# David Allen

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".

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

* 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.
** Ch. 1
* 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.
** Ch. 1
* Here's how I define "stuff": anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn't belong where it is, but for which you haven't yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step.
** Ch. 1
* 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.
** Ch. 1
* The short-term-memory part of your mind—the part that tends to hold all of the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized “stuff”—functions much like RAM on a personal computer. Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place. You can think about only two or three things at once. But the incomplete items are still being stored in the short-term-memory space. And as with RAM, there’s limited capacity; there’s only so much “stuff” you can store in there and still have that part of your brain function at a high level. Most people walk around with their RAM bursting at the seams. They’re constantly distracted, their focus disturbed by their own internal mental overload.
** Ch. 1
* 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.
** Ch. 1
* If you're waiting to have good ideas before you have any ideas, you won't have many ideas.
** Ch. 3
* [I]f it's just you, attempting to come up with a "good idea" before defining your purpose, creating a vision, and collecting lots of bad ideas is likely to give you a case of creative constipation.
** Ch. 3
* The goal is to get projects and situations off your mind, but not to lose any potentially useful ideas.
** Ch. 3
* [Y]ou must have a clear picture in your mind of what success would look, sound, and feel like.
** Ch. 3
* How much of this planning model do you really need..? [A]s much as you need to get the project off your mind.
** Ch. 3
* In order to... have nothing on your mind, you've got to know where all your actionable items are located, what they are, and that they will wait. ...[I]n a few seconds, not days.
** Ch. 7
* The organizing system merely provides placeholders for all your oprn loops and options so your mind can... make the necessary intuitive, moment-to-moment strategic decisions.
** Ch. 7
* 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.
** Ch. 8
* Ask any psychologist how much of a sense of past and future that part of your psyche has, the part that was storing the list that you dumped: zero. It's all present tense in there. ...[A]s soon as you tell yourself that you should do something, if you file it... in your short-term memory... part of you... thinks that you should be doing it all the time. ...[Y]ou've created instant and automatic stress and failure ...
** Ch. 11
* [A]nything that is held only in "psychic RAM" will take up either more or less attention than it actually deserves. The reason to collect everything is not that everything is equally important, it's that it's not. Incompletions, uncollected, take on a dull sameness in the sense of the pressure they create and the attention they tie up.
** Ch. 11
* I suggest that you use your mind to think about things, rather than to think of them. You want to be adding value... not simply reminding yourself they exist.
** Ch. 11

### Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (2003)

* When you "have to get organized," you're probably not appropriately invested yet in what you need to get organized for.

### Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy)

