How to Be Less Useful

“If you’ve ever said to yourself, ‘I used to be fun!’ If you’ve struggled to relax, to ‘go with the flow,’ to let people sort things out for themselves. If you’ve craved an earlier, less harried version of your marriage, your life, yourself—this book is for you. In How To Be Less Useful, Priyanka Mattoo shows us how to be less and have more: more fulfillment, more authenticity, more ease, more joy.” —Maggie Smith, author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful

“Time is a thief, and too often we aid and abet that robber by denying ourselves little joys, by spending every minute of our one wild and precious life just trying to get to the next one. Thank the gods that Priyanka Mattoo is here to remind us that living like that sucks and we haven’t been sentenced to doing it. It’s okay for you to ease up and not always be ‘maxxing.’ This is a painfully relatable yet also hilarious chillout manual for cool people who want to do and be more than their appointments and obligations.” —Samantha Irby, author of Wow, No Thank You.

“Priyanka Mattoo has written the funniest and most resonant survival guide for anxious eldest daughters everywhere. This is the liberating and necessary feminist manifesto for the modern age of optimization. I am so grateful she has brilliantly articulated what so many of us have been thinking: We need to do less.” —Bess Kalb, author of Nobody Will Tell You This But Me

“Read this book, gift it, annotate it, dog-ear the pages, tattoo its wisdom onto your arms and legs—Priyanka Mattoo is the older sister we all need in our lives.” —Diksha Basu, author of Destination Wedding

“Approachable and witty. . . . Offering a winning combination of memoir and self-improvement, this entertaining book is highly recommended.” —Jennifer Alexander, Library Journal (starred)


“Generous. . . . Overscheduled readers will appreciate the permission she offers to slow down and do less.” —Publishers Weekly

“A candid memoir of much-needed transformation.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Written with insightful wit and honest self-reflection.” —Lucy Yu, Electric Literature

“I didn’t set out to read this at the same time as All Fours, but I highly recommend it. Mattoo’s accessible and honest memoir was like the sensible counterweight to July’s novel.” —Katie McPherson, Scary Mommy (Editor Picks)