The Case for Doing Nothing at Work
Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.
Today at a Glance:
The Most Radical Act in an Age of Outrage is to Play
Genetic Testing: When It’s Valuable, How to Choose The Right Test, And What to Do With The Results
Doing Nothing At Work
“Darkness is preparation for light.
Sadness is preparation for joy.
Failure is preparation for success.
But only if you keep going and remain open to what comes next.”
The Most Radical Act in an Age of Outrage is to Play
Zander Phelps
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
In an age engineered for outrage, choosing to play may be one of the most radical things we can do. Social media, news cycles, and algorithms keep us anxious, angry, and divided because fear captures attention and makes us easier to influence. Over time, that constant alarm narrows our thinking, weakens creativity, and encourages us to outsource not only our memories and decisions to technology, but our emotional state to the latest headline. Play reverses that pattern. Whether you juggle, toss a ball, build something, or laugh with friends, play draws you into the present, settles the nervous system, and strengthens curiosity, adaptability, and connection. Children understand this instinctively: they do not need shared beliefs to play together, and a simple invitation can dissolve barriers that debate only hardens. Far from being trivial, play helps restore the mental flexibility and emotional stability needed to face serious problems wisely. It generates joy from participation rather than notifications, validation, or outrage, making us less dependent on the systems competing to control our attention. We may not be able to quiet the forces swirling around us, but we can decide whether they control our inner state.
🎬Action!
Make play a daily practice: Set aside at least a few minutes each day for an activity you enjoy purely for its own sake—juggle, toss a ball, draw, dance, build something, or play with someone else. Use it to step away from the outrage cycle, regulate your nervous system, and reconnect with curiosity, creativity, and other people.
Genetic Testing: When It’s Valuable, How to Choose The Right Test, And What to Do With The Results
Dr. Peter Attia
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
Genetic testing can be life-changing—or little more than an expensive horoscope. Although DNA influences nearly every aspect of our biology, most genes do not determine our future; they merely shift probabilities alongside lifestyle, environment, aging, and chance. Testing is most valuable when it answers a specific question and leads to a meaningful next step, such as intensified cancer screening for a BRCA or Lynch syndrome mutation, identifying an inherited cardiac condition, or choosing a safer and more effective medication. It is far less useful when common, low-impact variants in genes involved in folate metabolism or dopamine breakdown are used to prescribe personalized diets, supplements, or personality profiles that the evidence cannot support. Often, directly measuring what is happening in the body—through blood work, imaging, symptoms, and family history—provides more actionable information than trying to infer it from DNA. The key is not to collect as much genetic data as possible, but to test with intention: know what you are trying to learn, choose the narrowest reliable test that can answer it, and decide beforehand what you will do with either a positive or negative result.
🎬Action!
Start with one clear question. Define exactly what you want to learn: whether you inherited a known family mutation, face elevated cancer or cardiac risk, might respond differently to a medication, or need help diagnosing unexplained symptoms. “What diseases will I get?” is usually too broad to produce a useful answer.
Check whether genetics is the best tool. When the relevant outcome can be measured directly, start there. Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, imaging, symptoms, and family history usually reveal more about your current health than a genetic estimate of predisposition.
Ask whether the result would change anything. Testing is most valuable when the variant has a meaningful effect and the result could alter screening, treatment, medication choice, family testing, or long-term planning. Think carefully before testing for risks that have few proven responses, particularly neurodegenerative diseases.
Choose the narrowest test that answers the question. Collecting more data does not automatically mean you will get more insight—sometimes it just generates more noise.
Known family mutation: a targeted single-variant test
Hereditary cancer, cardiac disease, or medication response: a clinical gene panel
Rare or unexplained illness: whole-exome or whole-genome sequencing, usually after narrower testing
Ancestry or physical traits: a SNP test/ genotyping (e.g., most direct to consumer tests) - Note: Do not use consumer tests to rule out serious medical conditions: they often examine only a small selection of common variants and can miss rare, high-impact mutations.
Use a qualified laboratory and professional guidance. Choose a CLIA-certified laboratory with expertise in the condition being investigated. Review exactly which genes and variants the test covers, what it may miss, its privacy policy, and whether insurance may cover it. For consequential results, involve a physician or genetic counselor before testing.
Prepare for every possible result. Decide beforehand how you would respond to a positive, negative, uncertain, or incidental finding, and whether knowing could create anxiety without offering useful action. More genetic information does not always create more clarity.
Interpret the result in context. A positive result usually changes probability, not destiny. A negative result means only that the tested variants were not found; it does not override symptoms, family history, or other clinical evidence. Variants of uncertain significance generally should not drive major medical decisions by themselves.
Turn useful information into action. Use the result to confirm a diagnosis, adjust screening, choose or avoid a medication, inform biological relatives, or support long-term planning. When the finding adds context but no clear next step, document it and revisit it as the science evolves rather than forcing an intervention.
Below are some popular US testing options for different clinical questions.
Doing Nothing At Work
Sean Goedecke
🔦Lights, Camera, ...
Many people would perform better by working at roughly 80% capacity most of the time—not by becoming less committed, but by leaving enough space to recognize and respond to the moments that matter most. Career impact is often driven by a few time-sensitive opportunities: solving an urgent customer problem, preventing a costly mistake, unblocking an important project, or contributing expertise that nobody else has. You cannot predict these moments, and you may not even notice them if you are buried in emails, meetings, and an endless stream of minor tasks, or if you appear so busy that no one thinks to involve you. Doing less creates room to observe, connect with colleagues, think clearly, recover, and approach genuine crises calmly rather than making frantic decisions that worsen the situation. It also means deliberately not doing certain things: work that has not been prioritized, favors that will not be recognized, tasks likely to change or disappear, and problems the organization must experience before it will address them properly. Focusing your time and attention on the work that creates the most value reduces the need to stay busy simply for the sake of doing something; there will always be more work available, but that does not make it worthwhile. The goal is not to avoid effort, but to conserve it—working at a sustainable pace during ordinary periods so that, on the few occasions each year when the stakes and potential rewards are genuinely high, you have the energy and capacity to give your full effort.
🎬Action!
Work at 80% capacity by default. Prioritize the few tasks that create the most value, and leave some time unscheduled to think, recover, notice emerging opportunities, and respond calmly when important work appears. Resist filling that space with low-priority tasks, invisible favors, repeated rework, or projects likely to disappear. There will always be more work to do, but not all of it deserves your time—save full intensity for the rare moments when it can make an outsized difference.
TOOL TIP
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FUN FACT
Fish do not chew because they would suffocate if they tried. Chewing would interfere with the passage of water over the gills, necessary for obtaining oxygen. Carnivorous fish like sharks use their sharp teeth to seize and hold prey while swallowing it whole or in large pieces. Bottom dwellers such as rays are equipped with large flat teeth that crush the shellfish they consume. Herbivorous fish (grazers) often lack jaw teeth, but have tooth-like grinding mills in their throats, called pharyngeal teeth.
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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.
