All right- if you've been hanging around here for awhile, you know we're technically a part of the cult of David Allen, he of Getting Things Done fame.
He says…
Last week I wrote about how you can achieve more successful outcomes with a sense of relaxed focus and control. The first step I outlined was capturing anything and everything that has your attention. Why is that so important?
- Because your mind is a lousy office. When you have a thought about something you want or should do, it is usually so simple and so obvious when you're thinking of it, you're sure you'll never forget it or that you'll remember it in the right moment. Then two minutes later, with the next thing on your mind you're sure you'll never forget, you've forgotten that you've forgotten the first thing!
If your mind had a mind, it would only remind you of something when you could do something about it. Here's a simple example–do you have any flashlights with dead batteries? When does your mind remind you that you need batteries? At the dead ones! If your mind had a mind, it wouldn't bother you at the dead ones, but would clearly let you know only when you were in a store that had live ones!
Just because we think of something, that doesn't mean that we are being productive or constructive about or with it, or that it will be fulfilled. We have to realize that the thought itself is just a beginning, and if we care at all that it brings value or improvement, we probably need to capture it, clarify what it means to us, and organize the actions and information embedded or associated with it.
Most people I meet are still letting their mind run the show.
Read the rest here
