Look at what's happened to the usual how-are-you exchange. It used to go like "How are you?" "Fine." Now it often goes like "How are you?" "Busy." Or "Too busy." Or simply "Crazy."
Without intending for it to happen or knowing how, when, or why it got started, many people now find that they live in a rush they never wanted. If you feel busier than you've ever been and wonder how this happened and how you can keep up the pace much longer, you are hardly alone.
Crazy? Maybe not. Dysfunctional? Yes, indeed. We all have more to do than ever before -- and less time to do it. In this highly listenable audiobook, the foremost expert on ADD, Ned Hallowell, explores the society-wide phenomenon of culturally induced ADD.
Being busy may very well keep you from doing what matters most, or it may lead you to do things you deem unwise (like getting angry, for example). Being busy is a problem for almost all of us. This audiobook is about both the opportunity and the problem -- where this peculiar life comes from and how to turn it to your advantage. Offering solutions to this difficult, complex problem that might work for you, most importantly, Crazybusy may prompt you to create solutions of your own.
Edward (Ned) Hallowell, M.D., is a child and adult psychiatrist, a NY Times bestselling author, a world-renowned speaker and a leading authority in the field of ADHD. He has authored twenty books including the 1994 ground-breaking New York Times best-seller on ADHD, Driven to Distraction. In aggregate, Dr. Hallowell's books have sold more than 2 million copies on various psychological topics including how to: raise children into happy adults, manage worry, develop focus, forgiveness, connecting on a deeper level and how to inspire the best from employees. His most recent book was his Memoir, Because I Come From A Crazy Family The Making Of A Psychiatrist. His next book, ADHD 2.0 releases on January 12, 2021. Pre-order your copy today.
He is the host of “Distraction,” a weekly podcast that offers insights, strategies and tactics for coping and thriving in this crazy-busy, 24/7 over-connected modern world.
The first half was an exceptionally long-winded and repetitive description of modern life. We're all stressed, too busy, freaking out, rushing around, yadda yadda yadda. The author covered this ad nauseam, to the point of including a glossary of his own annoying made-up terms, invented to describe aspects of the problem. I guess I have too good an imagination, because reading all the yammer about the ways we stress ourselves out and make our lives miserable, over and over, was really stressing me out. And then, occasionally, he'd add a really annoying, convoluted, horrible passage to make a point about people depending on short sentences, conciseness, and clarity of thought when they read nowadays. Fuck you, buddy.
I shifted to skim mode and motored on to the second half. I would have chucked the book altogether--this guy's style is really grating--but the second half promised solutions.
So far, really nothing new, though. I was expecting a lot of interesting insights about ADD and how so many of us suffer the symptoms even though we don't really have it, which he touched on in the beginning. Given that, I hoped for some meaty solutions. But no, so far it's "do stuff you care about as much as you can" and a bunch of other blather that boils down to exercising your to-quit list. Grr. How ironic to be stressfully wasting my time on a book that's supposed to help you reduce stress and stop wasting time.
...
Ok, there was a short chapter about ADD in the section on how to cope better, but it didn't really give any useful advice. It just talked about how people who actually have ADD and/or dyslexia think differently than everyone else, and instead of viewing that as a handicap, they should be happy they think outside the box. Seriously, that's it. What a bunch of bullshit.
This book makes the argument that modern life has stretched people so thin that our collective busyness is detrimental to our well-being.
This book is very clearly not written for the working mother (or primary caregiver). The entire first half of the book reiterates the same points over and over again - that we are too busy, that our time-saving technologies are harming us, that we need to find time to connect, that we need only handle things that matter… but as a working mom I find it unrealistic to do these things. It's nice to dream, but no matter how tedious I find chores, food needs get on the table, schedules need to be met, and things just need to get done. In fact I found this book quite infuriating. The author goes on about avoiding blather and yet there is an entire chapter devoted to MADE-UP WORDS. What is a better example of blather than nonexistent jargon?
I read this book hoping to gather some strategies to help me cope with my busyness, and instead I just got annoyed. The concrete strategies for coping - and I'm actually talking about the things I am able to do, and not things I can dream about doing - don't even begin until 75% of the book, according to my Kindle. There are a handful of exercises that look promising.
Now - if Dr. Hallowell's wife were to write a book on how she copes with her crazy-busyness, that book I would read. But I'd wager she's too busy to actually write one.
It is obvious that this was written by a man who has most of his daily needs met by someone else. Next time I get married, I want a wife that will take care of everything while I figure out what I really want and need to do. The 'leaches' (time wasters) that I need to give up are: grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and child rearing oh! and sex.
