Top 87 Quotes & Sayings by David Allen

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

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

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.

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

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.

You can't manage time, you actually only manage what you do during time. So the management issue is not so much about time, it's more about how do you manage your focus, how do you manage your actions and your activities in terms of what you do.

We suffer the stress of infinite opportunity: There are so many things that we could do, and all we see are people who seem to be performing at star quality. It's very hard not to try to be like them. The problem is, if you get wrapped up in that game, you'll get eaten alive. You can do anything-but not everything. The universe is full of creative projects that are waiting to be done. So, if you really care about quality of life, if you want to relax, then ... control your aspirations. That will simplify things. Learning to set boundaries is incredibly difficult for most people.

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.

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.

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

Your brain has an in-built mechanism for finding patterns you've programmed because of where you've put your attention. Solutions, innovations, and success come not from greater intelligence or creativity but from what we notice because of where we point those attributes

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

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

A lot of people have nothing very well organized, and a lot of people have nothing, very well organized.

You don't manage priorities, you have them.

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

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

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

First of all, if it's on your mind, your mind isn't clear. Anything you consider unfinished in any way must be captured in a trusted system outside your mind, or what I call a collection bucket, that you know you'll come back to regularly and sort through.

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

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.

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

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.

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

If you don't pay attention to the things that have your attention, you'll give them more attention than they deserve.

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

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

It's hard to be fully creative without structure and constraint. Try to paint without a canvas. Creativity and freedom are two sides of the same coin. I like the best of both worlds. Want freedom? Get organized. Want to get organized? Get creative.

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

The better you get, the better you better get.

The right amount of complexity is what creates the optimal simplicity

Anything that does not belong where it is, is an "open loop" pulling on your attention.

Most often, the reason something is "on your mind" is that you want it to be different than it currently is, and yet: you haven't clarified exactly what the intended outcomes is; you haven't decided what the very next physical action step is; and/or you haven't put reminders of the outcome and the action required in a system you trust. That's why it's on your mind.

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

Focusing on values does not simplify your life. It gives meaning and direction-and a lot more complexity.

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.

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.

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

There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it´s getting done!

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

At at any point in time, knowing what has to get done, and when, creates a terrain for maneuvering.

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

You can claim that God is guiding you and revealing to you the answer or solution to your problem. Accept the truth that the nature of Infinite Intelligence is to respond to you, and you will receive an answer without the aid of any man. You can boldly affirm, “I am whole, perfect, strong, loving, illumined, prosperous and inspired.” As you continue to affirm these truths and feel and believe what you claim, without the help or cooperation of anyone, you will express what you feel to be true. Remember, whatever you attach to I AM, you become.

You can do anything, but not everything.

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

What you'll tend to avoid doing is probably the most important thing you need to do because it'll probably be the most daunting and the most potentially successful thing you could be doing and that's usually out of people's comfort zone.

Decision-making when things show up instead of when they blow up is actually a habit that can be developed and enhanced. The trick is to get used the clean feeling of having decided, instead of sitting on a fence.

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

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

Trust yourself to do what you really feel like doing, and what you feel like doing will change. Don't, and it will plague you.

A successful executive is one that solves bigger problems than he/she creates.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Mosquitoes can ruin the hunt for big game.

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

In Ireland we have a very old saying, When you can see the mountains it's going to rain and when you can't see the mountains it's raining.