Quotes from David Allen

Appropriately used, checklists can be a tremendous asset in enhancing personal productivity and relieving mental pressure.

thousands of people is that most stress they experience comes from inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.

Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired outcomes and requisite next actions is something few people feel they have to do (until they have to). But in truth, it is the most effective means available for making wishes a reality.

Defining "thinking" in its broadest sense to include any kind of focus and imagery held in the mind, in addition to the cognitive process of logic and rational judgment, means that your feelings will typically be more driven by the thoughts you hold than the other way around.

an explosion of nonstop, potentially "important"—or at least relevant—information.

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.

I have discovered that one of the major reasons many people haven't had a lot of success with "getting organized" is simply that they have tried to do all five phases at one time.

Open loops can include everything from really big to-do items like "End world hunger" to the more modest "Hire new assistant" to the tiniest task such as "Replace porch lightbulb.

Los vientos y las olas siempre favorecen a los navegantes más hábiles. —EDWARD GIBBON

Handle what has your attention and you'll then discover what really has your attention.

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

You've got to think about the big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

Alvin Toffler

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.

More often than not, it seems that people are having thoughts, though not really thinking about what they're thinking about—at least not in an effective way that resolves, advances, or manages the content.

Write all your notes and quotes on separate three-by-five-inch cards. Then, when you get ready to organize your thinking, just spread them all out on the floor, see the natural structure that emerges, and figure out what's missing.

Trying to keep a list on the calendar, which must then be reentered on another day if items don't get done, is demoralizing and a waste of time.

Your mind goes through five steps to accomplish virtually any task: 1 | Defining purpose and principles 2 | Outcome visioning 3 | Brainstorming 4 | Organizing 5 | Identifying next actions

Throw away, shred, or recycle anything that has no potential future action or reference value.

Your principles created the boundaries of your plan. You probably didn't consciously think about your principles regarding going out to dinner, but you thought within them: standards of food and service, affordability, convenience, and comfort all may have played a part. In any case, your purpose and principles were the defining impetus and boundaries of your planning.

The substantive issue is how to make appropriate choices about what to do at any point in time. The real work is to manage our actions. That

Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because what "doing" would look like, and where it happens, hasn't been decided. In

You may want to begin by asking yourself, "What behavior might undermine what I'm doing, and how can I prevent it?" That will give you a good starting point for defining your standards.

Clarifying things on the front end, when they first appear on the radar, rather than on the back end, after trouble has developed, allows people to reap the benefits of managing action. Getting