* What people call an "Interruption" is simply new input inappropriately managed.
** 19 June 2009
* Freedom to create a mess is proportional to your ability to know what "no mess" is and how to get there.
** 15 July 2009
* Does something have your attention because you want it to, or because you're avoiding it?
** 31 August 2009
* Your attention will continue to be grabbed by anything until you give it the appropriate attention.
** 18 September 2009
* A big surprise is coming toward you. How clear do you want to be about all your current commitments, when it hits?
** 19 October 2009
* Your mind is for having ideas, not for holding them.
** 13 November 2009
* Valuable thought occurred today to share. Obvious in the moment. Can't retrieve now. Didn't capture. I teach this. Damn.
** 18 November 2009
* GTD essence: attention cleared of residue & distraction, pointed at the right thing.
** 20 November 2009
* The coolest things I do usually aren't on my lists, but because of them.
** 23 November 2009
* There is never enough time to do what you really don't want to do. Time managemet is really value management.
** 2 December 2009
* Good ideas are infinitely available. We've just limited our availablitly to them. The music's not in the radio.
** 3 December 2009
* Your mind receives, remembers, & reminds, & sucks at all 3, compared to an objective external system a la GTD.
** 7 December 2009
* Secret to finding, quickly, the corner pieces, then the outside edges, to the jigsaw puzzle of life: GTD
** 13 December 2009
* Over-prepare. Then go with the flow.
** 28 December 2009
* Defaulting to ur psyche as ur system instead of an objective one makes maintaining the system too much trouble.
** 14 January 2010
* I've never had to go very far to learn everything I have learned. I just had to care about something & pay attention.
** 19 January 2010
* Get things under control first, then get focused. If your ship is sinking, you don't care where it's pointed.
** 25 January 2010
* Trying to ignore secondarily meaningful things gives them more meaning than they deserve.
** 30 January 2010
* Making decisions requires energy, but not deciding about whether to decide requires even more energy.
** 4 February 2010
* Every thought deserves its own place in the universe. How & where do you capture yours?
** 7 February 2010
* Eternal #GTD paradox: when you get the principle, the tool doesn't matter. But simultaneosly it matters so much more.
** 16 February 2010
* Clearing the deck is great, but sailing adventurous waters is the real game. (Just can't do it w/out a clear deck.)
** 10 March 2010
* Great news about lots of email is how consistently it forces you to get clear what's really meaningful to your work/life.
** 23 March 2010
* GTD gives freedom to the right, structure to the left (brains, that is!)
** 12 April 2010
* Organizations' problems can all be traced to someone not telling the right someone what had their attention, when it did.
** 12 May 2010
* If you figured out why making a list reduces overwhelm & confusion, you'd keep nothing in your head the rest of your life.
** 12 May 2010
* GTD supplies the reset button for all parts of life & work.
** 19 May 2010
* If you admit your wildest dream & uncover why you want it, you have a big key to make tomorrow a better day.
** 28 May 2010
* Simply ask & answer: if we were being wildly successful in fulfilling our purpose, what would it look, sound, & feel like? #SmallBizChat
** 3 June 2010
* You talk to yourself 50,000 times a day. What's 300 emails? #SmallBizChat
** 3 June 2010
* If u can't see everything you've committed to, at all levels, you'll be driven by latest and loudest. #SmallBizChat
** 3 June 2010
* A commitment kept only in your head will be given too much or too little attention.
** 23 June 2010
* Your system is not your tech - it's the nature of the content & the behavior w/which you engage with it.
** 26 June 2010
* Resistance to deciding the next action (before we have to) stems from how it exposes the vulnerability of our intelligence.
** 28 June 2010
* The nature of creative thinking runs counter to the nature of dealing w/its output. Ability & system to do both is freedom. GTD.
** 2 July 2010
* Being in control isn't forceful manipulation but rather highly cooperative engagement w/ what's really going on.
** 4 August 2010
* Making decisions when you can vs. when you have to makes for better decisions.
** 8 August 2010
* Not stopping to really catch up (Weekly Review, GTDers!) means trying to catch up constantly & never getting there.
** 9 August 2010
* You don't have to like your life to get it off your mind. You DO have to renegotiate your agreements w/yourself about it.
** 15 August 2010
* Your ability to deal w/surprise is in inverse relation to the amount of your backlog of "stuff".
** 4 September 2010
* Whether you know what you're doing or not, efficiency & style are your only improvement opportunities.
** 16 September 2010
* Maximizing is not optimizing. Sustainable engagement wins, in the end.
** 8 October 2010
* Top need for top professionals: psychic space. Fewer distractions & more contexts for thinking. Not more time.
** 12 October 2010
* Is what you're about to do more likely to expand or limit your ability to get what you really want? Executive intelligence.
** 15 October 2010
* How much attention have I given what really deserves my attention today?
** 23 October 2010
* The less you are driven by what goes on in this material world, the more you will pay attention to its details.
** 29 October 2010
* You'll be motivated to exercise the #GTD method to the degree you really care about what you're doing.
** 1 November 2010
* Perfection is graciously dealing with imperfection.
** 4 November 2010
* Living life in "emergency scan" mode self-perpetuates instead of self-corrects. Deal w/a non-emergency before it is one.
** 4 November 2010
* If you could stop thinking, letting go of trying control your world w/your mind, where would your attention go?
** 3 December 2010
* #GTD 2.0 = what to do with your head, once it's clear.
