When the Genius is in None of the Details

The other day a good mate of mine was outlining the basics of GTD to a bunch of students. My hunch is, 80% of the people present needed to hear it, need to remember it. The tragedy is, less than 20% of his audience were taking notes. *sigh*

But here's the thing: the genius of GTD is in none of its details.

The genius of it is in the whole. With pencil poised to take notes, you'd often find yourself considering any individual detail, "Should I take this down? Is it important enough?... Nah. I'll wait for the gold."

So here's my hunch: when you're outlining something where the gold is in the whole, rather than the parts, I reckon you have to put out the call:

Use a mindmap, write a flow chart, take down skeletal bullet-points--I don't care--but make sure that you take notes solidly for the next ten minutes, 'cause the genius of this thing is in the whole. It is in none of its details, alone.

Let's hope I remember my own advice :)