Five books to help you re-think productivity

When I think of September, I often think of starting a fresh school year. In honour of starting fresh or doubling down on your goals for the last four months of the year, I want to share some productivity or self-help type books that might help you in your endeavours.


Productivity is a big topic in the self-help or self-improvement area, and I think too often it simply focuses on doing the most amount of things in the time available. Personally, I think the key to productivity is prioritizing what’s most important and doing those few things most effectively.

I believe productivity is simply a tool you can use to live your best life. It’s a way to get your essential tasks done so that you have time to do all the other things you love. Being more productive should help you enjoy more of your life, not just do more work.

Photo by Daniela Turcanu on Unsplash

Within this view of productivity, I want to share some books that may help you re-think what productivity means. These books focus what you can do surrounding your work that can help you be more productive, like resting or working on emotionally regulating yourself.

I think being productive is important for our well-being, but I also believe that we as individuals and as a society need to re-think what it means to be productive. There are many ways to be productive and to create, and it needs to be in balance with our other needs.

Just like how some of our best ideas come when we’re not actively working, our best work comes from having a balanced life. We need time away from the grind to bring our best selves to the table.

I know some people may be required to work a lot more than they want to, possibly to support others. I’m not talking about people who have no choice, these ideas are more aimed at people caught up in the hustle culture of thinking that every moment needs to be useful or productive.

That’s simply not sustainable.

You need rest. You need inspiration. You need time to be bored and have your mind wander. Your mind needs time to process everything.

To truly be productive, you need balance.

So keep reading for inspiration on how to re-think productivity and find more balance in your life.

Five books to help you re-think productivity

Here’s a list of five books to help you re-think productivity.

  1. The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It by Kelly McGonigal (2012)
  2. The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do by Casper ter Kuile (2020)
  3. Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (2021)
  4. The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life by Allison Fallon (2021)
  5. Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey (2022)

Keep reading to find out more about each one. I’ve listed them in order of when they were published.

The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It (2012)

by Kelly McGonigal

  • Year Published: 2012
  • Storygraph Categories:
    nonfiction, health, psychology, self help, informative, slow-paced

You hear it all the time: stress causes heart disease; stress causes insomnia; stress is bad for you But what if changing how you think about stress could make you happier, healthier, and better able to reach your goals? Combining exciting new research on resilience and mindset, Kelly McGonigal, PhD, proves that undergoing stress is not bad for you; it is undergoing stress while believing that stress is bad for you that makes it harmful. In fact, stress has many benefits, from giving us greater focus and energy, to strengthening our personal relationships. McGonigal shows readers how to cultivate a mindset that embraces stress, and activate the brain’s natural ability to learn from challenging experiences.

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The Power of Ritual: How to Create Meaning and Connection in Everything You Do (2020)

by Casper ter Kuile

  • Year Published: 2020
  • Storygraph Categories:
    nonfiction, religion, self help, sociology, informative, inspiring, reflective, medium-paced

Ter Kuile, cohost of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, demonstrates in his thoughtful debut how the nonreligious can “liberate the gifts of tradition” to foster greater spiritual connection in their lives. He argues that, while formal religious affiliation may be waning, spiritual practices remain relevant because they can cultivate bonds to the self, others, the natural world, and the transcendent.

Ter Kuile explains the significance of a variety of religious practices, including pilgrimage, prayer, and meditation, and proposes ways to capture their significance through everyday activities (“anything can become a spiritual practice–gardening, painting, singing, snuggling, sitting”) by focusing on intention, attention, and repetition. This approach leads to inventive explorations of social trends; for instance, the famously cultish appeal of the Crossfit fitness program is explained in terms of vulnerability and community. In ter Kuile’s understanding, religious traditions are “inherently creative” and therefore good starting points for considering personalized, meaningful spiritual practices.

Links:

Laziness Does Not Exist (2021)

by Devon Price

  • Year Published: 2021
  • Storygraph Categories:
    nonfiction, psychology, self help, sociology, informative, inspiring, reflective, medium-paced

Like many Americans, Dr. Devon Price believed that productivity was the best way to measure self-worth. Price was an overachiever from the start, graduating from both college and graduate school early, but that success came at a cost. After Price was diagnosed with a severe case of anemia and heart complications from overexertion, they were forced to examine the darker side of all this productivity.

Laziness Does Not Exist explores the psychological underpinnings of the “laziness lie,” including its origins from the Puritans and how it has continued to proliferate as digital work tools have blurred the boundaries between work and life. Using in-depth research, Price explains that people today do far more work than nearly any other humans in history yet most of us often still feel we are not doing enough.

Filled with practical and accessible advice for overcoming society’s pressure to do more, and featuring interviews with researchers, consultants, and experiences from real people drowning in too much work, Laziness Does Not Exist “is the book we all need right now” (Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet ).

Links:

The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life (2021)

by Allison Fallon

  • Year Published: 2021
  • Storygraph Categories:
    nonfiction, self help, informative, reflective, slow-paced

Discover the power of (finally) getting unstuck, claiming your clarity, and becoming the person whose life you want to live–all through a simple self-care practice you can build into your daily routine.

For anyone who’s trying to make sense of their life, who wants to get unstuck from the patterns that hold them back, hear this incredible news: everything you need for the freedom you want is entirely within reach. This practice and pathway is free, it’s readily available every day of your life, it takes just minutes of your time, and anyone can do it.

Author, writing coach, and speaker Allison Fallon’s life transformed when she discovered the power of a daily writing practice. As it turns out, using your words is one of the most powerful means you have for unlocking your life. The Power of Writing It Down is your guide to this transformative tool available to us all.

Links:

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto (2022)

by Tricia Hersey

  • Year Published: 2022
  • Storygraph Categories:
    nonfiction, race, sociology, informative, inspiring, reflective, medium-paced

Far too many of us have claimed productivity as the cornerstone of success. Brainwashed by capitalism, we subject our bodies and minds to work at an unrealistic, damaging, and machine‑level pace of work –– feeding into the same engine that enslaved millions into brutal labor for its virtuous benefit. Our worth does not reside in how much we produce, especially for a system that exploits and dehumanizes us. Rest, in its simplest form, becomes an act of resistance and a reclaiming of power because it disrupts and pushes back against capitalism and white supremacy.

From the founder and creator of The Nap Ministry, Rest Is Resistance is a battle cry, a guidebook, a map for a movement, and a field guide for the weary and hopeful. It is rooted in spiritual energy and centered in Black liberation, womanism, somatics, and Afrofuturism. With captivating storytelling and practical advice, all delivered in Hersey’s lyrical voice and informed by her deep experience in theology, activism, and performance art,

Rest Is Resistance is a call to action and manifesto for those who are sleep deprived, searching for justice, and longing to be liberated from the oppressive grip of Grind Culture.

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Final thoughts

I hope you found something of interest in this list of books.

I’m always looking for more suggestions of books to read. I’d love to know which books helped you build a healthy relationship with productivity. Let me know in a comment below!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of the book?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below.

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