Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact Meaning Factcheck Usage

Awareness Quote

Anything that causes you to overreact or underreact can control you, and often does - David Allen
Your reactions, not the events themselves, are what truly hold power over you. When your response is out of proportion, you've handed over the reins.
You can only feel comfortable about what you Meaning Factcheck Usage

Quotes about clarity principles

You can only feel comfortable about what you’re not doing when you know what you’re not doing - David Allen
This quote is about the psychological freedom that comes from making conscious, trusted choices about your priorities. It's not about doing everything; it's about being confidently, peacefully okay with what you've chosen *not* to do right now.

Quotes about engagement

Productivity is simply the result of appropriate engagement with your work - David Allen
At its heart, this quote flips the script. It tells us that productivity isn't the goal you chase; it's the natural outcome you get when you're properly connected to your tasks.

Quotes about action principles

There is an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done - David Allen
The core message is brutally simple: if it's constantly on your mind, it's probably not moving forward. Your brain uses reminders as a crutch, which blocks focused action.

Quotes about attention principles

If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves - David Allen
At its core, this is about the high cost of mental procrastination. It means that the unresolved tasks and nagging thoughts you push aside don't just disappear; they actively drain your cognitive resources.

Quotes about clarity

The purpose of an organization system is to free your mind, not burden it - David Allen
At its heart, this quote means your system should be a trusted assistant, not a demanding boss. It's about creating mental space for creativity and deep work by offloading the job of remembering and reminding to a system you trust implicitly.

Quotes about focus principles

There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done - David Allen
The core idea is simple but profound: the more you're just *thinking* about a task, the less energy you have to actually *do* it. It's a mental traffic jam.

What clarity means

Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined - David Allen
At its core, this quote means that procrastination isn't a time management problem; it's a clarity problem. The real barrier is the mental fog surrounding the task itself.
The more you try to do the less Meaning Factcheck Usage

Efficiency Quote

The more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish - David Allen
At its core, this is about the law of diminishing returns applied to your focus. It means that spreading your attention too thin across too many tasks guarantees that none of them get the deep focus they require to be completed well, or sometimes at all.