”

“We work best when we allow for flexibility in our habits. Instead of gritting your teeth and forcing your body and mind to work punishing hours and “lean in” until you reach your goals, the counterintuitive solution might be to walk away. Pushing harder isn’t helping us anymore.”

“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.”

“Petrini was a well-established food critic, and when McDonald’s opened its doors, he distributed bowls of penne to the crowds of protesters and founded a group called Slow Food. The organization’s manifesto declares, “We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life.”

“The history professor Nelson Lichtenstein told me, “What you can’t measure, you can’t reward,” and that may be why executives are so focused on work hours. For decades, the corporate world has been consumed with metrics. Managers love tangible measures by which they can determine success or failure. Work hours is one of the easiest ways to measure employee performance, but total hours worked is a meaningless statistic.”

“I know it’s irritating, when you are strapped for cash, to hear someone say that money can’t buy happiness. And yet, above a certain income level, you are quite literally trading your health and happiness for a modest rise in pay (working excessive hours generally results in a pay raise of 6 to 10 percent). Once you reach a sustainable level of income, more money won’t make you happier, but free time will.”

“I realized it was not my circumstances that caused my stress but my habits.”

“Stop trying to prove something to others. Reclaim your time and reclaim your humanity.”

“In many ways I think we've lost the sight of the purpose of free time. We seem to immediately equate idleness with laziness but those two things are very different. "Leisure" is not a synonym for "inactive" - idleness offers an opportunity for Play, something people rarely indulge in these days.”

📚 Cognition of the Book’s Big Idea

Our present emphasis on increasing productivity has made us oblivious to the pleasures of relaxation and inactivity. Ironically, we are now more anxious, lonely, and ill than ever before as a result of our concern with making our lives better. There is a straightforward way to address this situation. Make time in your life for genuine relaxation. And do nothing at all. Here are some practical suggestions now. Modify your email signature to control expectations.

It will be quite difficult for you to unplug from work and enjoy genuine leisure if you feel compelled to reply to emails as soon as they come in your inbox. Consider altering your email signature to clarify that you don't always respond to messages right away to make things easy for yourself. A simple note saying something like, thanks for your email, I tried to respond to all messages within 24 hours should be enough to do the trick.

Until Tomorrow,
Jason (Founder Club255)