Are you getting smarter than your mind?

What type of a question is that?

This is a question that was brought to my attention in the following article written by David Allen, author of the book Getting Things Done®.

“Your mind doesn’t have one. A mind, that is. If your mind were smart, it would only remind you of something when you could do something about it.

‘Fess up—do you have any flashlights with dead batteries? OK, so when does your mind remind you that you need batteries? At the dead ones! Gee, that’s smart. If your mind had a mind, it wouldn’t bother you at the dead ones, but would clearly let you know only when you were in a store that had live ones!

Have you ever changed your mind? Sure. Well, who did that? That’s the part of us that has to take charge, and realize that just because we think of something we might need or want to do something about, that doesn’t mean that we are being productive or constructive about or with it, or that it will be fulfilled. We have to realize that the thought itself is just a beginning, and if we care at all that it bring value or improvement, we probably need to capture it, clarify what it means to us, and organize the actions and information embedded or associated with it.

Your mind will seduce you easily. When you have a thought about something you want or should do, it is usually so simple and so obvious when you’re thinking of it, you’re sure you’ll never forget it or that you’ll remember it in the right moment. Then two minutes later, consumed with the next thing on your mind you’re sure you’ll never forget, you’ve forgotten that you’ve forgotten the first thing! And trusting that you’ll remember something at exactly the right moment is (if you haven’t learned that yet) a seriously risky bet.

Your mind is an incredible servant but a terrible master. Most people I meet, though, are still letting their mind run the show. They need to learn that a flashlight with dead batteries should either have the batteries replaced the moment they notice it, or the flashlight itself should go right into the in-tray.

You have to get smarter than your mind if you want to reach stress-free productivity.”

David Allen is the author of the book Getting Things Done®, and the work-life management system that transforms personal overwhelm and overload into an integrated system of stress-free productivity.