Moises,

Thanks for the very thoughtful response. I enjoyed reading your arguments, which made me reflect a great deal on my earlier post.

In the end, I completely agree that GTD is a value-neutral tool. One could use the methodology for almost any end. And if GTD gives individuals more time to develop their own skills and spend time with friends, family, etc., then I'm all for it. In fact, one could think of GTD as a potential buffer against the mindless busyness that pervades so much of hypercapitalist culture. Rather than making us insanely productive so that our bosses can exploit us more, GTD could also a means for becoming more aware of our commitments and choices, allowing for greater independence and self-determination. Many people have found it liberating because it's a way to take matters into one's own hands.

So, in the end, I'm not against self-realization per se. Rather, I'm simply against the bogus language of self-fulfillment found in Covey, etc., which, like a great deal of self-help discourse, is really a means of making us more compliant consumers and workers. "Be an individual! Realize your full potential! Be yourself!" The language of individual self-fulfillment is arguably one of the most insidious ways in which marketers hook us in. When you hear these words, run! They signify the exact opposite of what they purport. They really mean, "Be yourself by buying what everyone else has."

In the same way, I absolutely abhor the euphemisms of the corporate workplace. Perhaps the worst is the way in which "team" has replaced "department" or "workforce." "Be a part of the team! Welcome to our team!" In its clinical dryness, the word "department" is actually quite honest. The faux-warmth and friendliness of "team," on the other hand, means exactly the opposite of what it connotes. The more often an employer uses the word "team," the worse the actual situation of employees. Think of the signs in McDonalds, Borders, etc. (in other words, minimum-wage workplaces) that welcome prospective employees to "Be a part of our team!" The word "team" isn't accidental. There's an icky, infantilizing psychological manipulation going on here, exactly akin to the type of manipulation used by high-school sports coaches.

OK, so after this long digression, back to GTD. What's refreshing about GTD and the way that DA presents it is its blunt pragmatism. As far as I can tell, there's very little of the saccharine language of self-help in the book or on the website. If anything, GTD is present as a no-nonsense, do-it-yourself methodology. Which makes me all the more surprised that DA is part of a New Age movement with a bastardized, syrupy version of Eastern philosophy (which is actually quite rigorous in its original context but quickly becomes all fuzzy and warm and happy-faced in its capitalist, Western context). This is what prompted me to take a closer look at the methodology. Hence my previous post.