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How to Relax: Stop Being Busy, Take a Break and Get Better Results While Doing Less
How to Relax, Slow Down, Recharge Your Batteries and Reclaim Control over Your Life Today’s world is charging at a breakneck speed. People are working over twelve hours every single day, catching extra minutes of sleep in the metro, and completely giving up on the antiquated notion of time to spend with their own kids. There are people in their twenties neglecting every single aspect of their lives but their careers looking twice older than they should. And 1 person out of 4 dies from cardiovascular disease – caused mostly by unhealthy eating, a lack of physical activity, smoking, and consuming too much alcohol and worthless junk food that clogs their arteries. This book will teach you how to step away from noise, relax and recharge your batteries so you have enough left in you to control your life. Here are some of the things you'll - why rituals create your life and how to develop a proper morning routine to ensure a calm mind. - 3 main stress management techniques for recharging you’re probably not aware of. They can make you well-rested or, if you disregard them, extremely exhausted. - how to get away from highly-stimulating surroundings to recharge in peace. If you live in a city, you MUST read this chapter. - how to let go of negative nagging thoughts you can’t get out of your head. You don’t have to carry them with you all the time. - 7 powerful habits to reduce stress. And no, I’m not talking about obvious advice. You’ll discover how to exactly reduce stress with lesser-known tips. This is your chance to find out what the hard science says about how to become more relaxed. You too can finally recharge your batteries and regain control over your life. Learn how.
93 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 23, 2015
851 people are currently reading
687 people want to read
About the author
Martin Meadows
48 books223 followersMartin Meadows is the pen name of an author who has dedicated his life to personal growth. He constantly reinvents himself by making drastic changes in his life. Over the years, he has: regularly fasted for over 40 hours, taught himself two foreign languages, lost over 30 pounds in 12 weeks, ran several businesses in various industries, took ice-cold showers and baths, lived on a small tropical island in a foreign country for several months, and wrote 400-page long novel's worth of short stories in one month.
Yet, self-torture is not his passion. Martin likes to test his boundaries to discover how far his comfort zone goes. His findings (based both on his personal experience and scientific studies) help him improve his life. If you're interested in pushing your limits and learning how to become the best version of yourself, you'll love Martin's works.
Yet, self-torture is not his passion. Martin likes to test his boundaries to discover how far his comfort zone goes. His findings (based both on his personal experience and scientific studies) help him improve his life. If you're interested in pushing your limits and learning how to become the best version of yourself, you'll love Martin's works.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
February 20, 2021
A good reminder
I have read many self-help books and, even though I wished to discover something new through this book, I wasn’t much surprised that I didn’t. However, some things are useful to read again as you may see them differently at certain times in your life.
The writing style is pleasant and calm, the author’s advice is easy to understand. Some things are relevant for a wider public while others less so.
Do give it a read if you haven’t read much on the subject. It may give you a fresh perspective.
For me, these lines were a good reminder: “The state in which you start your day shapes your state of mind for the entire day.” & “If you start your day on the right note, it will unfold in the same exact way.”
On a much personal note, I miss a good relaxing massage, something that I can’t enjoy as I used to, because of the pandemic. I keep optimistic though, great times will come again soon. :)
I have read many self-help books and, even though I wished to discover something new through this book, I wasn’t much surprised that I didn’t. However, some things are useful to read again as you may see them differently at certain times in your life.
The writing style is pleasant and calm, the author’s advice is easy to understand. Some things are relevant for a wider public while others less so.
Do give it a read if you haven’t read much on the subject. It may give you a fresh perspective.
For me, these lines were a good reminder: “The state in which you start your day shapes your state of mind for the entire day.” & “If you start your day on the right note, it will unfold in the same exact way.”
On a much personal note, I miss a good relaxing massage, something that I can’t enjoy as I used to, because of the pandemic. I keep optimistic though, great times will come again soon. :)
March 10, 2018
VERY repetitive on top of already being short, which means there's very little content to this book (with its 81 pages of content in a rather large font and very large line spacing).
Every chapter, which are already around 8-10 pages long, end with a recap. While I like the concept, the book is already condensed enough to not have to recap the last 8 pages all the time. Even worse, the end of the book has... a recap of the book. Without the recaps, the font size and line spacing, this is probably a 20-30 pages booklet.
Still got some value out of it, but all in all it was more like reading a blog post than an actual book.
Every chapter, which are already around 8-10 pages long, end with a recap. While I like the concept, the book is already condensed enough to not have to recap the last 8 pages all the time. Even worse, the end of the book has... a recap of the book. Without the recaps, the font size and line spacing, this is probably a 20-30 pages booklet.
Still got some value out of it, but all in all it was more like reading a blog post than an actual book.
