How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Productivity in Anxious Times

by Chris Bailey

A toolkit of accessible, science-backed strategies, How to Calm Your Mind reveals the path to a less anxious life, and even greater productivity, through calm.

Chris Bailey, researcher and productivity expert, realized he had burnt out. He was pushing himself too hard, and realized that productivity advice is useless without the mental space to use it.

Productivity advice works – and we need it now more than ever – but it’s just as important that we also develop our capacity for calm. By finding calm and overcoming anxiety, we don’t just feel more comfortable in our own skin, we invest in the missing piece that leads our efforts to become sustainable over time. We build a deeper, more expansive reservoir of energy to draw from throughout the day, and have greater mental resources at our disposal not only to do good work, but also to live a good life.

Among the topics How to Calm Your Mind covers are:

- How analogue and digital worlds affect calm and anxiety in different ways
- How our desire for dopamine breeds anxiety
- How hidden sources of stress can be tamed by a ‘stimulation fast’
- How ‘busyness’ is as much a state of mind as it is an actual state of life

The pursuit of calm ultimately leads us to become more engaged, focused and deliberate – while making us more productive and satisfied with our lives overall. In an anxious world, achieving calm is the best lifehack around.

288 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2024

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Yuliya Plotka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite funny how I often felt rushed and stressed while reading a book about calm - ironically aware the whole time that I needed it more than ever.

[Nessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful and helpful. If you’ve had to deal with anxiety or stress I definitely recommend it or if you’re aiming for productivity but keep feeling like it is out of reach, this book might explain you why and how to fix it. ✨

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book has really good techniques that could be used to reduce anxiety. The most important part of the book is that you should try to find calm instead of trying to reduce anxiety. It has a lot of techniques that could be tried, some may work and some may not. You just need to find what suits you the best.

[Pieter Mannaerts · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Purposeful busyness is what makes life worth living -- a life devoid of purpose is one devoid of meaning. But because of how much more enjoyable life becomes with calm by our side, I hope you'll agree that it's worth the pursuit." (p. 232)

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to audiobook in the car