The coolest things I do usually arent on my lists, but because of them — David Allen

"[I]f its just you, attempting to come up with a "good idea" before defining your purpose, creating a vision, and collecting lots of bad ideas is likely to give you a case of creative constipation."

"Heres how I define "stuff": anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesnt belong where it is, but for which you havent yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step."

"The short-term-memory part of your mind—the part that tends to hold all of the incomplete, undecided, and unorganized “stuff”—functions much like RAM on a personal computer. Your conscious mind, like the computer screen, is a focusing tool, not a storage place. You can think about only two or three things at once. But the incomplete items are still being stored in the short-term-memory space. And as with RAM, there’s limited capacity; there’s only so much “stuff” you can store in there and still have that part of your brain function at a high level. Most people walk around with their RAM bursting at the seams. They’re constantly distracted, their focus disturbed by their own internal mental overload."

"The big problem is that your mind keeps reminding you of things when you cant do anything about them. It has no sense of past or future."

"The goal is to get projects and situations off your mind, but not to lose any potentially useful ideas."

"Appropriate focus on the right stuff gives the freedom to not have to focus on anything, on a regular basis."