The Brain: a flawed Supercomputer

I think there is one concept that sets David Allen's time management system apart from all other approaches to time management.  This one concept is that the brain is a supercomputer with a lousy memory.  A good time management system says to your brain, "Don't worry.  I know you can't remember appointments, all the commitments you've made, your short and long term goals, all your projects, all the tasks you must do, and all the tasks you might want to do someday.  I'll take care of this.  I won't lose any of this information.  Whenever you want to retrieve it, it will be neatly organized so that you can find it and review it quickly to decide what to do next."

The brain has no folders to store it's memories.  When you try to recall things, you remember some things but forget others.  It's like a Google search.  Some of what comes up is meaningful, some isn't, and you may not find what you want.

When the brain tries to make sure you don't forget some key information, it applies some of your mental energy and effort to keeping those that information "in the back of your mind".  But the energy your brain uses to "try to remember to . . ." is energy that is no longer available to you in THIS moment for the task at hand or for just being aware of the present moment.  When you "try to remember" to do something later, you lose some of your ability to do something now.

Allen seems to have devised his Getting Things Done (GTD) system around these thoughts:  "What would be the ultimate system for organizing goals and plans so that a person's brain can let go of trying to remember these things?"  If the time management system is flawed, the brain will not let go.  It doesn't want you to fail, so it will keep trying to remember your goals and plans.  If your lists of goals, projects, and tasks are incomplete, the brain will not let go.  If you don't review these lists often enough and start missing commitments, the brain will not let go.  If these lists are hard to find or hard to review, the brain will not let go.

I sense that if you use the GTD system correctly, your brain WILL be able to let go, to turn over the job of remembering your goals and plans to the GTD system.  The brain can then do what it does better than any man-made supercomputer:  apply intelligence and intuition to the task at hand.