David Allen > Quotes

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”
― David Allen

“If you don't pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“You can do anything, but not everything.”
― David Allen

“You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it "done.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started.”
― David Allen

“Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Most people feel best about their work the week before their vacation, but it's not because of the vacation itself. What do you do the last week before you leave on a big trip? You clean up, close up, clarify, and renegotiate all your agreements with yourself and others. I just suggest that you do this weekly instead of yearly.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool your own mind.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Everything you’ve told yourself you ought to do, your mind thinks you should do right now. Frankly, as soon add you have two things to do stored in your RAM, you’ve generated personal failure, because you can’t do two things at the same time. This produces an all-pervasive stress factor whose source can’t be pin-pointed.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Use your mind to think about things, rather than think of them. You want to be adding value as you think about projects and people, not simply reminding yourself they exist.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“When we truly need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding.”
― David Allen, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small, manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. —Mark Twain”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do. —Elbert Hubbard”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the way out is through.”
― David Allen, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done

“The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is more important than the eye. . . . The hand is the cutting edge of the mind. —J. Bronowski”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. —Henri Bergson”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win. —Jonathan Kozol”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Sometimes the biggest gain in productive energy will come from cleaning the cobwebs, dealing with old business, and clearing the desks—cutting loose debris that's impeding forward motion.”
― David Allen, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done

“You’ve got to think about the big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction. —Alvin Toffler”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“There is no reason to ever have the same thought twice, unless you like having that thought. I”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“You must use your mind to get things off your mind.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: the art of stress-free productivity

“Suffice it to say that something automatic and extraordinary happens in your mind when you create and focus on a clear picture of what you want.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“I am rather like a mosquito in a nudist camp; I know what I want to do, but I don’t know where to begin.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“The great secret about goals and visions is not the future they describe but the change in the present they engender.”
― David Allen

“Every now and then go away and have a little relaxation. To remain constantly at work will diminish your judgment. Go some distance away, because work will be in perspective and a lack of harmony is more readily seen. —Leonardo da Vinci”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“The beginning is half of every action.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior. —Dee Hock”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

“You are the captain of your own ship; the more you act from that perspective, the better things will go for you.”
― David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity