Quotes About Productivity

After several decades of empirical study, Jaques concluded that just as humans differ in intelligence, we differ in our ability to handle time-dependent complexity. We all have a natural time horizon we are comfortable with: what Jaques called "time span of discretion," or the length of the longest task an individual can successfully undertake.

it was more a matter of time being divided up for you; if the ordained segments were too short, you got little done, while if they were too long, you got less done than you could have.

My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy.

The best way to be rid of quaking knees is to keep a busy mind.

The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness.

First, when we are busy, we naturally believe that we are achieving. But busyness does not equal productivity. Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. Second, prioritizing requires leaders to continually think ahead, to know what's important, to know what's next, to see how everything relates to the overall vision. That's hard work. Third, prioritizing causes us to do things that are at the least uncomfortable and sometimes downright painful.

You could use the 80/20 rule. Give 80 percent of your effort to the top 20 percent (most important) activities. Another way is to focus on exceptional opportunities that promise a huge return. It comes down to this: give your attention to the areas that bear fruit.

If you keep nonproductive people, the productive ones become frustrated and leave. If you remove the people who don't add value, then the whole team gets better. It's just like trimming trees: If you don't cut the deadwood, eventually the whole tree falls. But if you remove the deadwood, the tree becomes healthier, the healthy branches produce more, and there's room for productive new branches on the tree.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who want to get things done and those who don't want to make mistakes.

There are two types of people in the business community: those who produce results and those who give you reasons why they didn't.

5. Each person's leadership is best exercised in his or her area of giftedness (v. 31). When we discover our gifts, we will naturally lead in those areas where we are most productive, intuitive, comfortable, influential, and satisfied.

Thinking divorced from actions cannot be productive.

Don't settle for poor performers. Keep in mind that one great person will always out-produce and out-perform two mediocre people.

The key to working smarter is knowing the difference between motion and direction. In the final analysis, results are what matter; attendance and activity don't.

The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. The only adequate preparation for tomorrow is the right use of today.

It will add to your effectiveness, subtract from your weaknesses, divide your workload, and multiply your impact.

Trying to get the right person in the right job can take a lot of time and energy. Let's face it. Isn't it easier for a leader to just put people where it is most convenient and get on with the work? Once again, this is an area where leaders' desire for action works against them.

If you wait until you feel like doing something, you will likely never accomplish it.

people who are busy rowing seldom have time to rock the boat.

TODAY GIVE YOUR TIME ONLY TO THINGS THAT PASS THE REQUIREMENT, RETURN, REWARD TEST.

Poet and novelist James Joyce said, "Your mind will give back to you exactly what you put into it." The greatest enemy of good thinking is busyness. And middle leaders are usually the busiest people in an organization.

Any business or industry that pays equal rewards to its goof-offs and its eager-beavers sooner or later will find itself with more goof-offs than eager-beavers.

We can't choose whether we will get any more time, but we can choose what we do with it.

Successful people focus their thinking on progress