Feeling overworked and overstressed? As a young parent, I have experienced this way too much for my liking. According to our guest Celeste Headlee, it may be time for us all to do nothing!
Celeste is the author of the book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving is here to show us how to fight back. With a little planning and purpose-driven action, we can have the lives we've always wanted.
Overview: Do Nothing with Celeste Headlee
Celeste Headlee reviews the following:
- Why we are prone to overworking in our society
- How we can take control of our time
- The positive family and career benefits that come from owning our time
LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE ON:
Key Takeaways
Here are my top three takeaways from my conversation with Celeste Headlee
Take Back Your Time
The world and our schedules can feel crazy at times. That’s why it’s incumbent on us to take control.
- Do we need to do ALL of the things on our schedule?
- Can we say “No thank you” more than we do right now?
- What are ways you can slowly but surely get more of your time back?
This is your life. This is your time.
Talk to Your Kids About Their Schedule
If you feel overwhelmed in life more than you’d like, it’s possible your kids might be feeling that way too.
Are you running from swim practice to school, to soccer, to band practice, to volunteer time, to who knows what else and not allowing for more time to just RELAX?
More days with no plans may be just what your family needs to get re-centered and have more time for unstructured fun.
Protect Your Focus Time
While it’s ideal for us to work less and relax more, not everyone has a work schedule of less than 40 hours per week.
That’s why it’s even more important to create specialized Focus Time:
- Close all the browsers
- Stay out of email
- Put on those headphones (with brown noise) — that’s my favorite
- And focus on the single task that you are set out to do at that moment
The constant distractions throughout the day will make it harder and harder for you to own more of your time.
Fight back and say “THIS IS MY FOCUS TIME” and don’t let anything interrupt it.
It may feel laughable or difficult now, but over time, if you work hard enough, you can slowly but surely start to own more of your time.
Guest Bio – Celeste Headlee
Celeste Headlee is an internationally recognized journalist and radio host, professional speaker and author of bestselling book We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter and Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving. Her latest is Speaking of Race: Why Everyone Needs to Talk About Racism and How to Do It. Her TEDx Talk, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation, has been viewed over 34 million times.
In her 20-year career in public radio, Celeste has been the Executive Producer of On Second Thought at Georgia Public Broadcasting and anchored programs including Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, Here and Now, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. She also served as co-host of the national morning news show, The Takeaway, from PRI and WNYC, and anchored presidential coverage in 2012 for PBS World Channel.
Celeste is a regular guest host on NPR and American Public Media. She is the host of Newsweek’s “Debate” podcast, and hosts a podcast for the National Gallery of Art called “Sound Thoughts on Art.” She is also the host of “Women Amplified,” a podcast from the Conferences for Women, the largest network of women’s conferences in the nation, drawing more than 50,000 people to its annual events.
Celeste is also the president and CEO of Headway DEI, a non-profit that works to bring racial justice and equity to journalism and media through targeted training and interventions, and she serves on the board for the National Center of Race Amity. Celeste is the granddaughter of composer William Grant Still, known as the Dean of Black American Composers and she is a trained operatic soprano. She lives in the DC area with rescue dog, Samus.
Resources – Celeste Headlee
Website: CelesteHeadlee.com
Book: Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving
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Carpe Diem Quote:
“I think people get really overwhelmed, when they think about social change. They’re like, “This is such a big intractable problem. I’m just a person.” And in reality social change happens at the granular level. It just takes a lot of grains.”
– Jaclyn Friedman
What do you think of the advice from Celeste Headlee? How can you adjust your schedule so you can do nothing more often?
Please let us know in the comments below.
