David Allen

"Your system is not your tech - it's the nature of the content & the behavior w/which you engage with it."

"Resistance to deciding the next action (before we have to) stems from how it exposes the vulnerability of our intelligence."

"The nature of creative thinking runs counter to the nature of dealing w/its output. Ability & system to do both is freedom. GTD."

"Being in control isn't forceful manipulation but rather highly cooperative engagement w/ what's really going on."

"Making decisions when you can vs. when you have to makes for better decisions."

"Not stopping to really catch up (Weekly Review, GTDers!) means trying to catch up constantly & never getting there."

"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."

"Your ability to deal w/surprise is in inverse relation to the amount of your backlog of "stuff"."

"Whether you know what you're doing or not, efficiency & style are your only improvement opportunities."

"Maximizing is not optimizing. Sustainable engagement wins, in the end."

"Top need for top professionals: psychic space. Fewer distractions & more contexts for thinking. Not more time."

"Is what you're about to do more likely to expand or limit your ability to get what you really want? Executive intelligence."

"How much attention have I given what really deserves my attention today?"

"The less you are driven by what goes on in this material world, the more you will pay attention to its details."

"You'll be motivated to exercise the #GTD method to the degree you really care about what you're doing."

"Perfection is graciously dealing with imperfection."

"Living life in "emergency scan" mode self-perpetuates instead of self-corrects. Deal w/a non-emergency before it is one."

"If you could stop thinking, letting go of trying control your world w/your mind, where would your attention go?"

"#GTD 2.0 = what to do with your head, once it's clear."

""Organization" for most people is simply an incomplete list, or amorphous piles, of still-unclear commitments."

"What do you want to have true? Pick something between total fantasy & 51% believable, get going, & readjust as you learn."

"Point of in-box empty: having a complete, current inventory of what matters, so you deal clearly with what's new & what's now."

"How, and how often, you relate to your system is an essential part of your system."

"Am working as hard as I can to find out what it's OK I'm NOT going to be dong, this weekend!"

"When "this isn't right" changes to "this isn't optimal" in your vocabulary, you've moved up the food chain."

"Cool how many layers of my mind there are to clear, each time I do it...& how different my world is then."

"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"

"An overwhelming amount of potential work to do is cool. Otherwise people would never go to a gym."

"You've really done your job when what's true? (Challenging question for all of us!)"

"If your backlog of stuff isn't zero'd regularly, you're hostage to your own incessant angst that you should."

"Productivity requires expansiveness & spontaneity as much as structure & control."

"If you're already in a mess, you're not free to make one."

"To be free to be spontaneously & creatively shallow requires depth of character & a disciplined focus."

"It takes a healthy sense of self to feel OK with nothing happening in your head."

"Things hold your attention hostage until you give them the appropriate attention."

"Hold still enough to grapple w/the simple questions, & the complexities become clear."

"How can you justify keeping a calendar & still keep most of your other commitments w/yourself in your head?"

"It's hard to say no when you're not aware of everything you've said yes to."

"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."

"The latest & loudest thing in your psyche is seldom the most important thing that should take up residence there."

"Being organized simply means that where something is matches what it means to you. No more, no less."

"Your mind doesn't have one. If it did, it would only remind you of something when you could do something about it."

"Pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, so you can pay attention to what really has your attention."

"Outcome/next-action thinking, before you must, prepares you for when you must. And that time will come."

"The balance you have between drive & patience may be your master key to success."

"Engaging in complexity is a key to simplicity. Fear of it will haunt your inner recesses."

"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?"

"When you know you'll get email to zero, you're free to deal with the ones you choose, when you choose. Most productive."

"Even the smallest knoll to climb, to see a little more than the machine guns firing at me, is salvation."

"Changing what you want to get done takes a second. Recalibrating & getting the new thing to happen is a martial art."