Top 120 David Allen Quotes (2025 Update)
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51. “You don’t manage priorities, you have them.”

— David Allen

52. “Don’t just do something. Stand there. – Rochelle Myer.”

— David Allen

53. “If we didn’t have any stress, we’d never grow and you’d probably wouldn’t test your mettle and you’d probably wouldn’t come up with a lot of creative stuff that people come up with by being somewhat on the edge.”

— David Allen

54. “Mosquitos ruin the safari.”

— David Allen

55. “There is no expedient to which a man will not go to avoid the real labor of thinking. – THOMAS EDISON.”

— David Allen

56. “Change – even change meant to improve our lives – creates stress. We can get comfortable with our problems.”

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

59. “The cognitive scientists have now proven the reality of “decision fatigue” – that every decision you make, little or big, diminishes a limited amount of your brain power.”

— David Allen

60. “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.”

— David Allen

61. “You must use your mind to get things off your mind.”

— David Allen

62. “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.”

— David Allen

63. “Some people have to move, physically, to “get” something. But if you’re stuck in a chair, that’s not your limitation – it’s simply not an optimal condition for you.”

— David Allen

64. “The value of goals is not in the future they describe, but the change in perception of reality they foster.”

— David Allen

65. “The problem is, is when your focus is created by a crisis, then the frontal lobe shuts down essentially, the frontal cortex which is your intuitive intelligence. So you get very clever and very stupid in a crisis. Also, you pump adrenalin into your body from what you – physiologically you’ll crash.”

— David Allen

66. “Procastination is not about not doing is about not doing and feeling crappy.”

— David Allen

67. “You are the captain of your own ship; the more you act from that perspective, the better things will go for you.”

— David Allen

68. “It’s easier to change directions if you are in motion.”

— David Allen

69. “Stress such as you experience in exercise is what creates builds focus, strength, and the capability for expanded expression; and the same is true for any kind of performance.”

— David Allen

70. “I would not give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity. – Oliver Wendell Holmes.”

— David Allen

71. “There’s a lot of reasons why deadline-driven may actually – it’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just all it does is it speeds up and makes you a little proactive about decision making.”

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

73. “Without a gut-level sense that you are ultimately in control of what’s happening to you, you won’t even consider the option that you could manage it better.”

— David Allen

74. “Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought. – Henry Bergson.”

— David Allen

75. “Too much information creates the same result as too little: you don’t have what you need, when and in the way you need it.”

— David Allen

76. “My opinion is that anybody offended by breastfeeding is staring too hard.”

— David Allen

77. “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.”

— David Allen

78. “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.”

— David Allen

79. “Getting things done, and feeling good about it, means being willing to recognize, acknowledge, and appropriately manage all the things that have your consciousness engaged. Mastering the art of stress-free productivity requires it.”

— David Allen

80. “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.”

— David Allen

81. “Water is what it is, and does what it does. It can overwhelm, but it’s not overwhelmed. It can be still, but it is not impatient. It can be forced to change course, but it is not frustrated.”

— David Allen

82. “When people know they have a process in place to handle any situation, they are more relaxed. When they’re relaxed, everything improves. More gets done, with less effort, and a host of other wonderful side effects emerge that add to the outcomes of their efforts and the quality of their life.”

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

84. “Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does. Responding inappropriately to your e-mail, your thoughts about what you need to do, your children, or your boss will lead to less effective results than you’d like. Most people give either more or less attention to things than they deserve, simply because they don’t operate with a mind like water.”

— David Allen

85. “Isn’t it interesting that people feel best about themselves right before they go on vacation? They’ve cleared up all of their to-do piles, closed up transactions, renewed old promises with themselves. My most basic suggestion is that people should do that more than just once a year.”

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

87. “Virtually every problem that would show up in your business can be traced back to communications; somebody didn’t talk to somebody about something.”

— David Allen

88. “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.”

— David Allen

89. “Focusing on your values may provide you with meaning, but it won’t simplify things.”

— David Allen

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

— David Allen

91. “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 list of projects is the compilation of finish lines we put before us, to keep our next actions moving on all tracks appropriately.”

— David Allen

92. “A Keyring? Achievements? These are not WoW-specific things. They are common sense. They exist in the real world.”

— David Allen

93. “Distracting reactions about anything undermine a clear mind about anything else.”

— David Allen

94. “The real issue is how to make appropriate choices about what to do at any point in time. The real issue is how we manage actions.”

— David Allen

95. “Thinking in a concentrated manner to define desired outcomes is something few people feel they have to do. But in truth, outcome thinking is one of the most effective means available for making wishes reality.”

— David Allen

96. “Reacting is automatic, but thinking is not.”

— David Allen

97. “You can try it for yourself right now, if you like. Choose one project that is new or stuck or that could simply use some improvement. Think of your purpose. Think of what a successful outcome would look like: where would you be physically, financially, in terms of reputation, or whatever? Brainstorm potential steps. Organize your ideas. Decide on the next actions. Are you any clearer about where you want to go and how to get there?”

— David Allen

98. “Imagination is more important than knowledge. – Albert Einstein.”

— David Allen

99. “The world itself is never overwhelmed or confused – only we are, due to how we are engaged with it. An.”

— David Allen

100. “Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior. – Dee Hock.”

— David Allen