Productivity Quotes

I think of productivity as using your time to accomplish things of value to you and others.

Adam Grant

Every prize has its price. The prize is the yes, the price is the no.

I’ve discovered that the greatest challenges in defining your work are (1) to think about what you’re doing and (2) to do something about what you’re thinking.

David Allen

(1) collect things that command our attention; (2) process what they mean and what to do about them; and (3) organize the results, which we (4) review as options for what we choose to (5) do.

David Allen

Sometimes the biggest gain in productive energy will come from cleaning the cobwebs, dealing with old business, and clearing the desks—cutting loose debris that's impeding forward motion.

David Allen

10-12 minutes invested in planning your day will save at least 2 hours of wasted time and effort throughout the day.

Brian Tracy

Things rarely get stuck because of lack of time. They get stuck because the doing of them has not been defined.

David Allen

There are no problems, only projects.

David Allen

Getting things done requires two basic components: defining (1) what done means (outcome) and (2) what doing looks like (action).

David Allen

20% of the average workday is spent on “crucial” and “important” things, while 80% of the average workday is spent on things that have “little value” or “no value”.

When people know they have a process in place to handle any situation, they are more relaxed. When they’re relaxed, everything improves. More gets done, with less effort, and a host of other wonderful side effects emerge that add to the outcomes of their efforts and the quality of their life.

David Allen

At any point in time, knowing what has to get done, and when, creates a terrain for maneuvering.

David Allen

If you don't pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it will take more of your attention than it deserves.

David Allen

Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.

David Allen

You can do anything, but not everything.

David Allen

You don't actually do a project; you can only do action steps related to it. When enough of the right action steps have been taken, some situation will have been created that matches your initial picture of the outcome closely enough that you can call it done.

David Allen

Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started.

David Allen

When we truly need to do is often what we most feel like avoiding.

David Allen

Use your mind to think about things, rather than think of them. You want to be adding value as you think about projects and people, not simply reminding yourself they exist.

David Allen

Productive people become ineffective taking on too many projects. Don’t let your ambition ruin your position.

James Clear

It will take you longer to stack it, track it and look at it again than it will to finish it when it’s in your face to begin with.

David Allen

Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.

Nicholas Chamfort

There is time enough for everything in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once, but there is not enough time in the year, if you will do two things at a time.

Lord Chesterfield

The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and a thousand other things well.

Hugh Walpole on being a generalist and a specialist

The fastest way to raise your level of performance: Cut your number of commitments in half.

James Clear

There is no substitute for hard work, whether you are an artist or in business…you must get down to an exacting schedule and fulfil your obligations. You have to work hard to be successful.

Florence Broadhurst

The most dangerous items on your to-do list are the ones that look like opportunities but are actually distractions.

James Clear

Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.

Malcolm Gladwell

Nothing will make you feel better except doing the work.

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.

Peter Drucker

Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.

Peter Drucker

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy.

Lao Tzu

Productivity is more the product of focus than time.

Mark Manson

The secret to being productive is to work on the right thing — even if it’s at a slow pace.

James Clear

Productivity is the art of subtraction.

Josh Spector

There is nothing quite so useless, as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all.

Peter Drucker

If you did four hours of focused work every day you’d be ahead of 99% of people who multitask for eight hours.

Dan Go

Do less. Keep returning to one thing and continue to refine it.

James Clear

Extraordinary results deemed that you set a priority and act on it.

Gary Keller

Until your one thing is done – everything else is a distraction.

Gary Keller

No telephones, no responsibilities, absolute tranquillity…I am lying on the shore like a crocodile, allowing myself to be roasted by the sun, never see a newspaper, and do not give a hoot about the so-called world.

Albert Einstein

Those who only know what they do, work harder. Those who know why they do what they do, work smarter.

Simon Sinek

For every minute spent in organizing, an hour is earned.

Benjamin Franklin

The biggest risk to productivity is always the same: working on the wrong thing.

James Clear

My favourite productivity technique is deciding something is not worth doing anymore.

Daniel Vassallo