It feels imperative to our mental and physical health to slow down. Our brains are already on high alert for the foreseeable future. Yet her message - of creating boundaries, of stepping away from the glowing screen now and then, of admitting that multitasking makes us less productive rather than more - seems more important now than ever. Already, the notion of eating lunch in your cubicle or answering work emails from home seem like the habits of another era. I mean the labor we do to secure everything else beyond survival or to contribute productively to the broader society - the things we do in exchange for pay.The world has changed exponentially since Celeste Headlee released her latest book 'Do Nothing: How to Break Away From Overworking, Overdoing, and Under Living' just earlier this month. Please note that by 'work' I don't mean the activities we engage in to secure our survival: finding food, water, or shelter. This lead me to ask some pointed questions about why most of us feel we can't be fully human unless we're working. But as I examined the body of research of what we know is good for all humans, what is necessary for all humans, I noticed a gaping hole where work was supposed to be. The assumption that work is at the core of what it means to lead a useful life underlies so much of our morality that it may feel I'm questioning our need to breathe or eat or sleep.

The question I asked hundreds of people around the country and the essential question of this book:Ī lot of people will disagree with my next statement to the point of anger and outrage: Humans don't need to work in order to be happy.Īt this point, in our historical timeline, that claim is almost subversive.

That was the question that drove my research. The question for me wasn't whether people enjoyed their work but whether they needed it.

I've had this conversation many times over the past few years with both friends and strangers and I often get some version of, 'but I love to work!' in response.

This woman, by the way, is one of the most grounded, cheerful, and talented people I know. 'I LOVE to work! I can't stand just sitting around. 'I would HATE that!' she answered with a moo of disgust. 'We've become too addicted to working and we need to balance our lives with a little idle activity like sitting on porches or chatting with neighbors.' “We've simply become too attached to work,' I explained.

Celeste headlee do nothing