Do Nothing

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.

Auteur

Celeste Headlee

Texte du rabat

"We work feverishly to make ourselves happy. So why are we so miserable? Despite our constant search for new ways to "hack" 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. This manifesto helps us break free of our unhealthy devotion to efficiency and shows us how to reclaim our time and humanity with a little more leisure"--

Résumé
Through deep research and evocative storytelling, Celeste Headlee shows us how to break free from constant pressure and live the life we truly want. **Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global

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. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat Pray Love

Celeste Headlee makes a powerful case that productivity is not an inherent virtue if you re not careful, it can become a vice. If you've ever felt compelled to work harder, this book is a clarion call to work smarter instead. Sometimes you accomplish more by doing less. Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the chart-topping TED podcast WorkLife

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. Brigid Schulte, author of the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed, and director of The Better Life Lab at New America

I needed this book. And chances are you need it, too. Celeste Headlee does something amazing in Do Nothing. She battles this hectic, stressful time and highlights the things that makes our lives better. Connection. Experience. Self-care. And, above all, she reminds us to get busy living. Jared Yates Sexton, author of The Man They Wanted Me to Be

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. Laura Vanderkam, author of Off the Clock and I Know How She Does It

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. **Nataly Kogan, author of *Happier Now

[*Do Nothing s] conversational tone draws readers in, and it will appeal to those looking beyond self-help to something more meaningful. Booklist

This is neither a self-help book nor a how-to for people looking for a guide for different working habits. Rather, Headlee systematically deconstructs the toxicity of hustle culture with historical and scientific research to help readers question their habits and impulses surrounding overwork. Shelf Awareness

Échantillon de lecture
Introduction

It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the twenty-four. In so far as this is true in the modern world, it is a condemnation of our civilization; it would not have been true at any earlier period. There was formerly a capacity for light-heartedness and play which has been to some extent inhibited by the cult of efficiency. The modern man thinks that everything ought to be done for the sake of something else, and never for its own sake.
*BERTRAND RUSSELL, *In Praise of Idleness, 1932

We answer work emails on Sunday night. We read endless articles about how to hack our brains to achieve more productivity. We crop our photos and use filters before we post them on social media to earn approval. We read only the first couple paragraphs of the articles we find interesting because we don t have time to read them in their entirety. We are overworked and overstressed, constantly dissatisfied, and reaching for a bar that keeps rising higher and higher. We are members of the cult of efficiency, and we re killing ourselves with productivity. The passage at the beginning of this Introduction was written in 1932, not long after the stock market crash of 1929, which caused the Great Depression. Russell s description of the cult of efficiency predates World War II, the rise of rock and roll, the civil rights movement, and the dawn of the twenty-first century. More important, in my mind: It was written before the creation of the internet and smartphones and social media.

In other words, technology didn t create this cult; it simply added to an existing culture. For generations, we have made ourselves miserable while we ve worked feverishly. We have driven ourselves for so long that we ve forgotten where we are going, and have lost our capacity for light-heartedness and play.

Here s the bottom line: We are lonely, sick, and suicidal. Every year a new survey emerges showing more people are isolated and depressed than the year before. It s time to stop watching the trend move in the wrong direction while we throw up our hands in despair. It s time to figure out what s going wrong.

All my life, I ve been driven. That word has been used to describe me since elementary school…