Getting Things Done

bq. With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow," "mind like water," and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance... Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru," suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

5 Comments

Vero.b June 24, 2006

OMG. I live in a very different world.

Patrick June 24, 2006

Different from? What he writes about? That’s exactly why people read it, because they want to better organise ;)

Vero.b June 24, 2006

Because I find live is not just about work, efficiency and obsessively being organized.

Patrick June 25, 2006

Who’s talking about life??

“all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you’re working on.”

Being more efficient and clearing your mind of the stuff to do lets you complete work quicker and not have it at the back of your mind.

Vero.b June 25, 2006

You’re right.

J’imagine que je suis restée sur cette phrase:

However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organized, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines.

Mais bon… completing work quicker is a good thing. I agree.

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