Response to Crazy Busy by Edward M. Hallowell, MD
"We all have ADD now." I've said that for years, whenever a student or parent was worried about the disorder. Now a specialist in the field confirms it. His recommendation: Learn how ADD can be a gift.
Self-help books that I've read have all spent roughly one third of the book telling stories to convince the readers that they need the book, one third or less with practical answers, and one third more of examples. Hallowell's earlier books Connect and Worry were excellent, even moving examples of the genre.
This one is short on moving examples, but certainly hits with slices of life that anyone reading or writing a blog will identify with, such as some modern maladies he calls "leeches" of our precious time and attention. One is "screen sucking," the addiction to screens that afflicts us, so that we are checking email, news, what's on TV every chance we get. He advises a 12 step program, seriously. Another is "frazzing," the illusion of multitasking, when all you're really doing is three things ineffectively at once for the power rush you get doing it.
The essential image of the book was his own experience as short order cook alone on the late-night shift, how he got into a rhythm - work food on the grill, look back for customers' signals at the counter, look up on the board for orders, repeat. When this was going well, he was in his "C-state" (connected, confident...) and his mind was free to work on other issues. This was effective multitasking. When the orders came in too fast, he went into "F-state" (frazzled, frantic, other f words) and made mistakes. Since we can't avoid some of this multi-tasking, he suggests that we learn to recognize when we're transitioning from C to F.
The cure for "F state" is "play," creative engagement in some off-task task -- a "gift" of truly ADD people like himself. He suggests that work is activity exerted for something that is of value to others, while play is the same thing -- when it is of value to the self. Play is thinking on tangents. He suggests exercises aroundp. 219 for encouraging "play" - such as going out in the car and intentionally getting lost. He swears that our thoughts while we find our way home will end up being creative ways to deal with problems.
It reminds me of my mother's experience. She told me that housecleaning was her problem-solving time: She'd start in one corner of the house with a problem relating to one of us kids; by the time she'd worked her way down stairs to the laundry room, the problem was solved.
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