Getting Things Done was a book that changed my life. David Allen’s seminal work on productivity provided me with the skills I needed to succeed in knowledge work. With it being one of the bestselling businesses books of the last 25 years, its impact on millions of people around the world is very apparent.

For this post, I am simply sharing some of my favorite David Allen quotes. Enjoy!

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

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

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

“Sometimes the biggest gain in productive energy will come from cleaning the cobwebs, dealing with old business, and clearing the desks—cutting loose debris that’s impeding forward motion.”

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

“There are no problems, only 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.”

“(1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do.”

Learn more about David Allen by visiting the Getting Things Done web site.