Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 8.28.23
This week, we have two phenomenal books from some great authors. The first book on the list is about how we can break away from overworking ourselves, and it’s one of my new favorite books. The other book on the list is a must-read for all people-pleasers out there. Enjoy!
Each of the links to the books are affiliate links, so if you use my link to purchase any of these books, some comes back to support what I do (and it also helps fund my reading habit).
Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee
I really wanted to dislike this book, but I couldn’t. It’s such a phenomenal book, and Celeste did an incredible job with it. I had her on my podcast a while back for her newer book Speaking of Race, and I finally got around to reading this one. I could talk about this book all day. In short, the book is about how we need to find more time to just do nothing and not fill every minute of our schedules, and most importantly, we need to stop overworking ourselves for no good reason.
I’m a workaholic, but it’s because I have to be. The economy sucks. The wealth gap is insane. The current form of capitalism isn’t working for most of us. So, when I picked up this book, I was ready to argue with it from start to finish, but Celeste shut me up pretty quick. Throughout the book, she discusses that not all of us can choose to work less, and she dedicates some time toward the end of the book to discuss some political changes that must be made so we can work less.
Overall, I think my favorite part of the book is when she explains how most of us think we’re busier than we are. The reality is, and it’s backed by research, most of us waste insane amounts of time during the day. For example, messing around on social media or slacking at work and then realizing you have to catch up doesn’t mean you’re overworked. I’m one of the busiest people I know, and I still have a ton of free time. When I work with people on their time issues, we always find where they waste a bunch of time. Celeste discusses some ways she was able to stop cutting out some of these time wasters in her life.
Lastly, I also loved how she discussed how we love telling people how busy we are because it’s become a sort of status signal to others. This is something we all need to stop doing because it’s only encouraging others to stay busy and work themselves to death (and yes, I know I just mentioned how busy I am above, but it was to prove a point about how much free time I have as well, so chill).
This is a fantastic book, and I really hope more people read it. Even though I already do some of the tips from this book, I was introduced to new research and also gained some new tools for living a less stressful life.
The Power of Saying No: The New Science of How to Say No That Puts You in Charge of Your Life by Vanessa Patrick PhD
This is yet another book that I’m extremely torn on. Overall, it’s a great book that anyone who labels themself as a “people pleaser” needs to read ASAP. Learning how to say “no” to people is one of the best things I ever did in my life, and Vanessa Patrick wrote this awesome book with tools that you can use to be better at saying “no”. She calls it something like “empowered refusal” or something along those lines, and it’s a really good strategy that will help you say “no” without being a jerk about it.
My main issue with this book is that I’m a nerd who challenges research because a lot of it isn’t scrutinized properly, and when it is, it’s often BS. I think I would have liked this book 100x more if it wasn’t written by someone with credentials. The book is filled with anecdotal evidence and studies that I guarantee would be difficult to replicate. Once she started getting into body language reading, I was like, “Oh God. Please. No.”
But again, this book has really useful advice. And I get that you need some authority to give people advice like this, but I almost feel like I would have respected it more if it was coming from some random self-help guru rather than someone who should be using better science. At the end of the day, if you are a people pleaser and it’s causing issues in your life, you need this book.
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