I found out about David Allens’ Getting Things Done book and System, from a post on an unrelated Yahoo Group (which was based on a Windows-based program called InfoSelect, which I used for about a year before realizing it was completely blockading my freedom to organize in my own way, and it was because of its proprietary nature.)

The title, Getting Things Done, left a slightly negative impression on me at first, like it was going to be too left-brain and too structured. I don’t know why. Those words are benign enough.

I had already attempted the Franklin method of putting the A’s, B’s, C’s next to your tasks.
And the Covey approach of designing roles and then creating tasks out of those
didn’t stick with me. (Not that those are bad ideas).
I bought the GTD book, and immediately knew that this was going to fit my style.

It fits naturally with the way the human brain works. When he mentioned the phrase:
“Mind Like Water”, and how GTD allows this state of mind, it was a no-brainer
to keep reading.

I found out that managing small details and putting everything on Paper or PC, and out of your head, is the only way to allow you to remain in the current Moment and thus be able to prevent missing a detail or an opportunity in that All-Important NOW moment. And while not quite being in the Personal Productivity genre, reading this book: Present Moment Awareness, really convinced me that ANY
Action-Organizational book/system that integrated the concept being in the Moment, and “Mind Like Water” and other Buddhist-like ideas, was going to be my Thing.

My big Wake-Up call from the Getting Things Done system, was that merely creating a new task on your Palm or Planner, to do something as seemingly concrete and specific as getting a new ink cartridge for your printer isn’t the best way of “managing this action”, as much as you would think. There needs to be a solid Next Action. More on that later.

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