If there was a timing for every thing that comes into your life, I would say this book has come to me at a serendipity moment where I feel the need to do nothing. Slowing down every single aspect of my life has become my ultimate goal and one that I am deeply concentrating to fulfill.
Since I noticed that many of the walls in society have been questionable or outdated, it is only time to focus more attention to the intention of our time.
This book about shifting the mindset of how our work culture has made us tired to the point where we no longer enjoy leisure but prefer to stay busy. We need to get away from because it is an outdated method.
Do Nothing is about taking your time back to live your life NOT to burnout your life.
In my reading journey, I have never come across individuals who have the same viewpoint of questioning where this model of hustle culture and appearing busy as a status symbol came from and has been ingrained in our current society. It’s almost like everyone just accepts it as the status quo.
We have only discovered that this overworking culture is not truly for us (i.e. the pandemic). And we continue to work at it because if we don’t our economic status will fall and be seen as unsuccessful. That we won’t be able to afford all the new items out in the market to satisfy our consumer addiction needs.
The more you work equals the more money you get paid. Which is false. You are just overworked.
And when we do have time for leisure, we are bombarded with advertising to buy buy buy. And also bombarded with life hacks to take advantage of productivity while we have idle time. And being named a bum or lazy person for having more time in life than others. There’s just so many “ands.”
In Part II of the book, Headlee gives 6 Life-Back suggestions to break your addiction to efficiency:
- Increase time perception
- Create your ideal schedule
- Stop comparing at a distance
- Work fewer hours
- Schedule leisure
- Schedule social time
- Work in teams.
- Commit small, selfless acts.
- Focus on ends, not means.
The author states to counter consumer mentality is to take up a hobby that takes up a lot of hours. I didn’t even know I was doing to this when I started learning to edit and making videos on Youtube. I also put myself in a hobby journey of rekindling my love for creative activities like watercolor painting, drawing, writing, and photographing. We have to put no expectations on ourself. Just mere enjoyment of slowing down the time with things that give us joy.
This book helps you get back your time to do nothing. We are not productive robots but humans that need to be and feel alive.
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving is a refreshing perspective on living a life that is not based on how much time we spend on work being productive. After all, at the end of the day you have to ask yourself: is this how I want to live my life every day?
