Because this is how it feels to live my life: scattered, fragmented, and exhausting.

Busyness is now the social norm that people feel they must conform to, Burnett says, or risk being outcasts.

What often matters more than the activity we're doing at a moment in time is how we feel about it.

I think that was probably one of the biggest revelations, is leisure is really in the eyes of the beholder...

I have trashed the to-do list. To help my brain...

As work weeks get longer and leisure time shrinks, people are becoming sicker, more distracted, absent, unproductive, and less innovative.

On a personal level, I do a "brain dump" where everything that's in my head that needs doing gets written down. It gives your brain a rest. And then I give myself permission not to do everything on that list. I'm much more clear about my priorities: What are those moments of connection that are most important to me? Today is a busy workday but it's also a snow day, so I'm going cross-country skiing with my husband. And then I'll come back and finish my work.