May 30, 2021
Has good advice for making time to relax especially when constantly busy and weighed down by stress. A quick and helpful read!
March 9, 2021
very short, not too much new things make me surprised
However, as it's name - "how to relax"
it's easy to read, easy to remember the tips, easy to practice
However, as it's name - "how to relax"
it's easy to read, easy to remember the tips, easy to practice
May 25, 2020
Very repetitive, very short, very diversed, and very basic and common sense ideas. Maybe it can help someone starting his first steps in self improvement field.
June 1, 2018
We are drowning in self-help books, lifestyle gurus, coaches, promoters and all varieties of life improvement hypsters. Behind the altruistic promises to up your game and recreate you into a productive, eternally happy, perpetually gratified Enlightened Being are lots of books, podcasts, seminars, travel itineraries, new sources of spam and other just-enter-your-credit-card for a fully refundable free trial schemes to seperate you from your money and waste your time.
A five star rating of a self-help book does not cost you anything. But not many books in this genre warrant 5 stars.
Guy Kawasaki, Chip Heath and Tim Ferris registered on my radar and changed my habits.
Add Martin Meadows.
Pros-
This book was offered as a free download. No catches. And a follow up book is also free.
After a few nibbles, I may invest.
This book is very short. You can finish it in less than 2 hours.
It consists of broad bold headlines with short bullet points.
No detailed anecdotes, examples, case studies, models, photos, holograms and cool designs.
The focus is on you and how you can go about getting your head together.
You have probably heard a lot of the recommendations .... don't dwell on the negative, find time to enjoy nature, reduce noise and clutter ....
but there were a few other useful prescriptions ...
How do you deal with a bullying, borderline psychotic boss? You can read Robert Sutton's books (The No Asshole Rule, Bad Bosses, etc.) but a quicker solution is read a short paragraph from this book. The boss wins -- bosses forget about their 2-minute tirade shortly after the eruption while the fallout on you the victim lingers on for much longer. Picture your boss in a clown suit or mentally draw a bad moustache on him (or her) ... think of it as a joke even if there is a possibility you may get sacked (which could be a blessing).
No more spoilers .... read the book ... it's short ... but more importantly, put the very simple prescriptions into practice. Can you go 7 days without complaining about something? Would you agree to pay your spouse $100 every time you complained? Who would win?
Reading this book felt like I was sitting down with my closest and most together friend, drinking a great bottle of wine and having a heart-to-heart where the friend laid it out in simple English.
A five star rating of a self-help book does not cost you anything. But not many books in this genre warrant 5 stars.
Guy Kawasaki, Chip Heath and Tim Ferris registered on my radar and changed my habits.
Add Martin Meadows.
Pros-
This book was offered as a free download. No catches. And a follow up book is also free.
After a few nibbles, I may invest.
This book is very short. You can finish it in less than 2 hours.
It consists of broad bold headlines with short bullet points.
No detailed anecdotes, examples, case studies, models, photos, holograms and cool designs.
The focus is on you and how you can go about getting your head together.
You have probably heard a lot of the recommendations .... don't dwell on the negative, find time to enjoy nature, reduce noise and clutter ....
but there were a few other useful prescriptions ...
How do you deal with a bullying, borderline psychotic boss? You can read Robert Sutton's books (The No Asshole Rule, Bad Bosses, etc.) but a quicker solution is read a short paragraph from this book. The boss wins -- bosses forget about their 2-minute tirade shortly after the eruption while the fallout on you the victim lingers on for much longer. Picture your boss in a clown suit or mentally draw a bad moustache on him (or her) ... think of it as a joke even if there is a possibility you may get sacked (which could be a blessing).
No more spoilers .... read the book ... it's short ... but more importantly, put the very simple prescriptions into practice. Can you go 7 days without complaining about something? Would you agree to pay your spouse $100 every time you complained? Who would win?
Reading this book felt like I was sitting down with my closest and most together friend, drinking a great bottle of wine and having a heart-to-heart where the friend laid it out in simple English.
October 28, 2019
I'm sorry to say that but this "book" is a complete B.S. Luckily it wasn't too long, it was more like a very long blog post -- the style, the nonsense ideas that are in there reminded me of all the mediocre influencers who want to preach about certain things without having any real insight into that given topic.
The premise sounded exciting, I was hoping to find new ideas and hopeful tips for relaxing and letting of steam, but this did not happen.
Many things in the book are simply unrealistic, like taking a nap during the day, preferably 90 minutes (umm, I'm not sure my boss would appreciate this) or fast every other day (meaning not eating for 24 hours) because the writer is clearly obsessed with this method.
There are a few good tips, like getting a massage or do the foam rolling, but there's nothing groundbreaking or new here.
