Lacking focus? Need perspective?

You may have heard of "Getting Things Done" or, GTD. Pioneered by David Allen, but built upon the ideas of people like Stephen Covey and other productivity experts. GTD is great for managing all those obligations and dreams of stuff "to do" floating around out there.

Naturally, a cottage industry of tools has arisen around the concept. Stuff like software applications, web services and even printable forms are abundant. Although I find many people simply use paper -- the chief vector being Moleskin notebooks, maybe because GTD folks have good taste?

But a friend of my departed former blogging buddy Marc Orchant has released an e-magazine called "Productive!" and it's quite good. You can download the latest issue here.

Being productive isn't the only great part of GTD. Much of Allen's philosophy is developing a "mind like water," which I think Da Vinci would approve of. The theory goes: if you put all those mental lists down in a format you trust, and tend to those lists regularly, you won't have it all in your head, clouding your vision and worrying you at random times. This frees the brain to focus on creativity -- and isn't that what we're all about?