That's a great verb to start with, "think." No matter what anyone says, you always have the freedom to form your opinion, to think! That's what Viktor Frankl said when studying Germany.

Incidentally, I work in marketing. And my favorite branch of its well-known 4P's is Promotion. Would you believe me if I said we promoters are not deceivers, we're persuaders?

When I read this thread, it brought to mind many reviews about a highly talented yet controversial musical artist. He made some great advances, yet just mentioning his name some consider patently offensive. I've had people look at me and wonder how could I possibly carry on listening to such a man's music when I was in the company of villains who voted him their idol. He too was from Germany. He was Richard Wagner.

He gave a lot to opera and music in general with one great concept called the "leitmotif." A leitmotif is a short musical phrase that gets played along with a scene in opera such that it stays in your mind, and then when you hear it again in another scene, it brings the first scene to mind. It creates an emotional (spiritual?) multimedia experience through both sound and visual. (A common leitmotif is Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," featured on endless commercials from cars to produce to "Kill the Wabbit.")

Nowadays, we'd call a leitmotif a jingle. Even a ringtone is a kind of leitmotif when we know some are from T-Mobile, Nokia, etc. (Does GTD have some ringtones of its own? I'm still lo-tech GTD-wise.)

Nevertheless, Wagner had a very dark side. He had an anti-Semitic streak, repeatedly saying Jewish concepts prevented the advancement of music in Europe and beyond. He would even send anonymous "postings" as letters to music reviewers in the 1800's saying how to correct this and provide for the freedom of music, always signing them as "The Impartial." (If one is not offended by those letters, they're quite funny, as are the editorial staff's replies.)

I struggled for many years trying to convince (market ? deceive ? persuade?) others about me legitimately liking Wagner and still being a nice guy. How could I like him?, people asked. If I ended up saying I didn't like him, does that mean I could never use a leitmotif in any line of work because he's the one who gave me the idea for it, e.g., within marketing campaigns? (Talk about starving musician!)

I then came up with what others have said, crudely almost as, "I like the man's music, can't say the same about the man." I'm very glad to have the freedom to think this way.

What does this have to do with 43 Folders-style productivity? I've noticed with Wagner, and now with the discussion of someone like David Allen who's also profoundly affected my life that it is imperative for me to decide to what extent I'll buy whatever they're selling. What parts of their products and personality will I incorporate and not incorporate within mine? GTD-wise, that's collecting anything I read or hear about them, process, organize, file for reference what's great and trash the rest.

This is another way of saying an important part of being productive is also knowing what NOT to do. That's a powerful form of Next Action, the non-Mick Jagger kind that finally gets me some Satisfaction!

If you'd like a 4-letter word that means "speed" to help with this which is also the first name of another figure some consider controversial lately, I leave you with Rush who proposed, "I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Free Will."