Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

by Celeste Headlee

Far too many of us have been lured into the cult of efficiency. We are driven, but we long ago lost sight of what we were driving toward. We judge our days based on how efficient they are, not how fulfilling.

The key to well-being is shared humanity, even though we are pushing further and further toward separation.

Here in the States, we’re particularly bad about taking time off. We chose not to take 705 million vacation days in 2017, and more than 200 million of those were lost forever because they couldn’t be carried over to the next year. That means Americans donated $62 billion to their employers in one year.

Few of our daily activities are focused on helping us become more naturally playful or thoughtful or, god forbid, social. Our social networks are no substitute for the intimate connections we have made for 200,000 years, and our work schedules don’t allow for play.

But what about the pace of things we love to do? What about voluntary slowdowns? It could be that in searching for ways to get things done faster, we also shorten the time we spend doing fun things like hiking or completing crossword puzzles. Is it always desirable to go faster, get to places quicker, increase speed, and reduce the time it takes to accomplish something? Or are there inherent benefits to slowing down from time to time?