Do Nothing Quotes

“It’s a very simple thing, to step on a train and stop worrying about the time it takes to travel, but in this age of escalation and ever-increasing speeds, it felt like a revolutionary act. I had several offers to deliver speeches during those two weeks and could have earned a significant amount of money, but instead I sat in a railcar chatting with folks and reading mystery novels. In the end, I think I chose the most valuable use of my time. I felt transformed as I sat in the final train, headed south to my home in DC. I don’t think I checked my watch once, because I wasn’t worried about what time we were going to arrive. I wrote and read and chatted a little with the guy across the aisle. The sense that something could go wrong at any time, or that something urgent would arise that might require my immediate attention, was gone. I was no longer in fight-or-flight mode. Breaking away from the relentless pace of connected life felt uncomfortable at first, but as I ended my trip, I dreaded joining that joyless parade again.”
― Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

“Some animal brains can multitask, like the pigeon’s, but the human mind falls short of the pigeon’s on this one very specific skill.”
― Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

“Speed and efficiency are, by their nature, antithetical to introspection and intimacy.”
― Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

“So valuable had time become that many unscrupulous business owners would adjust their clocks during the day to get more hours out of their unsuspecting labourers.”
― Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

“The notion of free time is as distant from most people’s everyday experience as open space.”
― Celeste Headlee, Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving