"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 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.
