The Art of Doing Nothing

0:06Pushkin.

0:12Hey, Happiness Lab listeners!

0:14We're cruising through our special series on spring cleaning your happiness, and we're continuing our deep dive into the Happiness Lab archive to find well-being-boosting insights that you might have missed.

0:25This week's classic episode takes on cleaning up one of the messiest, most cluttered parts of our lives, our schedules.

0:32Ever had a week when it felt like you didn't have a single moment of downtime?

0:36When it felt like your calendar was overflowing with endless meetings and to-dos?

0:41Social scientists have a word for that awful feeling.

0:44They call it time famine.

0:46And studies show that time famine can make you miserable.

0:49But what would it look like to spring-clean your schedule?

0:52To carve out time to wander around, to chat with friends, to think about nothing in particular, or even to take an afternoon nap?