Chapter 11

I love the way that Allen lays out the benefits of his system for us in this chapter, particularly in terms of the personal. The part that stood out to me was his explanation on where and why our negative feelings occur when it comes to organizing our lives. He says, "But what are all those things in your in-basket? Agreements you've made with yourself. Your negative feelings are simply the result of breaking those agreements -- they're the symptoms of disintegrated self-trust" (Allen 227). These lines were so powerful because I often thought that my negative feelings must be attributed to the sheer volume of things I had to do and my feeling of inability towards doing them. Yet, when it really comes down to it, I do agree with Allen when he says that a lot of that anxiety is simply not having processed those items in any organized fashion and feeling stressed because of the lack of organization.

Another thing that stood out to me was the 3-point rule on how to prevent broken agreements with myself, particularly the point on "Don't make the agreement." I find that I often overexert myself and commit to more events, social and not, than I actually have the time or energy for. Often, when I'm having a good day and feel energized, I decide to make plans with a large number of people and assign myself a long list of tasks that "I've been meaning to do." However, once that feeling ebbs away, I'm left with a overly packed calendar but no resources, energy, or desire to complete them.