# Quote — David Allen, Getting Things Done

> Ask any psychologist how much of a sense of past and future that part of your psyche has, the part that was storing the list that you dumped: zero. It's all present tense in there. ...[A]s soon as you tell yourself that you should do something, if you file it... in your short-term memory... part of you... thinks that you should be doing it all the time. ...[Y]ou've created instant and automatic stress and failure ...

- Author: [David Allen](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen.md)
- Book: [Getting Things Done](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Allen#Getting_Things_Done:_The_Art_of_Stress-Free_Productivity_(2001)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done/ask-any-psychologist

## More from this book

> [Y]ou must have a clear picture in your mind of what success would look, sound, and feel like.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done/y-ou-must-have.md)

> It's great to clear your psychic decks so you can go into the weekend ready for refreshment and recreation, with nothing on your mind.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done/its-great-to-clear.md)

> The organizing system merely provides placeholders for all your oprn loops and options so your mind can... make the necessary intuitive, moment-to-moment strategic decisions.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-allen/getting-things-done/the-organizing-system.md)