A review by lakecake
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee

4.0

I won a copy of this book through Goodreads Giveaways.

I really liked how this was science-based but not science in your face, meaning that it gives a lot of really good information backed up with resources and data, but it's not as data heavy as it could be and therefore it's never boring. Basically, the premise comes down to you don't need to do so much that is "productive" to get ahead, and that the idea of the "Protestant work ethic" has really been co-opted by capitalism to make us all do more for less reward. It's not a defense of laziness, but a defense of idleness, and there is a difference! Headlee lays it out well, and finishes up with a checklist of things that you can do now to ultimately improve your life. It's flexible and it's pretty easy (in theory--in practice, these things are harder and she goes into that too!). It's like a conversation with a good friend about why you need to take some "me time" or "self care" but not in the go spend money capitalist sense. Definitely recommend for anyone who feels too flustered and too stressed to be blessed.