David Allen (author)

David Allen
Born	December 28, 1945 (1945-12-28) (age 65)
Occupation	Author, Consultant, Management
Spouse	Kathryn[1]

David Allen (born December 28, 1945) is a productivity consultant who is best known as the creator of the time management method known as "Getting Things Done" .

He grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana where he acted and won a state championship in debate. He went to college at New College, now New College of Florida, in Sarasota, Florida, and did graduate work in American history at University of California, Berkeley.^[2] His career path has included jobs as a magician, waiter, karate teacher, landscaper, vitamin distributor, glass-blowing lathe operator, travel agent, gas station manager, U-Haul dealer, moped salesman, restaurant cook,^[1] personal growth trainer, manager of a lawn service company, and manager of a travel agency. He is an ordained minister with the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.^[3][4] He claims to have had 35 professions before age 35.^[5] He began applying his perspective on productivity with businesses in the 1980s when he was awarded a contract to design a program for executives and managers at Lockheed.

He is the founder of the David Allen Company, which is focused on productivity, action management and executive coaching. His "Getting Things Done" method is part of his coaching efforts. He was also one of the founders of Actioneer, Inc., a company specializing in productivity tools for the Palm Pilot.

Allen regularly gives one-day and two-day public seminars on his Getting Things Done methodology, which cost approximately $600.

Allen has written three books, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, which describes his productivity program, Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life, a collection of newsletter articles he has written, and Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and Business of Life, a follow-up to his first book. He lives in Ojai, California with his fourth wife, Kathryn,^[1] whom he describes as his "extraordinary partner in work and life" in the dedication of Getting Things Done.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Paul Keegan, June 21, 2007 How David Allen mastered getting things doneBusiness 2.0
2. ^ Keith H. Hammonds, April 30, 2000. "You can do anything - but not everything" Fast Company, retrieved April 8, 2010
3. ^ Jack Coats, 2000. "David Allen - Ministering to the Business Community" The New Day Herald online retrieved Jan. 18, 2008
4. ^ Jack Coats, 2000. "Getting Things Done: David Allen's Keys to Completion" The New Day Herald online retrieved Oct. 24, 2007
5. ^ David E. Williams, Feb. 9, 2007 Cutting through the clutter to get things done CNN

Further reading

• Allen, David (2003). Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life. New York: Viking Books. ISBN 0-670-03250-6. 
• Allen, David (2001). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-670-89924-0. 
• Beardsley, David. (April 1998) "Don't Manage Time, Manage Yourself." Fast Company. Issue 14, p. 64.
• Fallows, James. (July/August 2004) "Organize Your Life!." Atlantic Monthly. Vol. 294, No. 1, pp. 171–2.
• Wolf, Gary. September 25, 2007 Getting Things Done Guru David Allen and His Cult of Hyperefficiency Wired : 15.10
• Mitchell, James. On Time Management and David Allen

External links

• The David Allen Company website
• David Allen's Blog in the "Living Now" section of The Huffington Post
• "Relaxed Focus" Interview on Humankind public radio

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Name	Allen, David
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Date of birth	December 28, 1945
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