Boffins crack the key to happiness and it includes solely giving 50% effort

A lifestyle guru has the bold idea that happiness comes by doing less and putting in half the effort into everything and adopting a ‘couldn’t give a monkeys’ attitude

The secret to a happy life is to be half-hearted about everything, according to a “don’t bovver” boffin. Folk would be better off if they only put 50% of their effort into all they do.

The “couldn’t-give-a-monkeys” method would leave people happier and less exhausted, according to lifestyle guru and author Leena Norms. She has penned a self-help book which advises individuals not to put everything into anything.

Typically Leena – whose surname is only half her real moniker Normington- only ended up penning nine chapters instead of her planned 18. But she defended publishing just 50% of her thoughts by saying she had edited them down to the best ones – making the book better.

She said trying too hard in a job only brought folk more work, responsibility and stress. “I think we’re all trying to shimmy through life, trying not to exhaust ourselves, and taking loads of shortcuts,’’ she said.

“It’s about accepting that shortcuts are OK as long as we think about why we’re doing them.’’

She questioned why anyone should make paid work the centre of their existence when getting ahead for its own sake was unlikely to make them feel fulfilled. Most people never land their dream job and no-one enjoys every aspect of what they do for a living.

So “why” should they devote 100% to it, she said, adding: “In pursuit of what?’’

Half-Arse Human: How To Live Better Without Burning Out highlights the advantages of an “it-is-what-it-is” existence. Leena, 34, believes “anything worth doing is worth half-arsing.”

And it does not appear to have done her any harm. She is a published poet and prolific YouTuber whose videos about book recommendations, reading tips and life advice have clocked up 24 million views.

Her nine chapters cover home, style, career and the body – areas in which most self-help books encourage 100% commitment routinely resulting in failure.

Leena reckons it is better to be half-arsed about something than do nothing. She believes in habit-stacking – linking a desired new goal such as running to something you already do, like showering.

“Every time I needed a shower I’d try to make time for a 20-minute jog beforehand,’’ she wrote.

“Do I always do this? Absolutely not. But it has resulted in me running several times a week, which, even at my fail rate, is much higher than it was before.’’

If folk need extra time to get more done they should not get up earlier but instead give something else up. Apart from sun protection everyone should ignore all forms of skin care, Leena suggested. And when it comes to exercise get a “rough idea of how regularly you’d like to do it and then halve that rate”, she said.

Leena began half-arsing when she struggled to quit meat after deciding to go vegan. As half-arsing embraces impurity she realised it was better to be a bad vegan than full-on meat-eater. So she tag-teamed veganism – splitting the habit every other day with a pal.

“I was like: `Well, on the day you’ve eaten meat, text me and I won’t eat meat that day’,’’ she said.

“To claim to be a vegan is an ambitious statement. Loads of our wine is filtered through fish guts. And I still knit with wool and stuff.’’

Leena said the strategy took away any guilt, adding “planning Me” is the “enemy” – not “doing Me”.

“It’s the b****** who turns up on January 1 and writes a resolution list, not the person who’s there the other 364 days,’’ she added.

In the blurb for her tome on Amazon she claims it is the “only self-help book that will tell you to give up”, adding: “Except you don’t need to give up, do you? Because you didn’t start. Me either.’’

It describes her as a “half-arser, a shave-one-legger, a rinse-the-plates-and-tell-herself-any-residual-dirt-will-improve-her-immune-system-er”.

“Half-Arse Human will show you to harness the power of considered chaos and upgrade the parts of your life that really matter without expending more than you have to give,’’ it states.

“Trying to be superhuman is out – being a half-arse human is in. Find out why living a life of slap-dash isn’t as shameful as it seems. In a world of high-flyers, let’s at least get you in the air.’’