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David Allen Quotes

born 1945 United States

David Allen (born December 28, 1945) is an American productivity consultant, best known for the creation of a time management method called "Getting Things Done".

United States
Bloggers
Non-fiction authors

Also known as: David Allen (author)

Random David Allen quote

112 quotes

Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

It's great to clear your psychic decks so you can go into the weekend ready for refreshment and recreation, with nothing on your mind.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

The goal is to get projects and situations off your mind, but not to lose any potentially useful ideas.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

If you're waiting to have good ideas before you have any ideas, you won't have many ideas.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

How much of this planning model do you really need..? [A]s much as you need to get the project off your mind.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

The big problem is that your mind keeps reminding you of things when you can't do anything about them. It has no sense of past or future.

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (2001)

If you could stop thinking, letting go of trying control your world w/your mind, where would your attention go?

If you figured out why making a list reduces overwhelm & confusion, you'd keep nothing in your head the rest of your life.

Freedom to create a mess is proportional to your ability to know what "no mess" is and how to get there.

Your system is not your tech - it's the nature of the content & the behavior w/which you engage with it.

Appropriate focus on the right stuff gives the freedom to not have to focus on anything, on a regular basis.

Your mind receives, remembers, & reminds, & sucks at all 3, compared to an objective external system a la GTD.

"Organization" for most people is simply an incomplete list, or amorphous piles, of still-unclear commitments.

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

It takes a healthy sense of self to feel OK with nothing happening in your head.

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

What people call an "Interruption" is simply new input inappropriately managed.

Great news about lots of email is how consistently it forces you to get clear what's really meaningful to your work/life.

GTD gives freedom to the right, structure to the left (brains, that is!)

Using your head to manage your life = creativity constipation.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: David Allen (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.