"Busy is a terrible brand," advises business psychologist Tony Crabbe in his profoundly motivational first book. In a world where people are continually inundated with more information, more demands and more opportunities, Crabbe says, "We should be consciously and deliberately choosing not to do things, killing off options in our lives and work to allow a greater focus on fewer things. Instead of choosing more, we should choose less, instead of gray, we should choose color." Busy proposes a realistic guide to undertaking less in order achieve a calmer, slower, more vibrantly fulfilling life.
The world has changed dramatically since the Industrial Age, but people's strategies for coping and succeeding have not. Busy functions as a personal workbook, encouraging the necessary adaptations for the Information Age. Crabbe advocates focusing on attention, core values, innovation and reconnecting while he discourages popular ideas such as time management and multitasking.
Presented in three sections--Mastery, Differentiation and Engagement--Busy offers wisdom from recognized studies, highly successful organizations and other research, as well as Crabbe's own experiences and anecdotes. In addition to self-examination exercises throughout, including identifying core values and formulating a personal brand, each chapter ends with a summation of the big messages as well as constructive activities readers can do and experiment with in order to practice the concepts in their own lives.
Anyone who claims, "I'm too busy," can benefit from Crabbe's insights. Practical, concise and accessible, Busy is a book well worth making time for. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts