Chapter 7 was filled with a LOT of information. A few things stuck out to me distinctively throughout the chapter, one of these things was the idea that we must keep hard boundaries on the way our system works in order to enforce it. This is especially stated on page 140 when Allen says, "It's critical that all of these categories be kept pristinely distinct from one another. They each represent a discrete type of agreement we make with ourselves and if they lose their edges and begin to blend, much of the value of organizing will be lost." Allen's point here really challenges the mindset I often hold that flexibility when it comes to commitments is best. Over and over again, it seems that he's stating that for us to be faithful to our commitments, we need to make harder commitments to them and set up a system that is more rigid in keeping to them rather than loosey-goosey. Similar to the point made earlier in the book stating that if we write down something on our to-do list, it is "something that needs to be done that day or it explodes."
Otherwise, the clear distinctions he makes about what to do with various stuff in this chapter was really helpful as he makes it very practical.
Hi Jen,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that keeping our boundaries clear is a very important part about installing Allen's system. Without clear boundaries, blurry organizations will create messy organization. I think he says it best when he states that when uses ticklers, we should feel free to make a tickler file for each reference/tickler file we need.