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As fall approaches, many of us feel we need to set new goals and be more productive.

There is a limit to how long we can keep adding to our schedules before we are overwhelmed.

Focusing on subtracting activities and streamlining our lives can improve well-being.

For many of us, Labor Day traditionally signaled the start of the new school year. It meant that summer was over, and it was time to focus on filling our backpacks with the right school supplies and deciding what to wear on the first day of school. Even when we no longer go to school, the start of the new school year and the transition to fall weather make many of us feel we should be thinking about setting new goals and increasing our productivity.

But does simply trying to do more in less time improve our lives? To a point, we may get more things done, but it can also leave us feeling overwhelmed, exhausted, and chronically short of time. In some ways, this is a uniquely modern problem. In the past, people’s lives were often slow-paced and routine. The activities of daily life, such as obtaining food, cleaning the house, and walking from one place to another, took significant amounts of time, and opportunities for entertainment were limited.

Productivity and the Endless Options of Modern Life

Today we have labor-saving devices that make many routine activities easier, and access to an endless stream of music, movies, games, and ways to distract ourselves. But the variety of options available to us can feel daunting. Should we listen to classical or rock music, play an audiobook or a podcast, catch up on the........

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