Who cannot relate to being "overstretched, overbooked, and about to snap?" As with his other books, Dr. Hallowell presents not only the problem (overcommitted, speeded-up lifestyles), but some practical solutions as well. I rolled my eyes along with the anecdotes he presents, completely identifying with his subjects. If you want to do something good for you and your family, read this book -- especially if you think you don't have time to.
Recommended by my daughter who found this helpful in stratagising a less stressful approach to her, I read this at a time where I had already done a bit of life simplification. Prior to reading it, I was interested in the fact that reviews bounced around considerably....from 1 to 5, and that some of the low ratings were from people who were "too busy" to really read the book apparently. I found Hallowell's book slightly slow paced, but it had some creative suggestions and better than just a list of to do's, it offered a way of approaching life with more insight into what makes an individual life satisfying from a hot shower to time for creativity at work, and why it is so easy to lose the satisfaction in a constant round of distractions and tasks. I found that it was filled with gentle humor about our human predicament, and good solid advice.
I attempted to listen to the audio book of this text - must admit, the first three chapters just made me more stressed and agitated than when I began. I don't know whether it was the man's tone, the pacing or the writing itself, but I found listening to this doing more harm than good. However there were some really interesting nuggets of information mixed into the "how bad, and I'm making it worse by spreading it around more and more" words I was listening to in the car. I think I'd like to buy a cheap copy, rip it apart and bind certain pages and passages together and hand the useful nuggets to my friends.
A fundamental problem with this book is that if it is meant to be written for busy people, it should have been way shorter than it was. The book has some good stories, but there is a lot of unnecessary rambling. In addition, the author introduces a lot of terms like "Gemmelsmerch" and "Frazzing" - keeping up with these terms is another pain to deal with for anyone who is really busy. The meat of the book comes in the last few chapters where the author explains why we are busy and what we can do about it. There are some valid points, but he does not address some particular situations like workaholics. Also he doesn't provide a solution for people who are busy because of the fault of their managers or bosses and who don't have many employment choices.
Listened to audio book in car while commuting Sept 2008 The 2 good ideas to take away: 1. Leeches vs Lillies -- identifying activities and people into each category; get rid of the leeches. 2. OHIO - Only Handle It Once -- with email, bills, etc., do the proper thing with it the first time, rather than re-read it or re-review it before filing it, replying, etc.
Otherwise, I didn't care for the book & wouldn't recommend it. The author gave far too many examples/illustrations of a single point before moving on.
This would have been better as a few well thought out blog posts. This read like an introduction that repeated itself over and over, to the point that I thought I was re-reading chapters. Honestly, I felt like the author was trying to convince me that I needed to finish reading his book, rather than offering any substantial advice. And, unfortunately, most of his advice is not practical for me or most people I know, although I'm sure we'd all love to "Hire a personal assistant for 5 hours a week."
Lately, I've felt, well, crazy busy! Going into this book, I already knew that I needed to declutter my life and needed to better prioritize, and I hoped this book would help with that. While it did offer some good tips and helped me re-prioritize and get off social media as much, being more aware of my self-care time and how I wanted to spend that, it was a bit repetitive and felt like several blog posts rather than a book--I probably would've learned more from reading the blog posts. I did listen to the audiobook, so the tips were a bit hard to follow, but that's on me. I'm also not sure this book was written for busy college students!
Also, this book basically, in a nutshell, taught mindfulness without ever saying "mindfulness". It was like mindfulness for entrepreneurs, more like, as he called "flow" play and "mindfulness" full attention. Just thought this was funny.
Lord this book was rambling as hell and the author’s tone was SO SELF-SATISFIED. I wish someone had edited and organized this better. Many better books on this same topic out there; don’t waste your time.
Ever wonder how you get through the day in the modern high-tech communications world in which we live? If Blackberrys, PDAs, voice mail, text messaging, e-mails, longer workdays and information overflow are making you crazy, Dr. Hallowell has some news for you. (like, for starters, you're not alone.) This Massachusetts author and ADD psychiatrist, begins by taking you through a rather extensive, yet easy-to-read, analysis of the current trends that have foisted themselves on society through technological advances (?) and the societal impact of change in our increasingly fast-paced world. By exploring both the macro view and the micro implications, Hallowell makes the reader stop in his tracks to observe the effects of modern life that are washing over us, often times without us even having the time to stop and consider their ever-increasing impact. He uses his self-coined term, Gemmelsmerch, to describe the kinds of distractions that attack us against our will (the sound of a jackhammer, IRS audits, angry rants on the radio, nearly everything on TV) and deplete our resources for deep thought and the appreciation of the human experience. The second half of the book offers a variety of recommendations to help the reader work through the cluttered life of the 21st century in ways that focus on what's important in life, as opposed to what is unwittingly coming at us, someone else's agenda or somehow merely categorized as urgent. As much of an observation of society (based on clinical experience) as it is a self-help book, "Crazy Busy" is a must for anyone who has become the victim of the modern busy society, yet wants to turn it's inevitable by-products into assets.
