I Didn't Do The Thing Today: On letting go of productivity guilt

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For anyone who has ever felt the pressure to do more, be more, achieve more, this antidote to our doing-obsession is the permission slip we all need to find our own way. in the same way, you might explore news ways of looking at how your spending your time, where you place your focus and most importantly, how you treat yourself and others. Packed full of thoughtful and thought-invoking quotes and passing on lived experiences of not having to be a Productivity Powerhouse all the time; you can just be a human too. There’s the work thing, the catch-up thing, the laundry thing, the creative thing, the exercise thing, the family thing, the thing we don’t want to do, and the thing we’ve been putting off, despite it being the most important thing.

It’s a great approach for a productive day, but beginning our day with dread can make it hard to get out of bed. Madeleine Dore has produced a book that is both practical and inspiring; that recognises the tensions in life, that we can’t always do all the things, but also that sometimes those things are still important.I was picturing a more practical Laziness Does Not Exist, and while it gave those vibes, it did not live up to them. This thing is 3x as long as it needs to be, and a solid quarter of it seems to be quotes and explenations of quotes. Madeleine Dore has done us a huge favour in reframing age-old wisdom and setting it in a very contemporary context. i'd meander through the book like you might do when hiking outdoors, letting your attention settle on whatever captures it. It’s perfect for people like me, who are a little too driven, slightly OCD, and have some Catholic guilt!

It’s in tensions, problems, and mistakes that we learn; it’s one of the most important things about being alive.

There’s the work thing, the catch-up thing, the laundry thing, the creative thing, the exercise thing, the family thing, the thing we don’t want to do, the thing we’ve been putting off (despite it being the most important thing). Hi I’m Steph, and each week I share the three big ideas from the best non-fiction books I’ve been reading. Perhaps the best advice when facing indecision is to recognize that we can make a choice, and it doesn’t have to be the right one—because there is no such thing.

We’re quick to label preparation as procrastination, and easily overlook that things take the time they take. She tried so hard to take her personal and generalize it but the intensely personal would have been more useful and interesting. As others have noted, it's not particularly groundbreaking, but there are some noteworthy takeaways from it, if you can slog through all of the quotes. A remarkable combination: part broadside against our culture of frenetic busyness, part consolation for the days when things don’t go to plan, it’s also the best kind of productivity manual, filled with guidance for actually getting around to more of the things that matter.The guilt is so much worse than the actual not-doing-of-the-thing, and Madeleine Dore breaks down the issue with empathy. An important case for worrying less about getting things done and more about the things that are worth doing. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. At first, I thought it was me, I thought when I got out of quarantine I would enjoy reading it again, but nope, by the end I was skipping each chapter as soon as it became the exact same thing the previous chapter had been.