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The Sweet Spot

By: Christine Carter Ph.D.
Narrated by: Christine Carter Ph.D.
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Summary

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 “no” strategically and when to say “yes” with abandon
  • Make decisions about routine things once to free our minds to focus on higher priorities
  • Stop multitasking and gain efficiency
  • “Take 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 “easiest 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 “The 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.

©2015 Christine Carter (P)2015 Random House Audio
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Critic reviews

“If 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)

“With all the agonizing about ‘having it all,’ UC Berkeley sociologist Christine Carter, PhD, blows us a breath of fresh air with her five-step, common-sense primer The Sweet Spot: How to Find Your Groove at Home and Work. Based on personal experiments with living life in what she calls the ‘pressure cooker,’ Dr. Carter offers advice in easily digestible nuggets.”Working Mother

“Carter gives actionable ways to balance your life, your health, and your career. This book is packed with smart advice and hard-earned wisdom.”Inc.

What listeners say about The Sweet Spot

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knowledge

I really enjoyed this book, really need to listen again to extract more information.

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uplifted

great book to renew your vigour..loved this....
It's a great listen and will help u to get back to basics

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A good intro guide.

A good guide to different subjects, but covers too many subjects without going in deep with anyone.

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Life changing

This book should be taught in schools! I will re listen to this many times again!

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One of the best books ever

I'm definitely going to listen to this book again! It's absolutely amazing. This book should be thought in schools.

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It's okay, just okay

The narrator's voice and accent are quite difficult to continually listen to. That might just be because I'm British though. It sort of pierced through me and became distracting and irritating.

I thought there would be more of an emphasis on the science given her PhD status is plastered on the book cover. I got the point from about halfway through: create a routine conducive to wellbeing and health, say "no", be kind, and re-prioritise.

I'd also add that if you have a highly unpredictable job like I do then her advice just isn't all that practical because it's near on impossible to create any sort of daily routine. For example, she talks about exercising every morning (tbf she says each to their own, but just as an example), but if some nights you work through the night, and some mornings you've got to get up at 4am, cultivating a morning (and evening) routine is only going to lead to frustration when you invariably fail to do it more often than not. Trust me, I tried. Therefore, if you don't at least have semi-regular hours then that part of the book might be lost on you.

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