Quotes About Productivity

This week I've been reading a lot and doing little work. That's the way things ought to be. That's surely the road to success.

The problem is acceptance, which is something we're taught not to do. We're taught to improve uncomfortable situations, to change things, alleviate unpleasant feelings. But if you accept the reality that you have been given- that you are not in a productive creative period- you free yourself to begin filling up again.

Try to write in a directly emotional way, instead of being too subtle or oblique. Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done.

Pope Francis says the name of God is mercy. Our name was mercy, too, until we put it away to become more productive, more admired and less vulnerable. We tend to forget it's still there.

My parents, teachers, and the culture I grew up in showed me a drawer in which to stuff my merciful nature, because mercy made me look vulnerable and foolish, and it made me less productive.

On writer's block: The word block suggests that you are constipated or stuck, when the truth is that you're empty.

Try to write in a directly emotional way, instead of being too subtle or oblique. Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done.

And I don't think you have that kind of time either. I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good enough at it, and I don't think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect.

My parents, teachers, and the culture I grew up in showed me a drawer in which to stuff my merciful nature, because mercy made me look vulnerable and foolish, and it made me less productive. It was distracting to focus worried eyes on others instead of on homework, and on poor Dad, after all he had done for us, and on the prize of making the whole family look good.

on creative work] If you give freely there will always be more. This is a radical proposition that runs so contrary to human nature, or at least to my nature, that I personally keep trying to find loopholes in it. But it is only when I go ahead and decide to shoot my literary, creative wad on a daily basis that I get any sense of full presence, of being Zorba the Greek at the keyboard.

Ela sempre dizia que seu cérebro não passava de uma máquina que transformava café em efeitos especiais. (Tão Ontem)

treasure what it means to do a day's work. It's our one and only chance to do something productive today, and it's certainly not available to someone merely because he is the high bidder. A day's work is your chance to do art, to create a gift, to do something that matters. As your work gets better and your art becomes more important, competition for your gifts will increase and you'll discover that you can be choosier about whom you give them to.

The linchpin has figured out that we get only a certain number of brain cycles to spend each day. Spending even one on a situation out of our control has a significant opportunity cost.

Leo Babauta's brilliant little book Zen Habits helps you think your way through this problem. His program is simple: Attempt to create only one significant work a year.

Then a deadline arrives and you have to cut it short. Is shipping that important? I think it is. I think the discipline of shipping is essential in the long-term path to becoming indispensable.

Leaders who set out to give are more productive than leaders who seek to get. Even

As we'll see, the greatest shortage in our society is an instinct to produce. To create solutions and hustle them out the door.

Are you one of those people? One of the people with too many good ideas? The folks who have notebooks filled with notions, or daydreams filled with the future? You've certainly met these people. They're too busy taking notes to get anything done, too busy inventing to actually instigate. To stop this process, one needs to do only two things: Start. And then . . . Ship. Can't

If you can discipline yourself to read, you can free up two years of your life for the good stuff!)

You've certainly met these people. They're too busy taking notes to get anything done, too busy inventing to actually instigate. To stop this process, one needs to do only two things: Start. And then . . . Ship. Can't

If you're able to look at what's happening in your world and say, "There's the pattern," or "Wow, that's interesting, I wonder why," then you're far more likely to respond productively than if your reaction is "How dare he!

A woodpecker can tap twenty times on a thousand trees and get nowhere, but stay busy. Or he can tap twenty-thousand times on one tree and get dinner. Before

Organizing around the average, then, is too expensive. Organizing around average means that the organization has exchanged the high productivity of exceptional performance for the ease and security of an endless parade of average performers. The

Where did your art go while you were tweeting?