Let’s get one thing straight: Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo are not lazy. The two best friends and Giggly Squad podcast co-hosts have, in recent years, sold out Radio City Music Hall twice, won Podcast of the Year at the 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards, authored a New York Times bestselling book, and just announced a Netflix scripted comedy series produced by Amy Poehler, with Kay Cannon of Pitch Perfect and 30 Rock fame co-writing. Hannah has her own stand-up tour, a Hulu comedy special currently in production, plus a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut photoshoot. Paige launched her own loungewear line, Daphne, became TRESemmé’s first-ever year-long brand ambassador, hosted the red carpet at the Netflix Actor Awards, and is a regular fashion correspondent for Amazon Live and the TODAY Show.
And yet, their entire brand is built on the radical act of perfecting the Irish exit, ordering Uber Eats, and lying in bed with their cats (shoutout, Butter & Daphne). Staying home is the bit. The bit is also the business plan.
Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo at The Devil Wears Prada 2 Movie Premier
(@paige_Desorbo)
No is a full sentence (and a career strategy)
The Giggly Squad fan base, known as Gigglers, has been nodding along to this philosophy for years because Hannah and Paige put language to something a lot of women already feel but rarely say out loud: that protecting your energy is not antisocial, it is self-preservation. Saying no to the thing you never wanted to do in the first place is not a personality flaw but a skill worth developing, and per organizational psychologist Adam Grant, it is also a career strategy.
Writing in Psychology Today, Grant states directly: “Saying No is especially huge in establishing a work/life balance. Without that ability, work will cannibalize your life.” He goes further, arguing that without the ability to say no, “other people dictate your schedule and limit your accomplishments.”
Hannah and Paige have built a media empire while still leaving parties whenever they feel like it, which is honestly the most compelling career advice anyone has offered in years.
Napping is not laziness. It’s neuroscience.
Here is where the lifestyle stops being a personality trait and starts being a peer-reviewed argument. Dr. Matthew Walker, sleep researcher at UC Berkeley and author of “Why We Sleep,” does not mince words: “Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day.” His research found that naps as short as 26 minutes delivered a 34% improvement in task performance and more than a 50% increase in overall alertness, and that after just 16 hours of being awake, “the brain begins to fail.” After 10 days of only 7 hours of sleep, the brain performs as though it hasn’t slept in 24 hours at all.
Pushing through without rest is not the badge of honor LinkedIn would have you believe. It is just burnout with a better aesthetic, and working hard and rewarding yourself are not competing priorities but the same habit practiced in sequence. Per Walker’s research, Hannah and Paige selling out Radio City twice while also being known for their naps makes complete scientific sense, whether the productivity industrial complex would like to admit it or not.
Being a girls’ girl is literally a wellness practice
On a recent episode, Hannah shared a quote she had written down, likely from TikTok: “Make sure you pick friends who love their life or they’ll end up hating yours.” Hannah said, “I surround myself with people who like what they do. Not because of success, not because of money, but is this person alive when they talk about what they’re up to?”
They also got into jealousy, and Paige’s take was sharp: “Anytime I’ve ever felt jealous of someone else, it’s more that I’m like, why didn’t I also work toward doing that? It’s not that person in particular. It’s more like, oh, I think I could do that too.” She credited her mom for a line she has carried since childhood: “My child’s success does not take away from your child’s success.” Whenever a girl was being jealous or mean, her mom’s response was always the same.” What you’re doing isn’t taking anything from them. They can also do it. As Paige put it, as an adult, it is even more true.
This sentiment is backed by two decades of research from Dr. Kristin Neff, associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the world’s leading researchers on self-compassion. Her work, published in the Annual Review of Psychology, finds that self-compassion, defined as treating yourself with the same kindness you would extend to a good friend, is “one of the most powerful sources of coping and resilience we have available, radically improving our mental and physical wellbeing.”
Critically, her studies also dismantle the myth that being kind to yourself makes you complacent. Self-compassion, she has found, “does not lead to self-pity or laziness, but rather to resilience and psychological well-being.” The same applies outward: women who extend that same generosity to other women, who root for them instead of ranking themselves against them, show measurably lower anxiety and stronger confidence.
The women who root for other women aren’t just the fun ones to be around — they’re also, per peer-reviewed research, the mentally healthiest ones in the room, and your nervous system will thank you for surrounding yourself with them.
Giggly Squad drops every Tuesday and Friday on YouTube and is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. “How to Giggle: A Guide to Taking Life Less Seriously” by Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo is available now.
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