Helpful analogy?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
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Anonymous

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I find David Allen's metaphors to be powerful and humorous. The analogy of a solitaire game occurred to me yesterday, after I posted a few remarks about the interplay of different lists and indices. You know what you're holding in your hand -- 52 cards -- but you don't know in what order. You lay out a row, revealing one pattern. Then you turn up cards, looking for a connection to that pattern. But if cards don't match the first time around, they may well match the next time, because now your hand has a whole new order. Again and again, you match and you match, until every card is accounted for. That's how the @Context Lists work for me. I have to buy a new inkjet cartridge, then I see on my @Errands that I need a number of other items in the same vicinity, plus I can register for a class near the office supply store, plus I can drop off a gift to a major donor (I'm in nonprofit healthcare fundraising) who is also nearby. Hitting all those projects on the same trip -- grant proposal (need the cartridge), office organization, continued education, donor cultivation -- is like building a row of cards. Instead of feeling scattered and stressed, I feel...productive! The Whole Point!

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Nice to read a posting from a fellow development officer. Liked your sol analogy.

I'm a 20 year veteran of the profession, now serving a private, independent K-12 school in Spokane, WA as the Director of School Advancement. Just took this job and have sworn to myself that I'm going to do it in an orderly manner. GTD looks promising.

Would you be open to some correspondence through this forum or by email for reasons of discussing our application of GTD techniques? I could sure use another development officer's ear to bend as I change organizational habits for the better.

What say you?
 
helpful analogy

Hi, Bryan!

Sorry I didn't check back until now! But I'm not sure how to reply to you personally. I'll figure it out. Thanks!

Bets
 
Hi Bets,

I, too, am learning how to post and reply, etc. I was sent an email notifying me of your response.

My email is bryan.stuart@sgs.org.

Both of us are probably swamped. So, no obligations. I'd just like to compare notes and, as I mentioned, try once and for all to get organized.

We'll be in touch soon,

Bryan
 
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