The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work

Learn how to achieve more by doing less! Live in that zone you€ve glimpsed but can€t seem to hold on to€"the sweet spot where you have the greatest strength, but also the greatest ease.
 
Not long ago, Christine Carter, a happiness expert at UC Berkeley€s Greater Good Science Center and a speaker, writer, and mother, found herself exasperated by the busyness of modern life: too many conflicting obligations and not enough time, energy, or patience to get everything done. She tried all the standard techniques€"prioritizing, multitasking, delegating, even napping€"but none really worked. Determined to create a less stressful life for herself€"without giving up her hard-won career success or happiness at home€"she road-tested every research-based tactic that promised to bring more ease into her life. Drawing on her vast knowledge of the latest research related to happiness, productivity, and elite performance, she followed every strategy that promised to give her more energy€"or that could make her more efficient, creative, or intelligent.
 
Her trials and errors are our reward. In The Sweet Spot, Carter shares the combination of practices that transformed her life from overwhelmed and exhausting to joyful, relaxed, and productive. From instituting daily micro-habits that save time to bigger picture shifts that convert stress into productive and creative energy, The Sweet Spot shows us how to
 
€ say €œno€ strategically and when to say €œyes€ with abandon
€ make decisions about routine things once to free our minds to focus on higher priorities
€ stop multitasking and gain efficiency
€ €œtake recess€ in sync with the brain€s need for rest
€ use technology in ways that bolster, instead of sap, energy
€ increase your ratio of positive to negative emotions
 
Complete with practical €œeasiest thing€ tips for instant relief as well as stories from Carter€s own experience of putting The Sweet Spot into action, this timely and inspiring book will inoculate you against €œThe Overwhelm,€ letting you in on the possibilities for joy and freedom that come when you stop trying to do everything right€"and start doing the right things.
 
Praise for The Sweet Spot
 
€œIf you, like me, are a fan of a certain kind of self-improvement book€"the kind, like The Happiness Project or 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think or Getting Things Done, that offers up strategies for making certain areas of life work better without requiring that you embrace a new belief system€"then I have a new book for you . . . The Sweet Spot.€€"KJ Dell€Antonia, The New York Times (Motherlode blog)
 
€œA breath of fresh air . . . Based on personal experiments with living life in what she calls the €˜pressure cooker,€ Dr. Carter offers advice in easily digestible nuggets.€€"Working Mother

€œLearn more about escaping the €˜busyness trap€ and uncovering a happier, less stressed you.€€"Shape
 
€œCarter€s transformation from overwhelmed working mom to productive and relaxed human being will inspire you. [The Sweet Spot] is chock-full of concrete tips on how to sharpen your focus, improve your efficiency, and use technology to your advantage.€€"The Week

€œIlluminates the simple and sustainable path toward a precious and happy balance.€€"Deepak Chopra