You'll notice that GTD, starting with the mind sweep, makes little distinction between work life and life life. Again, neither does the mind. That's why we think about ski trips during meetings and think about quarterly reviews while we're on the slopes. Splitting a river into two artificial streams makes little sense; we need to deal with the river as it is.

In his executive-coach role, Allen has sat beside many a CEO or top manager and gently forced them to face up to a staggering number of open loops. He has seen people take six hours just to gather placeholders for all the things on their minds.

"After you've done a mind sweep, everything is captured," says Hagerty. "Then there's this wave of panic and relief. Panic because you have so much to do. Relief that it's all in the right place. Nothing is lurking in the box that's going to come up and bite you. It's an amazing kind of peace."

That peace is part of what Allen, who earned a black belt in karate, calls "mind like water" - the ready state of the martial artist, poised and stress-free. "Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax," he writes in Getting Things Done. If your psychic RAM is overloaded, you're not relaxed and ready for the next minicrisis. You may overreact, underreact, or run screaming down the hall.

As each open loop is discovered, the RAM-dumping newbie must make a decision: What is to be done with this? If closing the loop requires two minutes or less (call Bob, skim letter, make dental appointment), do it immediately. If the loop requires more than two minutes (hire assistant, plan London trip), it's a project for which a successful outcome and next actions must be determined (review résumés, narrow down choices, schedule three interviews for next week).