David, you are a very philosophic person, and your philosophy reminds me very much of the essence of zen - not because you mention here and there that you have bonsai trees or because you use the "mind like water" metaphor to describe the attitude of a person who gets things done the GTD-way but because there is something in between your words and lines that makes me think of systems thinking, of Robert Fritz and creative processes, of Paul Watzlawick and his work about change, of nonlinear thinking. There is really much in between your lines that is so much more then getting things done. I appreciate your work.

Hi David! What a lovely topic you are writing on today. I talked to you a few years back about your process of writing your book -- you called from the airport, you might remember. Or not. Anyway, I moved to Santa Fe from Los Angeles (couldn't breathe there anymore) and am actually revisiting your work as I, yes, begin to write books for real! How about that? I took your seminar years ago, and am looking foward to getting my butt to another one. Some of the things you said then I still flash on, especially the part about emptying the mind so it can remain nimble and fully able to be creatively expressed. Ever want to teach in Santa Fe? If so, I will gladly help you pull that together. I am reading now Julia Cameron's new book, The Right to Write. I think you would enjoy it. She lives just north of here, btw, in Taos. Thank you for your work, and I hope to see you in a seminar again soon!!! Regards, Karen

There's something mysterious, and great, about editing. When I'm doing it, I can work for a while, then I have to put it down for a couple of days, then go at it again. When I do, anything that's phony or wrong or doesn't work, stands out like it's lit by neon. I have no idea why this is so, and if you asked me to tell you why something doesn't work, I couldn't. I just know it's wrong, and I fix and fix and fix until I run out of gas. Then I need to renew my perspective, and try again, and presto, I'm back at it. Mysterious, and great.

9 Things You Simply Must Do, Dr. Henry Cloud. quote "He had done some things to cause his company to grow like it had, and certainly those things were intentional. I asked him what some of those things were."

"Here is what he said."

"I sold off 80 percent of the company at big losses when I first took it over."

Carsten Jensen, I Have Seen the World Begin: Travels through China, Cambodia, and Vietnam, page 107:

An avenue of flowering mimosa. It was spring again! An overpowering scent had pervaded the countryside and driven winter back up the mountain slopes. Then: a rosy peak. The blue leaves of the eucalyptus trees.

Three pagodas. I counted 14 storeys, each lower than the one before, with the result that even from a distance I had the impression of standing at their feet, head tilted back, and seeing them tower, foreshortened, above me. I would never have the chance to take a closer look at them. Already they were falling behind. That is how I will always remember them. From the perspective of the departing traveler, mysterious in their remoteness and rich in their mystery.

Such is the blessing we may grant ourselves: not to see everything.

In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away. Antoine de Saint-Exupery