“We all learn the value of rest the hard way,” says today’s guest - a former Silicon Valley tech consultant, visiting scholar at Stanford, and author of Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less. Alex Soojung-Kim Pang argues that the perils of overwork are being woefully overlooked, and they’re making us miserable. He says: ”We’re hitting the wire now - it’s crazy to think how much more work we do than our parents or grandparents did.” In his latest book, Shorter, he also makes a powerful case for the four day week. Since to be sad, well – and live a full life – we need time for reflection. So here, we set the record straight on rest and the dangers of overwork.
We talk about:
- the problems of overwork (and how it makes us ‘bad’ sad)
- the cult of busyness
- the truth about the 10,000 hours rule (as feat. in Malcom Gladwell’s Outliers)
- the pressure to be happy at work
- how we get more done when we work less
- boundaries and how to set them
- why dogs, books and dads help
Find out more about Alex @askpang on
Twitter and
Instagram and read Rest and Shorter (they’re great!).
Follow Helen on
Twitter,
Instagram or
Facebook @MsHelenRussell
Read more about Helen’s new book, How To Be Sad (
Waterstones ,
Amazon UK or anywhere you like to buy books)
Get in touch with the show at
howtobesadpodcast@gmail.com
And as ever, BIG thanks to Joel Grove for production and to Matt Clacher at HarperCollins for making this podcast happen.
