I'm currently reading through a book for a class called "Getting Things Done" by David Allen.  I'm so very torn by this book.  If you look at the cover of the thing, it almost makes me want to gag!  If you know me personally, you'll find it hard to find me wearing anything other than a t-shirt and jeans.  That is not on accident; I don't necessarily WANT to dress up in a full suit, keep a cleanly shaved chin, and put my best toothy grin forward to sell more books.  I feel like by reading this book, I am succombing to a lifestyle; one that honestly makes me want to throw a few punches or something. 

At the same time, this book is all about handling the crazy lifestyle of the American workaday world in a sane way.  That to me is something worth writing about.  Statistically, Americans work more than any other country in the world, (and we are also less efficient at our work than other countries).  Somehow we are packing more and more "work weeks" into our lives, without having more than 52 to work with.  This book accepts that fact, and suggests strategies for living in such a crazy world where we can still get our project done, and keep the oil in our car changed.  

But isn't there a simpler solution?  I mean, if we really are the work-craziest country in the world, couldn't we turn it down a bit?  Is it our fear of losing our "We're no.1" spot on the planet that drives us to insanity?  Our divorce rate is the highest in the world.  We are 20% of the world's whole population, but we use 60% of the world's resources.  Time to cool our jets, find our place in the world, and return to our families.  

I'm sure I will use this book throughout life.  No doubt I will subconciously partake in this madness.  However, I'll take the strategies suggested by the Lord God, who rested on teh seventh day.  I'll take my to-do list with me for six days, then chuck it on the seventh.  What kind of crazy person would totally STOP for a whole day?  What about "Getting things done"?  From my experience with my friend's death yesterday, I'm reminded today of the need to enjoy life, not just do it.  Therein lies my frustration with this book.  That, and the guy has an ugly tie.

Last 5 posts by Mark

• Church Venture Interview - November 16th, 2008
• God @ Work in Technology - November 13th, 2008

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 30th, 2006 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Culture, Death, Readings, Sabbath. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.