Rachelle Crawford
Broadleaf Books
6 May 2025
208
eBook - PDF
Non-Fiction
ARC via Edelweiss
How nice it would be to clear the calendar--to just stop doing so much stuff. Except kids get sick and the work project awaits and elderly relatives need care. No matter how well you hack it, manage it, slice or dice or delegate in some seasons of life, busyness is a given.
The solution, writes Rachelle Crawford in How to Be Busy, is not to merely declutter your calendar or unsubscribe from the busy life. Because busyness can't always be avoided. Because being in relationship with and caring for others means that some seasons of life are packed. Because sometimes, no matter how many times you say no, you're still swamped.
The trick lies in learning how to be busy. With her signature warmth and laugh-out-loud transparency, Crawford offers sensible pivots and simple practices. You can practice under-committing, learn the fine art of saying no, bubble-wrap your busy seasons, establish a busy protocol, and learn how to eliminate digital distractions. Here are tough-love tips for unhurrying your busy days, ideas for giving a gift to your future stressed-out self, strategies for identifying the season in which you are living, and end-of-chapter tips for how to be busy well.
Busy isn't always the enemy, and a chaotic calendar isn't always a failure. Sometimes a full schedule is simply the result of investing in what matters and doing the right thing. But while busy is a matter of the calendar, hurry is a matter of the heart. Find help for living your deep, meaningful, unhurried life--right in the middle of your busy one.
How to be Busy was a mixed-bag read for me. As someone constantly busy both at work and at home, I guess I went into reading this book hoping for a miracle solution, but of course that was an unrealistic expectation. On the plus side, I enjoyed the author's lighthearted approach and the little anecdotes sprinkled through the book which were instantly relatable and gave a friendly tinge to the advice. The advice itself wasn't bad; it was just that for me personally, the useful ideas were generally things I do already while some of the others just weren't applicable to my situation. And I think that will always be the case with a book like this one: if the advice suits you it's a great read, but if it doesn't it could feel like a waste of time reading it. That said, there were a couple of new-to-me points that I think it might be worth testing out for me, so in the end I am giving this book three stars. How good this book will be for other readers will depend on their personal situations, but it's certainly worth checking out if you need to get on top of a busy schedule.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
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