Great book! It starts with an explanation of the problem, continues with a lot of good and useful advice, and finishes on a more philosophical and expansive note. I definitely want to read more from Dr. Hallowell, so it is a good thing that he has written a few books. He has a great perspective and a nice easygoing style.
While the advice does consist mainly of the obvious, that you have to be able to say no, he does go pretty far beyond that with a lot of detailed advice, so this is like getting a psychiatrist in a book!
After reading it, if I go back and look at my last few months of frenzy due to an overwhelming work task with a short deadline and many conflicting demands but at least with some warning, I can see that I am very guilty of trying to do everything instead of saying no to the few things that I can do that with. I have learned from smart and organized people in the past to prioritize somewhat, but I am still all too easily sucked in by work that is nice to do, should be easy and not take too much time, but all too often it does grow far beyond what you estimate it will be, especially in its accumulation. And most importantly, is not the top priority huge task that I always seem to come up short on because it is so darn overwhelming. Now I keep thinking back to partial derivatives, where you need to keep some things constant while you work on others. Trying to do it all at once definitely is counter-productive and is guaranteed to frazzle.
A perfect book for the times! I congratulate Dr. Hallowell for writing it, and anyone else like me who reads and appreciates it!
So, ti's to return to some easier reading. CrazyBusy talks about the frantic modern life which makes us go faster but falling farther behind. It's a subject I think that all of us can relate to on some level.
Edward takes us through some humorous examples of our modern life. They are fun and see ourselves and hopefully laugh at ourselves. He then starts pointing out a strategies to get a hold of our life ... like a time budget.
We hear about financial budgets and diet diaries but not time budgets. Have you ever analyzed how you actually spend your 168 hours a week? Further he assigns a point system based on productivity, need, and desire. I laughed to myself because I created something akin to my eating habits (is it good for me? does it taste good? Does it make someone else happy if I eat it). I thought I was alone in this thinking.
There were many fine suggestions for example doing a job first before getting emotionally roped into it and that the most successful people (financially speaking) spend time thinking and playing with ideas - not running around like people on Blackberry devices.
This book ironically is aimed toward the people who are least likely to read it. The book is divided into such short chapters it makes a wonderful literary companion on your bus ride or lunch break. If you want to start catching up, I think this book could have some answers for you.
i just finished reading this book this year (2013) as i write this review and amazingly the importance of this book has only enhanced although it was first written in 2006 (to my knowledge) - its very true and the author covers some very important aspects of ones life and how overwhelmingly busy it can get...just look around with the recent advent of mobile devices and smartphones...only enhances it
a must read to aid you in the crazy BUSY and hectic world of today to help you keep mindful of whats important, and also realise whats happening around you that you might be missing in the fast pacing enviroment around us...
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i've read a couple of hallowell's other books on add/adhd, so i expected that i'd like this one as well. love how the book is written in an "add/adhd" (in this case, crazybusy, i guess) friendly way--nice, short chapters.
apparently i needed to read this book more than i realized. i got so busy that it took me almost four months to finally finish it! however, i guess that now was the time for me to seriously consider what i'm doing with my life, especially my time, which i notoriously squander and take for granted.
one characteristic i always appreciate about hallowell's books is that he not only identifies the problems and their causes--he also offers solutions. a lot of books about keeping yourself sane in this chaotic, modern world offer platitude-type advice, like "don't bite off more than you chew," "take charge of your life," or "make time to do the things you love," in ways that oversimply the realities most people face on a daily basis and/or underestimate how difficult it truly is to maintain a balanced life. hallowell offers simple, easy-to-implement strategies to minimize the allure of busyness and struggles it causes, while honestly acknowledging that the process is difficult, yet rewarding.
Tidbits I did pull out of this before I returned it to the library:
At the heart of making the most of life today is the ability to treasure and protect your connections to what you care most about: people, places, activities, pets, a spiritual connection, a piece of music, even objects that are dear to you. But you must not have too many connections or none will flourish. Pick the ones that matter most to you and nourish them religiously; make that your top priority in life, and you can't go wrong.
If I let the job control me, if I let the customers set the pace, if I responded to every request immediately and tried to put out every order as if it were the only order on the grill and there was but one customer to wait on, I was doomed. But if I took control, if I let my instincts as well as my knowledge and experience guide me, if I followed a plan but also didn't overthink it, and instead trusted myself even when I wasn't consciously dictating all of what I was doing, then I could get the job done well.
