Courtesy Random House

Web Exclusive… Excerpts from CrazyBusy April 2006, April 2006 Frazzing, screensucking, and more defined, plus some of the author’s tips for dealing with crazybusyness

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A glossary of new terms Edward M. Hallowell made up "to describe some of the strangeness of modern life:"

Doomdarts: an obligation you have forgotten about that suddenly pops into your consciousness like a poisoned dart

Frazzing: multitasking ineffectively

Gemmelschmerch: the force that distracts the mind or steals it away from what it wants to do or ought to be doing

Junk Time: the time-stealing equivalent of Doritos

Morning Burst: the time of day when you are mentally at your freshest, most able to concentrate and think clearly, least burdened by annoyances and new tasks, most able to bring your entire mind to bear on a single task

Morning Bust: what your morning burst can turn into if you don't protect that time from intrusions

Screensucking: wasting time engaging with any screen—computer, video game, television, BlackBerry

The author offers these ideas as ways to deal with the problems of being crazybusy:

1. Connect By connecting with the people and projects that matter most to you, you create an emotional atmosphere at home, at work, and wherever else you go. Connecting with others is also the best way to reduce worry. It is fine to worry; just try never to worry alone.
2. Control Control your technology—cell phone, email, and the like; don't let it control you. Develop a system that works for you—when you take calls, how you prioritize emails, and so on.
3. Cancel People—and organizations—add activities, but they rarely subtract. It may seem difficult at first, but if you get in the habit of canceling what doesn't really matter, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have. Try to think of at least one activity, meeting, or event you can cancel right now. Pare down your life to its best.
4. Create Create structures and systems in your life that help you get organized. This might mean a new filing system, or a personal assistant you hire for five hours a week to do errands, or a part of an evening you set aside solely for conversation with your spouse, or a time you book into your schedule for exercise.
5. Care Decide what you care most about. You do not have time for everything you care about, so you must prioritize. If you don't do this consciously, you will do it unconsciously simply because what you care about exceeds the time you have to devote to each item on your list.
6. Cultivate Cultivate your lilies and discard your leeches. To do this you must take what the people in AA call a fearless inventory, but in this case it is not of yourself but of your life. What do you want to do more of? What do you want to do less of? Figure that out; then do it.

Excerpted from CrazyBusy by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. © 2006 by Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. Reprinted by arrangement with The Random House Publishing Group.

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