Getting Things Done

278 Pages·2001·2.17 MB·English

by  David Allen

Praise for Getting Things Done
"The Season's Best Reads for Work-Life Advice .. . my favorite
on organizing your life: Getting Things Done . . . offers help build-
ing the new mental skills needed in an age of multitasking and
overload."
—Sue Shellenbarger, The Wall Street Journal
"I recently attended David's seminar on getting organized, and after
seeing him in action I have hope . .. David Allen's seminar was an
eye-opener."
—Stewart Alsop, Fortune
"Allen drops down from high-level philosophizing to the fine details
of time management. Take a minute to check this one out."
—Mark Henricks, Entrepreneur
"David Allen's productivity principles are rooted in big ideas ...
but they're also eminently practical."
—Keith H. Hammonds, Fast Company
"David Allen brings new clarity to the power of purpose, the
essential nature of relaxation, and deceptively simple guidelines
for getting things done. He employs extensive experience, per-
sonal stories, and his own recipe for simplicity, speed, and fun."
—Frances Hesselbein, chairman, board of governors,
The Drucker Foundation
"Anyone who reads this book can apply this knowledge and these
skills in their lives for immediate results."
—Stephen P. Magee, chaired professor of business and
economics, University of Texas at Austin
"A true skeptic of most management fixes, I have to say David's
program is a winner!"
—Joline Godfrey, CEO, Independent Means, Inc. and
author of Our Wildest Dreams
"Getting Things Done describes an incredibly practical process that
can help busy people regain control of their lives. It can help you
be more successful. Even more important, it can help you have a
happier life!"
—Marshall Goldsmith, coeditor, The Leader of the Future
and Coaching for Leadership
"WARNING: Reading Getting Things Done can be hazardous
to your old habits of procrastination. David Allen's approach is
refreshingly simple and intuitive. He provides the systems, tools,
and tips to achieve profound results."
—Carola Endicott, director, Quality Resources, New
England Medical Center
PENGUIN BOOKS
GETTING THINGS DONE
David Allen has been called one of the world's most influential
thinkers on productivity and has been a keynote speaker and
facilitator for such organizations as New York Life, the World
Bank, the Ford Foundation, L.L. Bean, and the U.S. Navy, and
he conducts workshops for individuals and organizations across
the country. He is the president of The David Allen Company
and has more than twenty years experience as a management
consultant and executive coach. His work has been featured in
Fast Company, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times,
The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications. Getting
Things Done has been published in twelve foreign countries.
David Allen lives in Ojai, California.
Getting
Things
Done
The Art of
Stress-Free Productivity
David Allen
PENGUIN BOOKS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia
Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2
Penguin Books India (P) Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, Cnr Rosedale and Airborne Roads, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand
Penguin Books {South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue,
Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
First published in the United States of America by Viking Penguin,
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc. 2001
Published in Penguin Books 2003
5 7 9 10 8 6
Copyright © David Allen, 2001
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED
THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Allen, David.
Getting things done : the art of stress-free productivity / David Allen.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-670-89924-0 (he.)
ISBN 0 14 20.0028 0 (pbk.)
1. Time management. 2. Self-management (Psychology). I. Title.
BF637.T5 A45 2001
646.7—dc21 00-043757
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Adobe Caslon
Designed by Sara E. Stemen
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the
condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out,
or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding
or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
For Kathryn, my extraordinary partner in life and work
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Finally, deepest thanks go to my spiritual coach, J-R, for
being such an awesome guide and consistent reminder of my real
priorities; and to my incredible wife, Kathryn, for her trust, love,
hard work, and the beauty she has brought into my life.
viii
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Welcome to Getting Things Done xi
Part 1: The Art of Getting Things Done 1
Chapter 1 A New Practice for a New Reality 3
Chapter 2 Getting Control of Your Life:
The Five Stages of Mastering Workflow 24
Chapter 3 Getting Projects Creatively Under
Way: The Five Phases of Project Planning 54
Part 2: Practicing Stress-Free Productivity 83
Chapter 4 Getting Started: Setting Up the Time,
Space, and Tools 85
Chapter 5 Collection: Corralling Your "Stuff" 104
Chapter 6 Processing: Getting "In" to Empty 119
Chapter 7 Organizing: Setting Up the Right Buckets 138
ix
CONTENTS
Chapter 8 Reviewing: Keeping Your
System Functional 181
Chapter 9 Doing: Making the Best
Action Choices 191
Chapter 10 Getting Projects Under Control 211
Part 3: The Power of the Key Principles 223
Chapter 11 The Power of the Collection Habit 225
Chapter 12 The Power of the Next-Action
Decision 236
Chapter 13 The Power of Outcome Focusing 249
Conclusion 257
Index 261
X
Welcome to Getting Things Done
WELCOME TO A gold mine of insights into strategies for how to have
more energy, be more relaxed, and get a lot more accomplished
with much less effort. If you're like me, you like getting things
done and doing them well, and yet you also want to savor life in
ways that seem increasingly elusive if not downright impossible if
you're working too hard. This doesn't have to be an either-or
proposition. It is possible to be effectively doing while you are
delightfully being, in your ordinary workaday world.
I think efficiency is a good thing. Maybe what you're doing is
important, interesting, or useful; or maybe it isn't but it has to be
done anyway. In the first case you want to get as much return as
you can on your investment of time and energy. In
the second, you want to get on to other things as fast The art of resting
as you can, without any nagging loose ends. the mind and the
And whatever you're doing, you'd probably like topower of
dismissing from it
be more relaxed, confident that whatever you're doing
all care and worry
at the moment is just what you need to be doing—that
is probably one of
having a beer with your staff after hours, gazing at your
the secrets of our
sleeping child in his or her crib at midnight, answering
great men.
the e-mail in front of you, or spending a few informal
—Captain].
minutes with the potential new client after the meeting
A.
is exactly what you ought to be doing, as you're doing it.
Teaching you how to be maximally efficient and
relaxed, whenever you need or want to be, was my main purpose
in writing this book.
xi