Quotes from Gary Keller

You can say no with respect, you can say no promptly, and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes. But just saying yes because you can't bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.

Albert Einstein had Max Talmud, his first mentor. It was Max who introduced a ten-year-old Einstein to key texts in math, science, and philosophy. Max took one meal a week with the Einstein family for six years while guiding young Albert. No one is self-made.

When you act on your priority, you'll automatically go out of balance, giving more time to one thing over another.

Most people think buying is investing, but they're wrong. Buying doesn't make you an investor any more than buying groceries makes you a chef.

Multitasking doesn't save time —it wastes time.

The way to get the most out of your work and your life is to go as small as possible.

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? Mitch: No. What? Curly: This. [He holds up one finger.] Mitch: Your finger? Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean sh*t. Mitch: That's great, but what's the "one thing"? Curly: That's what you've got to figure out.

If you were trying to talk a passenger through landing a DC-10, you'd stop walking. Likewise, if you were walking across a gorge on a rope bridge, you'd likely stop talking.

Tackling these tasks in the order we receive them is behaving as if the squeaky wheel immediately deserves the grease. But, as Australian prime minister Bob Hawke duly noted, "The things which are most important don't always scream the loudest.

In your effort to attend to all things, everything gets shortchanged and nothing gets its due.

We each have passions and skills, but you'll see extraordinarily successful people with one intense emotion or one learned ability that shines through, defining them or driving them more than anything else.

when you think about success, shoot for the moon. The moon is reachable if you prioritize everything and put all of your energy into accomplishing the most important thing.

direction: the majority of what you want will come from the minority of what you do.

MY WAGE By J. B. Rittenhouse I bargained with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store. For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask, But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task. I worked for a menials hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid.

If you have to beg, then beg. If you have to barter, then barter. If you have to be creative, then be creative. Just don't be a victim of your circumstance.

Super-successful people aren't superhuman at all; they've just used selected discipline to develop a few significant habits. One at a time. Over time.

they favor new information over old, even if the older information is more valuable.

To achieve an extraordinary result you must choose what matters most and give it all the time it demands. This requires getting extremely out of balance in relation to all other work issues

To do two things at once is to do neither." —Publilius Syrus

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." — William James

It's not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do, it's that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have.

Success builds on success, and as this happens, over and over, you move toward the highest success possible.

what's the ONE Thing I can do to ensure I hit my goals this week such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

When you say yes to something, it's imperative that you understand what you're saying no to.