Micro-Efficiencies, Macro Burnout

Hello, I’m Michelle from Opting Out, based in Brighton, UK. I share regular posts on slow living, rest, and opting out of burnout culture, plus my weekly Weekend Mood Board of what’s currently inspiring me. Paid subscribers also get access to the Slow Reading Group (we’re currently reading “Rest is Resistance”), live Co-Resting sessions, yoga nidra audios and pre-recorded full-length restorative yoga classes.

It’s my dream to create a community of misfits, questioners and resters. Are you in? ✨

We live in a culture that fetishizes optimization. We’re encouraged to listen to audiobooks at 2x speed while foam rolling and sipping matcha, to batch-cook meals a month in advance, to rise at dawn for punishing morning routines, and to document it all on social media.

It’s the cult of the “Optimized Life,” where productivity gurus and wellness influencers promise that we can become better human beings if we gamify our habits, auto-schedule our lives, and strip everything, even rest, down to its most “productive” version.

We’re told that all these micro-efficiencies will make us feel better. But what if all they’re doing is making us quicker, emptier, and more detached from ourselves?

A recent Guardian article reported on people trying to claw back minutes from their day by brushing their teeth in the shower or making two cups of tea at once. One woman even built a contraption so she could switch off the light from her sofa, saving herself a whole “three to four minutes a day.”

Maybe it’s the Buddhist in me, but I see these supposedly “wasted” moments as sacred pauses. When I’m waiting for the kettle to boil, can I be fully present in my body? Can I look out the window and appreciate the flowers?

What looks like inefficiency might actually be a doorway into mindfulness.

Sure, these little time-savers seem harmless. But when micro-efficiencies start to shape your day, your week, your life, they become a trap. The extra time you “save” rarely goes toward rest. It’s just backfilled with more work, more hustle, more pressure to perform.

That’s not efficiency, that’s depletion.

The more streamlined our days become, the less attuned we are to our bodies. And when we lose connection to our bodily sensations, we also lose access to our intuition, the compass we need to navigate life in a meaningful way.

The #5amClub crowd would have us believe that the secret to success is to wake up in the dark to exercise, meditate, and read something “improving.” Now, I’m not knocking these practices. But do we really need to get up before dawn to access them?

As someone currently navigating the hormonal rollercoaster of perimenopause, sleep is my non-negotiable. I still find time to meditate every day, move my body, and read widely — just not at 5am. I weave these practices into my day without forcing them into a rigid, performative schedule.

In our Slow Reading Group, we’re reading Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey. She speaks of the revolutionary power of daydreaming. If we schedule every moment of our day for maximum productivity, where is the time to wonder? To pause? To dream?

This obsession with micro-efficiencies is the antithesis of yutori, the Japanese concept of taking a little more time than you need. I live by the mantra: I will not be rushed.

Much to the occasional frustration of those around me (you know who you are), I try to leave the house early enough to admire the flowers or pet the cats I meet along the way. Sometimes it backfires — we’ve missed the odd train (sorry!). But most of the time, living this way allows me to savour the small joys, to make space for presence.

Chasing micro-efficiencies activates your sympathetic nervous system (your fight-or-flight response). It leads to:

It’s exhausting, because it leaves no room for simply being, for softness, for humanity. We begin to believe that unless every moment is useful, it’s wasted. And that, my friend, is a deeply capitalist lie.

I’ll concede that some kinds of life simplification can be helpful, especially if you live with chronic illness or caring responsibilities. Reducing decisions, streamlining routines, and simplifying your environment can preserve energy for what truly matters.

But radical inefficiency? That’s my favourite life hack.

This isn’t laziness, it’s a homecoming. These “unproductive” moments are how we return to ourselves.

What if rest wasn’t a reward for efficiency, but your birthright?

What if the point of time wasn’t to fill it, but to feel it?

What if being radically inefficient was actually the smartest way to inhabit your life?

What if you woke up naturally, rather than to a 4:45am alarm, and felt… better?

What if slowing down was the key to actually enjoying being alive?

Take your time with these. They’re offered not as homework, but as invitations into your own knowing.

I’d love to hear how this resonates with you. Leave a comment below.