Tangled Up in Tasks

For those too busy to read the book, here's what Hallowell told CFO about how to calm down and regain focus. One, take control over your life, while accepting that total control isn't feasible or desirable. Two, prioritize: decide which tasks matter the most. Three, rebuild the boundaries that technology has broken down. "Close your door and turn off the cell phone," he says. "Decide that your day does have an end point, that there are places where you can't be disturbed."

How does one take back control from the boss, or set up boundaries to keep him or her away? What if, like many finance staffers, your door is always open and you have to be "on call" for most of the day?

"Then," replies Hallowell, "you have to have 'The Conversation.' You have to speak with your superior, or your client, and say: 'I'm loyal, I'll do anything you want. Having established that, how can we get the best out of me for you? Let's look at how you're using my brainpower. When I'm available at your beck and call, when you interrupt me, there is a price to be paid. I can't just instantly go back to what I was doing. I want you to know that you are losing a certain amount of productivity and efficiency from me by allowing yourself the luxury of interrupting me whenever you want.'"

This is not an insubordinate conversation, he insists. But what if you simply can't have that conversation with your manager? "You ought to get another job," replies Hallowell. "It means the situation is untenable."

In the end, getting organized, setting boundaries, and learning time-management skills aren't enough, says Hallowell. Emotions are important, too, and people underestimate the role they play in peak performance. "Just as you can be thin and miserable, you can be very well organized and still feel overwhelmed by modern life," he writes. Get plenty of sleep, eat well, and make sure you have some positive human contact during each day, he recommends.

"You're not a machine," says Hallowell. "Managing your brain is right at the heart of what success and failure hinge on." And happy brains, he observes, "think better."

Edward Teach is articles editor of CFO.

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