Ming the Mechanic:
Getting Things Done
The NewsLog of Flemming Funch
 Getting Things Done2003-02-05 19:30
7 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

"Time is that quality of nature that keeps events from happening all at once. Lately it doesn't seem to be working." --Anonymous

My copy of "Getting Things Done" by David Allen arrived today. Matt Mower recommended it. I'm excited. I paged through it and read the first chapter. It might just keep me from going insane. It is all about unloading ALL the stuff floating around in your mind which you sense you ought to be doing something about, and putting them into a system you can trust to be able to find them in again, so that you can relax and enjoy life in the moment without worrying about mountains of incomplete and ill-defined tasks.
"There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it's getting done."
It is close to 20 years ago since I last felt really organized. It involved In-, Pending- and Out-baskets on my desk. It involved daily to-do lists, with items I could happily check off during the day. It involved a routine of Do It, Delegate It, File It, or Toss It, with every item that came to me. And it involved a filing cabinet with folders with nice labels on. Unfortunately the world has changed since then. It was before e-mail and cellphones for one thing. And everything is now more fast, more fuzzy, more multi-dimensional, and there's a hundred times more of everything. Something better is needed. I think I once again have hope, that I might possibly once more become organized and stress-free.


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7 comments

5 Feb 2003 @ 21:40 by strydg : go for "stress-free"
first.  

6 Feb 2003 @ 02:39 by istvan : Changes.
You are not alone, i am feeling the same pressures of quickening and sometimes i to loose the connection with that easy feeling that i am part of the stream, the river that is a flow of consciousness, and now is at the rapids. Know that it is just a phase of the river and will arrive at the ocean and be calm and be at relative peace again as it was underground before it broke into the spring to become a river to rich the ocean.
We have to adapt to the speeds by LETTING GO, not hanging on to the branches along the way.

These words were written by Mabel Collins almost a hundred years ago, before E-mail and cellphones yet i think describe an what is happening now

“OUT of the silence that is peace a resonant voice shall arise. And this voice will say, It is not well; thou hast reaped, now thou must sow. And knowing this voice to be the silence itself thou wilt obey.
Thou who art now a disciple, able to stand, able to hear, able to see, able to speak, who hast conquered desire and attained to self-knowledge, who hast seen thy soul in its bloom and recognized it, and heard the voice of the silence, go thou to the Hall of Learning and read what is written there for thee..
Note: To be able to stand is to have confidence; to be able to hear is to have opened the doors of the soul; to be able to see is to have attained perception; to be able to speak is to have attained the power of helping others; to have conquered desire is to have learned how to use and control the self; to have attained to self-knowledge is to have retreated to the inner fortress from whence the personal man can be viewed with impartiality; to have seen thy soul in its bloom is to have obtained a momentary glimpse in thyself of the transfiguration which shall eventually make thee more than man; to recognize is to achieve the great task of gazing upon the blazing light without dropping the eyes and not falling back in terror, as though before some ghastly phantom. This happens to some, and so when the victory is all but won it is lost; to hear the voice of the silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance; to go to the Hall of Learning is to enter the state in which learning becomes possible. Then will many words be written there for thee, and written in fiery letters for thee easily to read. For when the disciple is ready the Master is ready also.
1. Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest be not thou the warrior.
2. Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.
3. Take his orders for battle and obey them.
4. Obey him not as though he were a general, but as though he were thyself, and his spoken words were the utterance of thy secret desires; for he is thyself, yet infinitely wiser and stronger than thyself. Look for him, else in the fever and hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry meet his listening ear, then will he fight in thee and fill the dull void within. And if this is so, then canst thou go through the fight cool and unwearied, standing aside and letting him battle for thee. Then it will be impossible for thee to strike one blow amiss. But if thou look not for him, if thou pass him by, then there is no safeguard for thee. Thy brain will reel, thy heart grow uncertain, and in the dust of the battlefield thy sight and senses will fail, and thou wilt not know thy friends from thy enemies.
He is thyself, yet thou art but finite and liable to error. He is eternal and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has entered thee and become thy warrior, he will never utterly desert thee, and at the day of the great peace he will become one with thee. “

It may be time to delegate some of the responsibilities for effective change. We can only do so much alone and only those things that move our whole being is consort. Perhaps it is time to change the way we organize things by trusting others enough to do as good as a job as we envision ourselves capable of doing. Perhaps it is time to shed some of the weight of the burden we are willing to carry, thinking it is our responsibility. Let God create the new civilization. Let us be only the helpers, just providing the tools needed.
 

6 Feb 2003 @ 03:26 by ming : The Helpers
I like that idea. Too much of a burden to try to invent the whole thing ourselves. Paying attention to it, and helping it along, that's probably what we can manage.  

6 Feb 2003 @ 15:59 by sharie : To ming
I wish you happiness and good health, and the well-being of your family and friends, surely all accomplishments pale by comparison.  

16 Feb 2003 @ 05:16 by tuinsteden : getting things done
Yes, feeling organized,what to do when there goes so much on in your mind,sometimes one idea reject the other,and vice versa,result one does nothing and just let live goes by.  

20 May 2003 @ 15:46 by rainbowfish : We're all in it together
So many of us are struggling and the same tasks are being tackled over and over. Eventually, we will function as the one being we truly are. This unity will free us to enjoy our peace.  

20 May 2003 @ 15:50 by rainbowfish : We're all in it together (2)
I couldn't work out how to edit my comment :)

Just wanted to add that we will each play our small part instead of trying so hard to play all parts, as we do now.  

Other stories in
2014-09-27 00:04: You must be an expert by now
2014-09-26 15:15: Brevity
2011-11-06 21:33: Counting what counts
2011-01-23 13:46: Authenticity
2010-08-23 01:31: Semantic Pauses
2010-06-27 02:28: Doubt
2009-10-25 17:04: Opinions, perceptions and intuition
2009-10-15 08:32: Abstraction
2008-06-29 16:47: Complicated and Complex
2008-02-20 16:39: The universe as a virtual reality


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