A Guide to Getting Things Done
Surely many of those affected by Katrina would recommend Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity for the political appointees bungling and the competent professionals overwhelmed. This book came to my attention by way of “A Guide to Getting Things Done” by Robert Andrews—which, in turn, led to “Notes from Getting Things Done by David Allen.” Allen writes:
capture all the things that need to get done into a logical and trusted system outside of your head and off your mind
This is why journaling and occasionally posting to a Blog can be helpful in this context. Many people resist journaling because “nobody cares”—and many more resist publishing to a wide audience because “nobody cares.” But usually this appeal to the supposed wisdom of the “silent majority” (that is “smart” enough not to care”) conceals the first person that does not care. That person is the person saying “nobody cares.”
This “real world” insight into how much people do not care usually comes from deliberate and consistent conditioning—sometimes directly in the family home. So what is social conditioning gets mistaken for wisdom. And smug victims of their own conditioning trying to tell me “nobody cares” really pushes my button (hey, that’s not stress free). “Nobody” caring is not natural. Human beings would not be alive in Africa today in a world where no African cares.
Someone out there is concerned—so let me endeavor to recognize that person here in the kinté space. ’Tis the season for completion and renewal. Let me take care and post this message here for me and you.