This book came highly recommended and although I liked it and agreed with much of what the author had to say, I felt that it was repetitive and would have benefited from an inclusion of more practical advice earlier in the book. It spent a lot of time validating the fact that "we" are crazy busy but I knew that when I picked the book up. What have I done differently since I began reading the book? 1. unsubscribed to several emails that I do not need to receive either because they a. send too many b. are no longer of interest to me c. are essentially advertisements d. are more information than I need e. are impersonal and annoying or f. for whatever reason, they are not worth my time
2. Check work email on a schedule (1st thing, mid-day, just prior to end of work day) 3. Don't check work email when not at work 4. turn off my phone - a lot of the time 5. seek face to face interaction over screen time
My work has a Life Long Learner's book club and I joined it when I saw them about to start this book...figured it couldn't hurt! Funny to see a book about this because I've been saying for years that everyone in our society has ADD now because of the way things come at us and the way we are expected to react to all of the input. Not sure if or how reading about it is going to help but if nothing else, misery loves company. haha
Update 9/9/09: I am laughing at the fact that having a reading assignment for LLL ostensibly adds to the crazy-busy-ness of my life, but conversely having to pace myself to read only the chapters we'll be discussing every two weeks is also stressing me out. It's a SUPER fast read being broken down painfully slowly. Which should be a good thing...but somehow isn't.
This book was published in 2007, but I think it is even more relevant today, especially "screen sucking." I had been thinking about canceling cable, and finally did it after reading this one. Though I didn't do the full run down of how I spend every waking minute, I think people might be surprised how much time they spend on the computer/smartphone/tablet and watching TV and how little pay off there is from it. I'm using a computer as I type this so I am not totally cutting this out of my life, but I'm trying to limit screen time so it isn't just a time filler. I think there were maybe a few too many words made up by the author, but I do think many things about modern life are making it more difficult to focus.
This is a fairly dry read but I thought it was good information. It gives a good explanation of WHY most people today feel so overloaded. He also has a couple of lists that I found helpful, one is of the distractors that keep us from doing what we REALLY want to do and the other is of ways to work on keeping focused on what you REALLY want to do.
This quote was meaningful to me: "The best reason to take your time is that this is the only time you'll ever have. You must take it or it will be taken from you."
I found this book informative and also will be putting some of his suggestions to practice.
Snagged this book for a buck, the aftermath of a love affair with a lovely little optimist whose self-help shelves were multitudinous. She offset my relentless pessimism and lectured me often on eating better, setting up boundaries, taking up zen meditation seriously and trying yoga, all that fun stuff. Given that my life tends to run at 120 mph, I take on too much work - often to avoid dealing with other, depressing stuff and to glean the filthy lucre I need to pay the vultures - this book was needed, and I am trying my damndest to put it into practice. Recommended for all the Type A workaholics in your life.
Skimming is the way to read this book or it will be one more things added to your crazy-business! Skip the first 41 pages - it's just filler unless you want to commiserate with others. Then look at chapter titles. Part 2 is creating a system. (Setting limits, getting best return on time investment, finding your rhythm, setting a positive emotional environment, don't get distracted, delegate, slow down.) Connect with what matters to you, cancel what doesn't, control technology, create organized systems, prioritize what you care about, and cultivate lilies - good people in your life and discard leeches. Train your brain and pay attention.
This was probably the biggest waste of time I have ever come across which is ironic because this book is aimed to show just how busy we really are and how to help with that. I have never been as frustrated with an author as I am with this one. I mean megaloptopus? Ghemelsmurch? Frazzing? He creates entire new words to describe meaningless attributes about a busy life which take away from the helpfulness from this book. Then to top it all off, the remainder of this book has so little information that I could have gotten more information about time management and other like topics on the internet FOR FREE and I would have been content. Total waste of time.
Desde Leader Summaries recomendamos la lectura del libro ¡No te vuelvas loco!, de Edward M. Hallowell. Las personas interesadas en las siguientes temáticas lo encontrarán práctico y útil: habilidades directivas, reducir las preocupaciones y el estrés. En el siguiente enlace tienes el resumen del libro ¡No te vuelvas loco!, 8 técnicas para superar los agobios del mundo moderno y reducir el estrés: ¡No te vuelvas loco!
Hallowell provides a strong argument for slowing down and prioritizing what is important to you. He also urges adults to play, something we tend to forget to do as we get busier. He seems to spend a bit too much time explaining how we 'lose' our time when most of us already know that. He does, however, provide some very pragmatic bits of advice for reclaiming one's life. Worth taking a look at if you are feeling like it's all a bit too much.