Praise for Getting Things Done "The Season's Best Reads for Work­Life 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 eye­opener."

—Stewart Alsop, Fortune

"Allen drops down from high­level 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 Stress­Free 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 stress­free productivity / David Allen. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0­670­89924­0 (he.) ISBN 0 14

20.0028 0 (pbk.) 1. Time management. 2. Self­management (Psychology). I. Title. BF637.T5 A45 2001 646.7—dc21 00­043757

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, re­sold, 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

viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Finally, deepest thanks go to my spiritual coach, J­R, 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.

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 Stress­Free 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

X

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 Next­Action

Decision 236

Chapter 13 The Power of Outcome Focusing 249

Conclusion 257

Index 261

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 either­or 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 be at having sleeping the minutes is exactly the more e­mail And moment a with child what beer relaxed, whatever in the front with you in is his potential just confident ought your of you're or what you, her to staff be doing, new or you crib that doing, after spending client need at whatever you'd

hours, midnight, as you're to after probably a be gazing few you're the doing—that doing answering informal meeting at like it. doing

your to power dismissing all is the great probably care secrets —Captain]. men. of and of from A. one worry our

of 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