Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee Review

 

This past week I was also reading Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee. It is a nonfiction book written by an NPR journalist. This book is all about how we've become so obsessed with productivity as a society and what we can do to slow down and feel less stressed out.

Since this is a nonfiction book, I review nonfiction very differently from fiction, unless it is a memoir. That is why I do not have a spoiler free tag, because there's really nothing to spoil. This is a general information/self-help book, and I will give mostly general ideas of what the book is about and how the author organizes the information. It is up to you if you want to read this book to get all the details.

I really like the way the book is written. Celeste Headlee has a very approachable writing style that I think general audiences can read from.

The first half of the book is a detailed history on how particularly American culture has become very obsessed with productivity. At the same time, the author debunks a lot of myths surrounding productivity. For example, did you know that multitasking doesn't actually work? Switching from task to task actually takes you longer to complete all the tasks that you need to do. It also turns out a lot of our ideas about being productive are rooted in a lot of cultural and religious ideas. However, the majority of ideas that we have about productivity really took off during the Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century, is factories wanted more workers to do more work for more hours to produce more things for more money. Decades later, even though we have shifted primarily to a service-based economy, these Industrial Revolution era ideas still stick with us, and that's why nowadays you hear a lot of talks about people feeling overworked and overstressed and unhappy, even if it's a job that they really like and pays them well.

The second half of the book is dedicated to giving us ideas on how to normalize taking breaks. It's not just taking a break doing something fun or for self-improvement on a particular hobby, it can just be a break where you rest and do nothing! Some suggestions the author gives are among the following: keeping a journal to see how you spend on your time on most days. Or as soon as you are done with your work, step away from the computer. Maybe get out and talk to people, at social isolation can me pretty bad for your health. When you are working and you feel like you are unable to concentrate and get anything done, step away from the computer and take a break. It's hard to work when you're not feeling the energy to do any work.

So I gave this book 5 stars. I highly recommend this book for everyone, especially if you're a workaholic or you think you know someone that a workaholic. But it's not just for workaholics! If you've been feeling stressed out recently in your life because of work or feeling that you don't have enough time in the world to do everything that you want, go read this book!

Wasn't it also a great idea to put Bunny Blanche from Ever After High posing next to the book? She is obsessed with time, and since this book is all about time, they go perfectly together!

Do you like any other self-help books?