David Allen Quotes

I suggest that you use your mind to think about things, rather than to think of them. You want to be adding value... not simply reminding yourself they exist.

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.

I’ve discovered that the greatest challenges in defining your work are (1) to think about what you’re doing and (2) to do something about what you’re thinking.

Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection tool, that you know you’ll come back to regularly and sort through.

To ignore the unexpected (even if it were possible) would be to live without opportunity, spontaneity, and the rich moments of which “life” is made. — Stephen Covey

most stress they experience comes from inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.

If you're appropriately engaged w/your life, you don't need more time. If you're not, more time won't help.

We’re never really taught that we have to think about our work before we can do it; much of our daily activity is already defined for us by the undone and unmoved things staring at us when we come to work, or by the family to be fed, the laundry to be done, or the children to be dressed at home.

"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." The list of projects is the compilation of finish lines we put before us, to keep our next actions moving on all tracks appropriately"

Bright people have the capability of freaking out faster and more dramatically than anyone else.

Are you overwhelmed pulling weeds, when you really just need to replant the garden?

Thought is useful when it motivates action and a hindrance when it substitutes for action. — Bill Raeder

Too much information creates the same result as too little: you don't have what you need, when and in the way you need it.

Don’t just do something. Stand there. — Rochelle Myer

The less you are driven by what goes on in this material world, the more you will pay attention to its details.