I’m not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and desktop folders and my online calendar. So when I walk up to my desk, I can focus on the e-mails I’ve flagged and check the folders that are monitoring particular projects and particular blogs.

When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.

I am so busy doing nothing… that the idea of doing anything – which as you know, always leads to something – cuts into the nothing and then forces me to have to drop everything.

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.

I think how you start the day many times determines what kind of day you’re going to have.

I believe you never get tired by doing work. You get tired when you don’t work. When you clean your house, you don’t get tired; it gives you satisfaction.

It’s pretty hard to be efficient without being obnoxious.

Every man is a consumer, and ought to be a producer. He is by constitution expensive, and needs to be rich.

Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.

The internet could be a very positive step towards education, organisation and participation in a meaningful society.

Time is kind of an amazing thing because you can do so much with it. I think people underestimate time… I don’t want to just sit on my phone for hours.

Most of the time, songs that I write end up being finished in 30 minutes or less.

Why do you want to get a good workout early in the morning? Well, because it sends more oxygen to your brain; it releases endorphins. It puts you in a state of mind where you can crush things, which is where you want to be.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

I lived a sloppy life. So I took very small increments in my life. I started making my bed. I started cleaning my room. There were dishes in the sink. It started off with doing small house chores. I saw that the yard needed to be mowed. So instead of being told it needed to be mowed, I would mow it.

Learn to say ‚no‘ to the good so you can say ‚yes‘ to the best.

On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you’ll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

I am results-oriented.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

Do the duty which lies nearest to you, the second duty will then become clearer.

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

When I finish something, I want it out that day. Pop music is like the daily paper. Its got to be there then, not six months later.

Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.

Dividers seek to make themselves look or feel better by making others feel worse. They damage relationships, fracture teams and organizations, and create havoc in people’s lives.

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

When I write, when I’m going hot, I don’t want to write more than four hours in a row. After that, you’re pushing it.

I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.

Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?

I write the paragraph, then I’m crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it’s almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day.

Service of any type requires preparation.

This is a world of action, and not for moping and droning in.

If you try and work out at 4:30 in the afternoon, how many people are going to chip away at that time? Your boss, your job, your work, your family, your other obligations that you might have. At 4:30 in the morning, all those people are asleep, so you can do whatever you want.

Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week.

Men admire the man who can organize their wishes and thoughts in stone and wood and steel and brass.

If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.

Some people have a hard time getting rid of stuff. If that’s you, pray for God to give you the courage to get rid of things you don’t really need or things He wants you to give away. This will help keep your surroundings organized and clutter-free.

In one way, I suppose, I have been ‚in denial‘ for some time, knowingly burning the candle at both ends and finding that it often gives a lovely light.

Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o’clock is a scoundrel.

There is no waste of time in life like that of making explanations.

Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.

I don’t do meetings.

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools.

The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.

I think songwriting is the ultimate form of being able to make anything that happens in your life productive.

Action expresses priorities.

No one has a right to consume happiness without producing it.

It is very difficult to get people to focus on the most important things when you’re in boom times.

He does not seem to me to be a free man who does not sometimes do nothing.

If you’re going to wake up early all the time, and you’re working hard, and you’re working out, sometimes you’re going to get tired. It’s OK. It’s acceptable – somewhat. We’re all human, unfortunately.

Leisure is the time for doing something useful. This leisure the diligent person will obtain the lazy one never.

People are so caught in a routine, doing the same things over and over.

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.

Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?

Good order is the foundation of all things.

This is Sunday, and the question arises, what’ll I start tomorrow?

People work better when they know what the goal is and why. It is important that people look forward to coming to work in the morning and enjoy working.

There are people who are really good managers, people who can manage a big organization, and then there are people who are very analytic or focused on strategy. Those two types don’t usually tend to be in the same person. I would put myself much more in the latter camp.

Delay is preferable to error.