Getting Things Done

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. The author says, "It's possible for a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control." Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-do's clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists -- all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really, organized we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru", suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech saber known as the cell phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.