⚟ Getting Things Done

Author: David Allen

Chapter 1: A New Practice for a New Reality

❝ IT’S POSSIBLE FOR a person to have an overwhelming number of things to do and still function productively with a clear head and a positive sense of relaxed control.

❝ You’ve probably made many more agreements with yourself than you realize, and every single one of them—big or little—is being tracked by a less-than-conscious part of you

❝ if it’s on your mind, your mind isn’t clear

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

❝ you’ll need to get in the habit of keeping nothing on your mind

Chapter 2: Getting Control of Your Life: The Five Steps of Mastering Workflow

❝ I define a project as any desired result that can be accomplished within a year that requires more than one action step

❝ Three things go on your calendar: time-specific actions; day-specific actions; and day-specific information

❝ Trying to keep a list on the calendar, which must then be reentered on another day if items don’t get done, is demoralizing and a waste of time

❝ The way I look at it, the calendar should be sacred territory. If you write something there, it must get done that day or not at all.