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David Allen - Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them
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Welcome to The Daily Quote – a podcast designed to kickstart your day in a positive way. I'm your host, Andrew McGivern, for April 26th. Today is Get Organized Day, which is kind of like spring cleaning’s more practical cousin. It's the perfect excuse to finally sort through that pile of email, untangle the jungle of cords behind your desk, or confront the terrifying abyss known as your “miscellaneous” drawer. You know the one.
I have one and it is... well I have two. Actually, I forgot about the garage so I have three. But if you count down here in my secret underground podcast layer... well who's counting anyway. To help you embrace the spirit of order and simplicity, today’s quote comes from the ever-wise—and occasionally brutally honest—David Allen, productivity consultant and author of Getting Things Done or GTD. He once said:
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
Now that’s a reality check if I've ever heard one. You see, when your brain is busy trying to remember 37 things at once—like picking up the dry cleaning, replying to your boss, and refilling the dog's medication—it doesn’t leave much room for creativity or calm. Organization isn’t just about tidiness, it’s about freeing your brain from being a storage unit and letting it do what it does best: dream, create, and think clearly. So today, give your mind a break. Jot it down, make a list, use an app—whatever works for you. Clear out the mental clutter and let your brain breathe. It’ll thank you with a great idea when you least expect it… probably while you’re in the shower. Isn’t that always the way?
I read Getting Things Done years ago. It is a great book and definitely worth reading. I love the concept of eliminating open loops and capturing everything you will need in a reliable storage system so that you don't have to use any brain power trying to remember all the stuff.
I've since read Tiago Forte's Building a Second Brain and PARA Method books and these are great productivity books too. PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Resources and Archives and he has method of organizing everything into these categories.
I use Notion to track and store all my stuff and I've implemented both all of these concepts into my own custom system that I call RAMP. Maybe I'll get into that later next time we have a related quote.
That wraps up The Daily Quote for today. Remember—getting organized isn’t a chore, it’s an investment in your future sanity. Keep it simple and don’t let the junk drawer win.
I'm Andrew McGivern, signing off for now, but I'll be back tomorrow, same pod time, same pod station with another Daily Quote.
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