The Joy of Doing Just Enough

Title: The Joy of Doing Just Enough

Author: Jennifer McCartney 

Published: April 3rd 2018

Pages: 144

Genre: Self Help, Humor 

Publisher: Countryman Press

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Goodreads Description: 

For anyone who’s ever heard a motivational speech and immediately vomited, a guide to ignoring society’s obsession with success

Sit around, leave sh*t all over the place, drink, forget about deadlines . . . being lazy is pretty easy. The real art in being chill is when someone without any real ambition can fly under the radar, and live unscathed by the never-ending reams of self-help and inspiration rained upon anyone who just wants to watch Netflix. The magical place where doing what comes naturally keeps the do-ers at arm’s length. Rather than doing less, do just enough. So screw TED Talks, Instagram images of a beach that say “Fail Better” in gold cursive, marathon training, tips for keeping plants alive, and all self-aggrandizing social media. Ninety-nine percent of people on this planet are just pretty average. We’re doing our thing. Trying to get out of bed in the morning. Hey, are you awake right now? Reading a sentence? You know what? That’s success in my book. Being a person is hard enough without all the pressure to be good at it. B&W illustrations throughout

Things I enjoyed about this book: 

This book is full of laughs. In our society we definitely do not live in the culture of “The are of doing just enough.” Our culture is surrounded by doing EVERYTHING Pinterest perfect, owning the most lavish material goods, and trying to cram everything in. So I liked being reminded that I can do the bare minimum and I’m awesome.

The Things I Didn’t Enjoy: 

The constant swearing and the vulgarity. I know that this was a book of humor, but I don’t think those things are humorous by any means, just crass. I also didn’t enjoy the pet chapters- though small- were obnoxious.

MRS BIRDS WORDS REVIEW

Jennifer McCartney deserves 3 out of 5 feathers. She made me laugh quite a few times and reminded me of the importance of not doing too much. I often find myself wanting to make everything PERFECT and it exhausts me, frustrates me, and turns out being worse than what the bare minimum would have been. Despite the swearing and vulgarity, I did enjoy the overall message. While some of the suggestions were over the top and not realistic, it will give you a good laugh.

Parent’s Guide:

TONS of swearing and talks about sex.

(C)LVB2018