David Allen Quotes

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs. — Vaclav Havel

The trick is to ensure not so much that what you are doing is, for you, the right thing, all the time (how, ultimately, could you know that for sure?) but that you are firmly in the driver’s seat with a functioning process for discovering and engaging with your best choice.

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

#GTD 2.0 = what to do with your head, once it's clear.

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.

Not stopping to really catch up (Weekly Review, GTDers!) means trying to catch up constantly & never getting there.

Once you had generated a sufficient number of ideas and details, you couldn’t help but start to organize them. You may have thought or said, “First we need to find out if the restaurant is open,” or “Let’s call the Andersons and see if they’d like to go out with us.” Once you’ve generated various thoughts relevant to the outcome, your mind will automatically begin to sort them by components (subprojects), priorities, and/ or sequences of events.

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

Your attention will continue to be grabbed by anything until you give it the appropriate attention.

Before you can achieve... you'll need to get in the habit of keeping nothing on your mind... not by managing time, managing information, or managing priorities. ...Instead, the key ...is managing your actions. ...[T]he real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about what a project really is, and what the associated next-action steps required are.

When you know you'll get email to zero, you're free to deal with the ones you choose, when you choose. Most productive.

The beginning is half of every action.

You must use your mind to get things off your mind.

Things hold your attention hostage until you give them the appropriate attention.

Your tools are only as good as they serve your intention. What do you want to have true? What Do you need to have viewable re: that?