I liked the discussion in the book about the horizons. This makes a lot of sense to me – especially the part where he talks about jumping up to a level to see broad areas of responsibility, and how that can generate thinking about projects implicit in that. Plus, it was a good complement to the “anything goes” part of the collection of GTD. It’s hard to imagine putting something like “decide how often to check in with my Sister-in-Law” in my daily to-do list, but this makes sense as a place to park this kind of nagging thought.

I wonder how others deal with implementing these systems (which I use, too) when life throws some major curve balls or where there isn’t much time?

I’m a mom of five, work 30 hours a week and have a lot of school/house activities — what I find is that recently I haven’t had the time or energy to get up early (5 am) to journal and dump out the mental clutter. I wonder how others fit in the time when time is pressed, and it’s when time is pressed this type of activity is most critical.

Keeping a journal, lists and reviewing all of the ideas floating around in our minds is critical, and it is for me a lot like exercise…it keeps the mind healthy just like walking and yoga keep my body working.

Lastly, I’d love to hear how other people break out of their own thinking — a few things I stare down at in my own life written in my journal or on long lists, but sometimes we need a break through — a real shift in thinking that needs to come from far out of the routine. Trent had a break through reading his journal, but sometimes we read the activities of our lives and we need some outside perspective — not just the monologue of writing a journal or listing priorities — to help us see new ways of doing or being…how do we get there???

Does this book offer suggestions for shifting our own thinking — thinking outside the boxes we build for ourselves??