We can learn from conversations, the problems we need to solve, the risks we take, growing older, rejection, and from discovery.

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. But if we are curious about the ordinary moments, if we tend to them, if we get the good out of every bit…what a life we will have created.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. i appreciated how dore made sure not to belabor these examples and just touched on them as practical strategies instead. We are imperfect and bound to waste time: we put things off, become distracted, chit-chat too long with colleagues. 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. 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). It was inspired by my conversation with a farmer who started his day with a dollop of clotted cream on his porridge. Madeleine Dore has done us a huge favour in reframing age-old wisdom and setting it in a very contemporary context. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Even on days where we get a lot done, the thing left undone can leave us feeling guilty, anxious or disappointed. She has contributed columns and features to Sunday Life, BBC WorkLife, ArtsHub, 99u, Womankind, Kill Your Darlings, The Design Files, ABC Life and more.

It also took 10 chapters for her to acknowledge that capitalism plays a large part in why we might not have done the thing today, and only barely touched on the fact that many people with lesser means do not have the luxury of implementing a lot of the strategies that she talks about in this book, although that wasn't the kind of depth that I expected this book to get into, so perhaps that's an unfair assessment. Wondering how other people seemed to have it all figured out, Madeleine Dore spent five years interviewing people she admired in an attempt to uncover their secrets for being more productive, successful, and prolific.She regularly conducts life experiments and hosts events to examine how creativity isn't just something we do, but how we approach our lives. Whether it’s romance, friendships, career paths, or new interests, we never saw most of the things that give our lives meaning coming.