David Allen Quotes

My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard

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.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the way out is through.

Your ability to generate power is directly proportional to your ability to relax

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.

Once a week, do a thorough review of all your projects in as much detail as you need to. If you do, your systems will work. If you don't, no system will work.

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.

Small things done consistently, in strategic places, create major impact.

You can do anything, but not everything.

Most people move actually into high performance in a crisis because that creates the kind of focus that creates high performance.

Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined.

Most of the stress people experience comes from inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.

Procastination is not about not doing is about not doing and feeling crappy.

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.

It was helpful to be able to call a lawyer...it turns out, that not only did they help me, but they really helped the whole community.

A complete and accurately defined list of projects, kept current and reviewed on at least a weekly basis, is a master key to stress-free productivity.

Decide the outcome and the action step, put reminders of those somewhere your brain trusts youll see them at the right time, and listen to your brain breathe easier.

The reason that deadline actually can work very well for you is what it forces you to do is make decisions.

Every decision to act is an intuitive one. The challenge is to migrate from hoping it's the right choice to trusting it's the right choice.

You won't see how to do it until you see yourself doing it.

If the only tool you have is a hammer, it's hard to eat spaghetti.

If you don't pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.

If you don't fall off the wagon regularly, you're not playing a big enough game.

Want freedom? Get organized. Want to get organized? Get creative.

The sense of anxiety and guilt doesn't come from having too much to do; it's the automatic result of breaking agreements with yourself.

You can do anything, but you can't do everything

Mosquitoes can ruin the hunt for big game.

The great secret about goals and visions is not the future they describe but the change in the present they engender.

When we truly need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding.

People allow themselves to get distracted; I think ultimately, probably the biggest thing that gets in the way of people doing what they ought to be doing at any point in time is distraction.

The right amount of complexity is what creates the optimal simplicity

The ancestor of every action is a thought. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

'I need milk' and 'I need to decide whether to buy this company' both tie up space in psychic RAM. The solution is simple. Write it down. Look at it. Do it or say to yourself 'not now'.

If you’re at zero backlog, it’s a whole lot easier to change priorities.

It's easier to change directions if you are in motion.

The balance you have between drive and patience may be your master key to success.

Review your list as often as you need to get them off your mind.

You can fool everyone else, but you can't fool your own mind.

Mosquitos ruin the safari.

Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does.

There are no interruptions, only mismanaged inputs

You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it.

The hardest thing about being productive is not the work, but the split second it takes to decide to take control.

The better you get, the better you better get.

Why do people complain that there's no time to get their work done? Because there is more work to do than the work they think they have to do.

Without a gut-level sense that you are ultimately in control of what's happening to you, you won't even consider the option that you could manage it better.

Virtually every problem that would show up in your business can be traced back to communications; somebody didn't talk to somebody about something.

A Keyring? Achievements? These are not WoW-specific things. They are common sense. They exist in the real world.

You can do anything, not everything

Some people have to move, physically, to "get" something. But if you're stuck in a chair, that's not your limitation - it's simply not an optimal condition for you.