Messes Are Good

Dr. Marty - Make Stuff Up, Part 5

Dr. Marty put his feet back on his coffee table and talked at length about the second assignment. He wanted us to spend some time, “respectful time,” with our imaginary friends.

“Can we just skip the imaginary friend stuff?” I asked.

Dr. Marty said, “Characters, not imaginary friends, Tom.”

“Yeah.”

“These are people who are part of your life, you know?” Dr. Marty said. “And when you tell someone about what’s going on in your life or what happened in your past, or what you want to happen, you know like in your future, these are stories. So these are characters that are there, too, in the story, so to speak.”

“This is such a fun idea,” Dee said.

Dr. Marty put his feet back on the floor and leaned forward in his ergonomic chair toward Dee. “The third is to just crack the egg of Getting Things Done. Dee,” he said, “you’ll think this is great stuff at first.”

“I know,” she said.

“But once it’s old hat,” he continued, “you’ll want to move on. So we’re going to build this up, this GTD thing up, one step at a time. At least that’s what I want, but I’m sure you’ll race ahead, just know that I’m going to hold you to it.”

Dee said, “I won’t go to fast, Marty.”

“It’s OK, Dee, if you do. We’re going to go slow like Tom is going slow with his character work. I would imagine that Tom is good at being disciplined.”

“I get things done,” I said.

“Marty, you have no idea,” she said. “He keeps meticulous logs of his projects. He catalogs source materials in labeled folders. He gives clients these perfect presentations, and they are so impressed.”

“I’m organized.”

“He has at least three kinds of notebooks and five different pens. But each for a specific purpose. Everything is just so. It’s amazing.”

Dr. Marty leaned his chair toward me. I leaned back into the couch.

“Yes, Tom strikes me as very put together.”

“Yeah. I am,” I said.

“But Dee,” he said, as he turned back to her, “my guess is that you’re more of a mess maker.”

“Well, I used to be.”

I said, “You still are.” She glared at me then turned back toward Dr. Marty.

“Messes are good,” Dr. Marty said.

“I’m good at getting things going,” she said. “That’s what everybody at work likes about me. Except my boss. He’s a dick! I’m always saying, ‘let’s do something about that,’ you know? Then someone goes, ‘like what?’ And I just brainstorm, tell people some of my off the wall ideas, and soon we’re all excited and working, and just, you know, getting things done.”

“You’re a natural,” he said. “So what we’re going to do - you and I - is use our brains as a tool in this process so that we’re clear about where we’re going, and we’ll use care and process to choose the projects to start. These skills will help you a lot. But we’re going to try to go slowly. OK?”

Judgment may be more necessary than process. David Allen should help Dee learn this, if Dr. Marty doesn’t screw it up too badly.

… continued

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Dr. Marty - Make Stuff Up

Part 5: Messes Are Good
Part 4: I’m Your Man
Part 3: Crying For Alice
Part 2: Canceling Our Meeting
Part 1: Watch Out! Stop!