I'm also not sure why a recap was needed at the end of each chapter when the chapters were already very short, and tbh there wasn't anything overly complicated that needed to be repeated or explained again.
The premise sounded exciting, I was hoping to find new ideas and hopeful tips for relaxing and letting of steam, but this did not happen.
Many things in the book are simply unrealistic, like taking a nap during the day, preferably 90 minutes (umm, I'm not sure my boss would appreciate this) or fast every other day (meaning not eating for 24 hours) because the writer is clearly obsessed with this method.
There are a few good tips, like getting a massage or do the foam rolling, but there's nothing groundbreaking or new here.
I'm also not sure why a recap was needed at the end of each chapter when the chapters were already very short, and tbh there wasn't anything overly complicated that needed to be repeated or explained again.
July 5, 2022
There is nothing dreadful about this book. However it simply offers self evident ideas, without any understanding of the contemporary workplace.
Suggestions to relax include meditation, expressing gratitude and appreciation, intermittent fasting and reducing noise pollution. If 'we' could just reduce our negative thoughts, our lives would - supposedly - improve.
The author, Martin Meadows, is introduced as follows: “Martin Meadows is the pen name of an author who has dedicated his life to personal growth. He constantly reinvents himself by making drastic changes in his life.”
He has built his life and career - supposedly - on testing his comfort zones.
All of this is fine. But the notion that individuals have the space to make decisions to work less in this current environment is not reasonable. Also - the complete absence of family responsibilities from this book is ... ummmmm ... interesting.
OK. But this is 'self development' from the back of a cereal packet.
Suggestions to relax include meditation, expressing gratitude and appreciation, intermittent fasting and reducing noise pollution. If 'we' could just reduce our negative thoughts, our lives would - supposedly - improve.
The author, Martin Meadows, is introduced as follows: “Martin Meadows is the pen name of an author who has dedicated his life to personal growth. He constantly reinvents himself by making drastic changes in his life.”
He has built his life and career - supposedly - on testing his comfort zones.
All of this is fine. But the notion that individuals have the space to make decisions to work less in this current environment is not reasonable. Also - the complete absence of family responsibilities from this book is ... ummmmm ... interesting.
OK. But this is 'self development' from the back of a cereal packet.
February 6, 2017
This was an incredibly quick read. It appears Martin Meadows has made his mark publishing bite-sized summations of more robust research. While his detractors call this cheap, I disagree, calling it well-achieved.
Everything in this book was a reminder. Nothing was new or revelatory and that's what I liked about it. I also agreed with everything he said. He called them "best practices" and that's exactly what I would call the advice he offered.
In his preface, Meadows makes it clear what he is going to deliver and he qualified his status as a writer, rather than a degree wielding expert. As much of my non-fiction is written in similar humility and brevity, I was inspired by the view of success achievable in such a style.
Everything in this book was a reminder. Nothing was new or revelatory and that's what I liked about it. I also agreed with everything he said. He called them "best practices" and that's exactly what I would call the advice he offered.
In his preface, Meadows makes it clear what he is going to deliver and he qualified his status as a writer, rather than a degree wielding expert. As much of my non-fiction is written in similar humility and brevity, I was inspired by the view of success achievable in such a style.
April 3, 2021
This book is advertised on Amazon as 92 pages, it could easily be half that, and if it wasn't free I'd feel like I got ripped off.
There's nothing 'new' in here that you can't find on any 2012-2016 blog like Lifehacker or Lifehack or the million copycat productivity blogs from that genre.
More annoying though is that each chapter, while comfortably paced around 6-8 minutes reading time, is the added 'chapter' of the recap after, which just regurgitates everything into 2-3 more pages. Hence why I say this book could be half as long. If the chapters were 30-45 minutes and the subject matter was super heavy, sure a recap would help. But a recap after 6 minutes of reading? Wasteful.
There's nothing 'new' in here that you can't find on any 2012-2016 blog like Lifehacker or Lifehack or the million copycat productivity blogs from that genre.
More annoying though is that each chapter, while comfortably paced around 6-8 minutes reading time, is the added 'chapter' of the recap after, which just regurgitates everything into 2-3 more pages. Hence why I say this book could be half as long. If the chapters were 30-45 minutes and the subject matter was super heavy, sure a recap would help. But a recap after 6 minutes of reading? Wasteful.
February 27, 2019
A pretty quick read with no big surprises, but good to file for later as a playbook if you feel yourself on the verge of burnout or you've had people telling you that you're high strung and you have no idea why they are doing so. Presupposes a level of privilege in life where you don't have to work three jobs to support four kids and so on. Having said that, I think most people can afford to meditate ten minutes a day. It also has some keepers like "Consider not turning on music, the radio, or TV at least once a week." Most people should be able to afford that too!
