David Allen Quotes

“Mental clarity comes from storing fewer commitments in your 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.”

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

“You can do anything, but not everything.”

“Your head is for having ideas, not holding them.”

“I am rather like a mosquito in a nudist camp; I know what I want to do, but I don’t know where to begin.”

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

“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.”

“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 more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”

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