(no subject)
I've read a business book.
Well, no. I've read two business books. But the first doesn't count because the guy who wrote it is completely hilarious and says stuff like, "Face it: all of this is your own goddamned fault." The second, on the other hand, was written by David Allen.
Now, I'm sure David Allen is a nice guy. But he writes business books, no question about it. Also, I suspect that he's a Mormon. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but, after having read Orson Scott Card's early books when I six and then having read them again when I was, well, conscious, I tend to be paranoid about their abilities to take over my brain.
(Oh, god, I've just remembered - I've read three business books, TWO of which were by David Allen. See what I mean?!)
So anyway. David Allen's book recommends making lists. He's pretty much obsessed with it, in fact. And so I tried making what he calls a master list of all of the projects that I'm working on, wherein "projects" is understood to mean "anything you are doing, or should be doing, or might want to know that involves more than one step and will take more than two minutes to complete".
I'm on my seventh sheet of paper, and I fully expect to need another three, at least. I'll spare you the details, but here’s something curious: I really do feel better, having written that all down. In some cases, the bullet points are kinda stupid - I have things like "ridiculously long story, finish" on there - but, in other cases...yeah. "Ine, apologize to". That's good to have written down, because it means maybe someday I'll be able to check it off. In any case, now I don’t have it running around my head. I'm not mulling over it anymore because now it’s written down and I'm not just worrying about forgetting to someday maybe apologize.
The other feeling my list has created is: "Holy crap, I really think about all of that all day?"
I mean, the bulk of that list was written in a half hour and a pot of coffee. That's seven pages of stuff that’s been constantly plaguing me forever. It's everything I beat myself up over, everything I'm always trying to remember when I'm at the store, everyone I need to get back to about something, every little favor I'd like to do for a friend. It's birthdays and weddings and anniversaries. It's health check-ups and bills to pay and CDs I'd like to buy. That's just nuts. WHY have I been keeping all of that in my head? Because it's private, I guess, to too insignificant to write down - and because, in some cases, I thought it was better than writing it down and acknowledging it. But, like I said, I nagged myself about it all constantly anyway, so cringing every time my brain brought it up really wasn't working, either.
So, yeah. I guess my point is, for all that David Allen is kinda creepy in (a) his quest to make everyone a Better Person and (b) his conviction that he KNOWS what a Better Person is because he, personally, is one and, moreover, has assimilated all of those around him into Better People...he has a point about the List of Projects thing. I rather like it.
Well, no. I've read two business books. But the first doesn't count because the guy who wrote it is completely hilarious and says stuff like, "Face it: all of this is your own goddamned fault." The second, on the other hand, was written by David Allen.
Now, I'm sure David Allen is a nice guy. But he writes business books, no question about it. Also, I suspect that he's a Mormon. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but, after having read Orson Scott Card's early books when I six and then having read them again when I was, well, conscious, I tend to be paranoid about their abilities to take over my brain.
(Oh, god, I've just remembered - I've read three business books, TWO of which were by David Allen. See what I mean?!)
So anyway. David Allen's book recommends making lists. He's pretty much obsessed with it, in fact. And so I tried making what he calls a master list of all of the projects that I'm working on, wherein "projects" is understood to mean "anything you are doing, or should be doing, or might want to know that involves more than one step and will take more than two minutes to complete".
I'm on my seventh sheet of paper, and I fully expect to need another three, at least. I'll spare you the details, but here’s something curious: I really do feel better, having written that all down. In some cases, the bullet points are kinda stupid - I have things like "ridiculously long story, finish" on there - but, in other cases...yeah. "Ine, apologize to". That's good to have written down, because it means maybe someday I'll be able to check it off. In any case, now I don’t have it running around my head. I'm not mulling over it anymore because now it’s written down and I'm not just worrying about forgetting to someday maybe apologize.
The other feeling my list has created is: "Holy crap, I really think about all of that all day?"
I mean, the bulk of that list was written in a half hour and a pot of coffee. That's seven pages of stuff that’s been constantly plaguing me forever. It's everything I beat myself up over, everything I'm always trying to remember when I'm at the store, everyone I need to get back to about something, every little favor I'd like to do for a friend. It's birthdays and weddings and anniversaries. It's health check-ups and bills to pay and CDs I'd like to buy. That's just nuts. WHY have I been keeping all of that in my head? Because it's private, I guess, to too insignificant to write down - and because, in some cases, I thought it was better than writing it down and acknowledging it. But, like I said, I nagged myself about it all constantly anyway, so cringing every time my brain brought it up really wasn't working, either.
So, yeah. I guess my point is, for all that David Allen is kinda creepy in (a) his quest to make everyone a Better Person and (b) his conviction that he KNOWS what a Better Person is because he, personally, is one and, moreover, has assimilated all of those around him into Better People...he has a point about the List of Projects thing. I rather like it.