Quotes about Productivity

Psalm 127 shows a way to work that is neither sheer activity nor pure passivity. It doesn't glorify work as such, and it doesn't condemn work as such. It doesn't say, "God has a great work for you to do; go and do it." Nor does it say, "God has done everything; go fishing." If we want simple solutions in regard to work, we can become workaholics or dropouts. If we want to experience the fullness of work, we will do better to study Psalm 127.

I'm kind of impatient. I like to see things realized and not just work on a project for three years and wait, wait, wait. I try to keep myself busy.

The vision is really about empowering workers giving them all the information about what's going on so they can do a lot more than they've done in the past.

Never be entirely idle; but either be reading, or writing, or praying or meditating or endeavoring something for the public good.

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?

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

It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there.

To make knowledge productive, we will have to learn to see both forest and tree. We will have to learn to connect.

You can cut down a tree with a hammer, but it takes about 30 days. If you trade the hammer for an ax, you can cut it down in about 30 minutes. The difference between 30 days and 30 minutes is skills.

Take the sum of human achievement in action, in science, in art, in literature—subtract the work of the men above forty, and while we should miss great treasures, even priceless treasures, we would practically be where we are today…. The effective, moving, vitalizing work of the world is done between the ages of twenty-five and forty.

Just because you are idle, don't assume God is.

Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. "I write only when inspiration strikes," he replied. "Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp. That's a pro.