Isaac Asimov Quotes

Efficiency, which is doing things right, is irrelevant until you work on the right things.

You must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the secondary consequences.

Working hard and working smart sometimes can be two different things.

Actually I like working kind of fast, because if you got it, why bother doing it over and over?

It's not about working harder; it's about working the system.

Support what works and stop supporting what does not work.

We need to execute fewer things better.

What I'm trying to do is maximize every day.

Do not believe that it is very much of an advance to do the unnecessary three times as fast.

I try to be as efficient as possible because in my process, I think that actually helps the work. I like having the pressure of time and money and really trying to stick to the parameters we've been given.

Everything keeps its best nature only by being put to its best use.

Busy is good, isn't it? Busy means we're hard at it, achieving our ends or "goals." Haven't had time to stop, or look around or think. That's considered the sign of a life well lived ... Suppose, though, you're not sure that what you're doing is at all worthwhile. Suppose you blundered into it over a spoonful of lime pickle. It's easy, it pays quite well. But really it's a distraction. It stops you thinking about what you ought to be doing.

Thinking is the highest form of leverage.

I want to be efficient and effective in everything I do.

Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things.

One way to think about running a successful business is to figure out what the least you can do is, and do that.

I'm a strategist, not a motivator. I'm obsessed with finding strategies that create real results in the shortest period of time.

I can't justify taking one minute of free time for myself. I'm restless to do things. Anything! Hell, I'll watch Top Chef and I think, "God, maybe I could be a chef," I'll watch a dancing show and think, "God, maybe I can be a dancer." I mean, that's how I got into acting. I visited an improv show and thought, "Hey! I could do this." It sounds like arrogance, but I don't think it is... just an ambition to reach out and touch something new.

Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.

The important thing is the 80/20 rule: 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This means that if you're doing ten tasks, two are going to be vastly more important than others.

Man's mind is his basic tool of survival. Life is given to him, survival is not. His body is given to him, its sustenance is not. His mind is given to him, its content is not. To remain alive, he must act, and before he can act he must know the nature and purpose of his action. He cannot obtain his food without a knowledge of food and of the way to obtain it. He cannot dig a ditch-or build a cyclotron-without a knowledge of his aim and of the means to achieve it. To remain alive, he must think

The pressure to perform is relentless in today's workplace - regardless of where you work. We are all being asked to do more with less. I think what we could borrow from the culture of Silicon Valley is "eat your own dog food ." That is an expression used by tech types to mean using what you make or sell.

We value the clock for its speed and efficiency. The clock has its place, efficiency has its place, after effectiveness. The symbol of effectiveness is the compass a sense of direction, purpose, vision, perspective, and balance. But the empowerment process itself is not efficient.

You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things.