Welcome to the show. I'm Greg McEwan and I'm your host on The What's Essential Podcast.

Inessentialism I wrote that the antidote to a state of constant busyness and distraction

was to identify the activities that are truly essential and eliminate everything else.

In my new book Effortless, we explore how to make those most essential activities the

easiest ones, to transform tedious tasks into enjoyable rituals, to solve problems completely

before they even arise, to simplify your processes by removing unnecessary steps and much more.

This special episode is an excerpt from the audiobook Pertacy of Penguin Random House

Audio. It is a reading of chapter 4 which is titled Rest, The Art of Doing Nothing.

Where we explore the vitally important ability to rest and relax. For many overachievers,

we simply do not know how to do that. So it's very uncomfortable and it's much easier

for us just to jump back into work, check more email, search more online and so on.

And after this episode, make sure to purchase your copy of Effortless at the link in the description.

Let's begin.

Chapter 4 Rest The Art of Doing Nothing

Jerry Swell is an eye surgeon who tried to do it all for a long, long time. His wife

recalls how he would sit with his head in his hands and say, I can't do it all, I can't

do it all. But then he would stand up and declare I have to. And he would desperately

try to push himself to do more. But at age 56 he started experiencing some health issues

like a rash on his hands that threatened to end his surgical career. He knew he needed

to get to a dermatologist, but he was so busy at work he didn't even have the space

in his over-scheduled life to make an appointment. Finally, on a long road trip with his wife,

he realized that space would not magically appear in his life. If he was ever going

...