Getting Things Done

by David Allen

It’s not what we have in our life, but who we have in our life, that counts. —J. M. Laurence

Everything in life worth achieving requires practice. In fact, life itself is nothing more than one long practice session, an endless effort of refining our motions. When the proper mechanics of practicing are understood, the task of learning something new becomes a stress-free experience of joy and calmness, a process which settles all areas in your life and promotes proper perspective on all of life’s difficulties. —Thomas Sterner

For whatever deserves to exist deserves also to be known, for knowledge is the image of existence; and things mean and splendid exist alike. —Francis Bacon

The art of resting the mind and the power of dismissing from it all care and worry is probably one of the secrets of our great men. —Capt. J. A. Hatfield

As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation, and action. —David Kekich

Healthy skepticism is often the best way to glean the value of what’s being presented—challenge it; prove it wrong, if you can. That creates engagement, which is the key to understanding.

There is one thing we can do, and the happiest people are those who can do it to the limit of their ability. We can be completely present. We can be all here. We can give … our attention to the opportunity before us. —Mark Van Doren

Work No Longer Has Clear Boundaries

Most of us have, in the past seventy-two hours, received more change-producing, project-creating, and priority-shifting inputs than our parents did in a month, maybe even in a year.

We can never really be prepared for that which is wholly new. We have to adjust ourselves, and every radical adjustment is a crisis in self-esteem; we undergo a test, we have to prove ourselves. It needs subordinate self-confidence to face drastic change without inner trembling. —Eric Hoffer

Nothing is really new in this high-tech, globally wired world, except how frequently it is.

The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. —Edward Gibbon

Chaos isn’t the problem; how long it takes to find coherence is the real game. —Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer

Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece. —Nadia Boulanger

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

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

If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open for everything. —Shunryu Suzuki

most stress they experience comes from inappropriately managed commitments they make or accept.

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

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. —Henri Bergson

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

This consistent, unproductive preoccupation with all the things we have to do is the single largest consumer of time and energy. —Kerry Gleeson

Rule your mind or it will rule you. —Horace

Thought is useful when it motivates action and a hindrance when it substitutes for action. —Bill Raeder

The beginning is half of every action. —Greek proverb

lack of time is not the major issue for them (though they may think it is); the real problem is a lack of clarity and definition about what a project really is, and what associated next-action steps are required. 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.

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.

Getting things done requires two basic components: defining (1) what “done” means (outcome) and (2) what “doing” looks like (action).

Vision is not enough; it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs. —Václav Havel

Horizontal control maintains coherence across all the activities in which you are involved.

Vertical control, in contrast, manages thinking, development, and coordination of individual topics and projects.

There is usually an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done.

There is no reason to ever have the same thought twice, unless you like having that thought.

Any “would, could, or should” commitment held only in the psyche creates irrational and unresolvable pressure, 24-7.

It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. —Sally Kempton

Don’t let life get in your way.

A useful definition of liberty is obtained only by seeking the principle of liberty in the main business of human life, that is to say, in the process by which men educate their responses and learn to control their environment. —Walter Lippmann

We (1) capture what has our attention; (2) clarify what each item means and what to do about it; (3) organize the results, which presents the options we (4) reflect on, which we then choose to (5) engage with.

Ask yourself, “When do I need to see what, in what form, to get it off my mind?” You build a system for function, not just to have a system.

Most decisions for action and focus are driven by the latest and loudest inputs, and are based on hope instead of trust.

A task left undone remains undone in two places—at the actual location of the task, and inside your head. Incomplete tasks in your head consume the energy of your attention as they gnaw at your conscience. —Brahma Kumaris

As soon as you attach a “should,” “need to,” or “ought to” to an item, it becomes an incomplete.

Get a purge for your brain. It will do better than for your stomach. —Michel Eyquem de Montaigne

Keep everything in your head or out of your head. If it’s in between, you won’t trust either one.

Funnel all potentially meaningful inputs through minimal channels, directed to you for easily accessed review and assessment about their nature.

Blockage in the flow of anything undermines the ability to be present, fresh, and creative in that arena.

It is better to be wrong than to be vague. —Freeman Dyson

It does not take much strength to do things, but it requires a great deal of strength to decide what to do. —Elbert Hubbard

Being organized means simply that where something is matches what it means to you.