March 18, 2025
Empirical yet approachable
This short book provides empirical tips on hoa to relax which I have used them all to a certain degree in my life. The book itself is good and I am sure it can benefit a lot of people but for me it was more introductory and I was searching for something that dives deeper into the inner stillness. I have decided to judge the book as itself and what it aims to deliver and how it succeeds in doing so rather than whether it was what I searched for or not. Thus the positive review.
This short book provides empirical tips on hoa to relax which I have used them all to a certain degree in my life. The book itself is good and I am sure it can benefit a lot of people but for me it was more introductory and I was searching for something that dives deeper into the inner stillness. I have decided to judge the book as itself and what it aims to deliver and how it succeeds in doing so rather than whether it was what I searched for or not. Thus the positive review.
September 26, 2018
Obviously, reading one book or learning one trick will not make you relax but there are many helpful small tips to help you move towards a relaxing existence. These tips and activities are small and easy to incorporate into your everyday life that can change your way of thinking and some habits to get rid of stress - even stressors that you didn't even realize were there. Some are easier said than done but they are all building blocks to brain and behavior changes.
Worth a read.
Worth a read.
January 29, 2021
The topic is covered in various books from many great authors, inspirational speakers, scientists. Yet, I highly recommend Meadows's How to Relax.
We need to hear one thing multiple times, in different ways, in order to finally get it. Martin Meadows's way is straight to the point: a very short book, more of an executive summary with a complete list of actionable pieces of advice, with references to the background behind them.
We need to hear one thing multiple times, in different ways, in order to finally get it. Martin Meadows's way is straight to the point: a very short book, more of an executive summary with a complete list of actionable pieces of advice, with references to the background behind them.
May 28, 2018
Absolutely nothing new
Wow, 93 pages to administer the same advice every other person gives. Eat better, sleep more, disconnect, have more interpersonal time. There, just saved the reader an hour.
Wow, 93 pages to administer the same advice every other person gives. Eat better, sleep more, disconnect, have more interpersonal time. There, just saved the reader an hour.
June 21, 2018
While I wasn't quite ready for this book, it was an interesting read. There are some great suggestions on how to get results while doing less, and learning to relax (a concept I need to master better).
June 14, 2019
Good book with lesser known methods of relaxation
The writer has described very clearly the lesser known so called rituals and methods to unwind from day to day stresses in life. Worth a read!
The writer has described very clearly the lesser known so called rituals and methods to unwind from day to day stresses in life. Worth a read!
February 26, 2020
Helpful prompts for reflection. Good ideas I got from it is to schedule a massage, but a foam roll for self massage, do a stress inventory each month, limit noise, schedule some play, some open time for spontaneity, and some time in the wild with a paper book and a flask of tea.
January 1, 2021
Recharge
Instead of Relax, this book focuses on how to recharge and stay focused and productive to gain time. There’s some good ideas in here, and good perspective to explore. Nothing that jumped off the page, but good basics.
Instead of Relax, this book focuses on how to recharge and stay focused and productive to gain time. There’s some good ideas in here, and good perspective to explore. Nothing that jumped off the page, but good basics.
May 28, 2017
I listened to this audiobook while traveling: only an hour and a half. Some good tips on relaxation, but it presented nothing I haven't heard before.
June 8, 2018
it was a good little book that I know I will use as a reference.
March 7, 2019
It’s an amazing book to read
The books word and presentation are amazing and simple to grasp and work it out. It’s highly recommended for a true positive transformation
The books word and presentation are amazing and simple to grasp and work it out. It’s highly recommended for a true positive transformation
March 17, 2019
i can assure you that this help me relaxed only for the fact that when reading I'm always at peace and relaxed. does have some helpful tips and tricks to help ease your mind.
June 26, 2019
Some good advice
July 21, 2019
Good and relaxing to read. This something you can go back to read again if you're tense and anxious.
December 3, 2019
Some handy tips and tricks, quick read that helps you refocus.
December 17, 2019
Short and simple book.
Lot of tips that can be used again and again.
Lot of tips that can be used again and again.
June 3, 2020
It helped with a lot. It showed me things I'm missing and things I should do.
June 15, 2020
Easy read
Simple and easy to follow instructions/ suggestions that will definitely yield positive changes in life. Work and live smart. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Simple and easy to follow instructions/ suggestions that will definitely yield positive changes in life. Work and live smart. Breathe in. Breathe out.
July 23, 2020
Good Book
This book will help you in finding ways to be less stress in your personal life and work life too.
This book will help you in finding ways to be less stress in your personal life and work life too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews