Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:

• How a devotion to efficiency can become unhealthy
• Why leisure time (a.k.a. doing nothing) is essential
• How to reclaim our time and humanity
• · A discussion of the book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving

Today’s book is: Do Nothing, by Celeste Headlee, which examines how in searching for ways to “hack” our bodies and minds for peak performance, people are working more instead of less, living harder not smarter, and becoming more lonely and anxious. We strive for the absolute best in every aspect of our lives, ignoring what we do well naturally, and reaching for a bar that keeps rising higher. In Do Nothing, Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path to stop sabotaging our well-being, and start living instead of doing. Celeste offers strategies help you determine how your hours are being spent, invest in quality idle time, and focus on end goals instead of mean goals.

Our guest is: Celeste Headlee, an award-winning journalist, professional speaker, and author. She is a regular guest host on NPR and American Public Media and a highly sought consultant, advising companies around the world on conversations about race, diversity and inclusion. Her TEDx Talk sharing 10 ways to have a better conversation has over 26 million total views, and she serves as an advisory board member for ProCon.org and The Listen First Project. Celeste is recipient of the 2019 Media Changemaker Award; the proud granddaughter of composer William Grant Still, the Dean of African American Composers; and she is the author of Do Nothing.

Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, a historian of women and gender.

Listeners to this episode might also be interested in:

• Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving by Celeste Headlee
• Speaking of Race by Celeste Headlee
• We Need To Talk: How To Have Conversations That Matter, by Celeste Headlee
• Laziness Does Not Exist, by Devon Price
• This conversation about seeking meaning instead of happiness
• This conversation about the importance of spending time in nature

You are smart and capable, but you aren’t an island and neither are we. We reach across our mentor network to bring you experts about everything from how to finish that project, to how to take care of your beautiful mind. Wish we’d bring on an expert about something? DM us on Twitter: The Academic Life @AcademicLifeNBN.

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