Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Busy Moms

by Kate Northrup

Our bodies ask us to take a break, and we feel guilty. We beat ourselves up for rest. We feel terrified to tell our families and communities when we don’t know what’s next in our careers or our lives because God forbid we fall off the linear path of success and take a detour into the fertile void of “I don’t know.”

We don’t ask a flower to blossom all year long. We understand that she has seasons and cycles.

In research reported by the Harvard Business Review, it was stated that very few people could be in a state of high concentration on things that really move the needle forward, like writing about new ideas, for more than four or five hours a day total.

A study reported in Business Insider found that people who took regular breaks were wildly more productive than those who kept their butt in their chair for hours on end without pausing to refresh.7 The ideal ratio was approximately one 15-minute break to every hour of work—or, more specifically, 52 minutes of work and an average of 17 minutes of rest.

This study suggests that if we take a real break at the first wave of fatigue—and go for a walk, meditate, have a snack, do some yoga, fold some laundry, or chat with a friend—we’ll be way more productive than if we push through.

The Universe is a whole bucket of duality. Light and dark. Stillness and movement. Wet and dry. Quiet and loud. Fast and slow. Inward and outward. Without one quality or energy, the other one couldn’t exist, and both are critical to the whole.

we forget that the happiness comes from the process of progress and growth, not from the result of progress and growth.

Our bodies already know that everything is a circle, that we’re coming back here again, that there’s no such thing as running out of time, that the Universe is infinitely abundant, and that everything is predictably rhythmic.

Just like you don’t want to pull the baby out until it’s full term if you can help it, you want to let the ideas cook as long as they need to so that they can really thrive in the outside world.

In a world where we’ve been taught that our worth is equal to how much we personally can achieve, it can be hard to simply relax and receive, because on some level we feel like we’re less worthy if things come easily or we get help.

The feminine nurtures, heals, beautifies, and improves everything around her. Plus, she brings snacks, because someone is always going to be hungry.

Follicular/waxing crescent: Planning, brainstorming, and new beginnings Ovulation/full moon: Communicating, collaborating, attracting, being out there Luteal/waning crescent: Focus, details, finishing projects, putting in the work Menstrual/new moon: Rest, reflection, and evaluation

Before I write each item down, I like to do a quick inventory of the following questions: Does this need to be done? Does this need to be done by me? Does this need to be done right now?

If the item could be done by someone else to even 80 percent the effectiveness that you could do it, delegate it. A woman who knows how to delegate is a woman who knows how to create freedom.

You don’t have to do it all, my dear. Not by a long shot. There’s help. There’s so much help. Let go and let the magic unfold.

Spending time with other women who bolster your energy makes you a better woman. Period.

sometimes you get yourself so rooted in a particular set of rules to the point of dogma, channeling all of your distress and worry and sadness and fear into perfection. Because if you make it about following the rules, you don’t have to feel how hard it is be a human being in a world with circumstances outside of your control.

It’s more than enough, in fact. Showing up is all that’s ever been asked of us by anyone (or anything) that matters. The power of our full presence. Actually being where we are. The rest of it is just accessorizing, just keeping ourselves occupied and entertained while we’re here for this spin on earth, however many rotations around the sun this trip might be.

The world doesn’t need you busy. The world needs you here. And it’s enough.