The secret power of doing nothing

This is #BookIt, your weekly destination for the best new books in business and beyond. You can subscribe using the button above. Know someone who’d enjoy this? @mention them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

By my own measure, I’m a productive person. As a former waitress and current working mom, the part of my brain that can multitask is in prime form. Some say multitasking has a dark side, and while I believe them, it’s been a hallmark professional skill for decades, inscribed on countless cover letters and brandished with pride in interviews. 

Multitasking is essential in the middle of the lunch rush when you’re taking someone’s drink order but also need to ensure the chowders are hot when they land on the table next to you with ample time to clear them before the main course; it means getting that fresh pot of coffee brewing so you can offer it when you’re about to drop the check for the big party in the corner — all at the same time. It means getting your toddler to put on her shoes so you can leave to catch the bus, while checking those last few Slack messages to make sure you're not missing some late-breaking meeting. Multitasking is useful. It’s also exhausting. And it’s hard to avoid. 

“Choosing to relax doesn’t make you lazy,” a friend of author Celeste Headlee told her once. It’s a line that jumped out to me in Headlee’s #WeekendEssay. Headlee and I, and maybe many of you, must share an urge to constantly do do do and go go go to get it all done. 

It’s a relief that, in her research, Headlee found that taking breaks actually helps you become more productive and more creative. Her article on the subject, drawn from her book Do Nothing: How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving, is packed with helpful info for all of us multitaskers: Want to boost your productivity? Take a break — a real one.

Want an easy way to feel like you can actually take that break? Do something now that your future self will thank you for. In his #WeekndEssay, Dan Heath shares the concept of “upstreaming.” It involves taking the time to identify and prevent future problems rather than solving the same ones over and over again in the moment. I smiled while reading it, thinking of the times when I’ve needed to handwrite a quick note of appreciation and could thank “Past Susy” for buying a box of blank notecards and setting them aside. My only gripe with “Past Susy” is that she never remembers to also buy postage stamps ???♀?. Here’s the piece Heath adapted from Upstream for us: How to solve your future problems now.

The last of this week’s crop of #WeekendEssays asks us to examine our own unconscious biases. Netflix director of inclusion Michelle P. King challenges us to think about the kinds of leaders and behaviors that lead to success in our workplaces and how closely these people and acts adhere to what she calls the “success prototype” of organizations, the thing that “reinforce[s] the male, white, middle-class, heterosexual, able-bodied standard for success.” This standard makes it “harder for anyone who differs on one or more of these elements to succeed.” Read more from her piece drawn from The Fix: Overcome the Invisible Barriers That Are Holding Women Back at Work here: We can’t fix inequality if we don't see it.

??? Stay Tuned ???

Next week, we’ll hear from Square co-founder Jim McKelvey on invisible markets and Jonah Berger on how to change your boss’ mind.

Thanks for reading! Get in touch with your ideas and questions about #BookIt. You can subscribe with the button at the top of this article if you'd like to receive the newsletter weekly.