** 8 January 2011
* "Organization" for most people is simply an incomplete list, or amorphous piles, of still-unclear commitments.
** 14 January 2011
* What do you want to have true? Pick something between total fantasy & 51% believable, get going, & readjust as you learn.
** 17 January 2011
* Point of in-box empty: having a complete, current inventory of what matters, so you deal clearly with what's new & what's now.
** 18 January 2011
* How, and how often, you relate to your system is an essential part of your system.
** 22 January 2011
* Am working as hard as I can to find out what it's OK I'm NOT going to be dong, this weekend!
** 28 January 2011
* When "this isn't right" changes to "this isn't optimal" in your vocabulary, you've moved up the food chain.
** 9 February 2011
* Cool how many layers of my mind there are to clear, each time I do it...& how different my world is then.
** 12 February 2011
* Only issues in life: u know what u want, but not how to get it; or u don't know what u want. Solution: #GTD
** 13 February 2011
* An overwhelming amount of potential work to do is cool. Otherwise people would never go to a gym.
** 24 February 2011
* You've really done your job when what's true? (Challenging question for all of us!)
** 4 March 2011
* If your backlog of stuff isn't zero'd regularly, you're hostage to your own incessant angst that you should.
** 5 March 2011
* Productivity requires expansiveness & spontaneity as much as structure & control.
** 10 March 2011
* If you're already in a mess, you're not free to make one.
** 24 March 2011
* To be free to be spontaneously & creatively shallow requires depth of character & a disciplined focus.
** 29 April 2011
* It takes a healthy sense of self to feel OK with nothing happening in your head.
** 3 June 2011
* Things hold your attention hostage until you give them the appropriate attention.
** 27 June 2011
* Hold still enough to grapple w/the simple questions, & the complexities become clear.
** 6 July 2011
* How can you justify keeping a calendar & still keep most of your other commitments w/yourself in your head?
** 10 July 2011
* It's hard to say no when you're not aware of everything you've said yes to.
** 19 July 2011
* If u magically had 0 emails, in 10 days you'd be back to what you had. Issue is not volume, but tolerance of backlog.
** 20 July 2011
* The latest & loudest thing in your psyche is seldom the most important thing that should take up residence there.
** 3 August 2011
* Being organized simply means that where something is matches what it means to you. No more, no less.
** 22 August 2011
* Your mind doesn't have one. If it did, it would only remind you of something when you could do something about it.
** 1 September 2011
* Pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, so you can pay attention to what really has your attention.
** 15 September 2011
* Outcome/next-action thinking, before you must, prepares you for when you must. And that time will come.
** 29 September 2011
* The balance you have between drive & patience may be your master key to success.
** 26 October 2011
* Engaging in complexity is a key to simplicity. Fear of it will haunt your inner recesses.
** 12 November 2011
* 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?
** 15 November 2011
* When you know you'll get email to zero, you're free to deal with the ones you choose, when you choose. Most productive.
** 23 November 2011
* Even the smallest knoll to climb, to see a little more than the machine guns firing at me, is salvation.
** 30 November 2011
* Changing what you want to get done takes a second. Recalibrating & getting the new thing to happen is a martial art.
** 7 December 2011
* When you know how, any time, to get to the place where it's all sort of funny, you've mastered GTD.
** 8 December 2011
* Freedom to give full attention to what you want (vs. It being held hostage by unmanaged stuff) is the GTD promise.
** 17 December 2011
* Rivers of creative flow are log jammed w/ heads holding on to incompletions, old business, & avoided decisions.
** 26 December 2011
* What would you do w/more space, if you had it? Without a good answer, you'll not have the juice to really do #GTD.
** 5 January 2012
* Keys to getting things done: know what "done" means & what "doing" looks like.
** 14 January 2012
* Meetings handled well reduce email. Email handled well reduces meetings.
** 18 January 2012
* Organizing without first capturing & clarifying what needs organizing is simply rearranging your angst.
** 31 January 2012
* The greater your confidence w/how to achieve control & focus, as needed, the wilder & crazier you can be.
** 4 February 2012
* Are you overwhelmed pulling weeds, when you really just need to replant the garden?
** 16 February 2012
* Collect, process, organize & review what has your attention, so you can stop half-trying to be doing all that, constantly.
** 15 March 2012
* My daily meta-map lists: events coming up; major projects for me; emerging interests; my accountabilities.
** 21 April 2012
* The purpose of a purpose? Tunes you to meaningful things you wouldn't be aware of, otherwise.
** 23 May 2012
* Staying in control daily, weekly, & yearly requires different things for each. Handling one doesn't handle the others.
** 24 May 2012
* What would your ideal exec ass't let you know - & when - & where? That should inform your best #GTD system.
** 25 June 2012
* Great question to ask, to relax: What should I consider right now, decide what, and let go?
** 2 July 2012
* Using your head to manage your life = creativity constipation.
** 19 July 2012
* The present-ness demanded by a crisis is possible w/out crisis. Understand the keys to appropriate engagement. GTD.
** 13 August 2012
* If you're appropriately engaged w/your life, you don't need more time. If you're not, more time won't help.
** 15 August 2012
* What maps do you need to review, to see where you are & what to do next? Core to self-management systems.
** 23 August 2012
* Appropriate focus on the right stuff gives the freedom to not have to focus on anything, on a regular basis.
** 6 September 2012

## External links

* The David Allen Company website