Donald Rumsfeld Quotes

The Things to do are: the things that need doing, that you see need to be done, and that no one else seems to see need to be done.

The hard part of running a business is that there are a hundred things that you could be doing, and only five of those actually matter, and only one of them matters more than all of the rest of them combined. So figuring out there is a critical path thing to focus on and ignoring everything else is really important.

As all entrepreneurs know, you live and die by your ability to prioritize. You must focus on the most important, mission-critical tasks each day and night, and then share, delegate, delay or skip the rest.

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.

Decisiveness is the best way to get things done.

I used to spend my time more on process than strategy. Now, I prioritize my time around strategy, people, and process.

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

Your ability to select your most important task at each moment, and then to get started on that task and to get it done both quickly and well, will probably have more of an impact on your success than any other quality or skill you can develop.

As in all things, it is terribly important to have a sense of priorities in what you do. And to make certain that priorities do not clash.

We accomplish all that we do through delegation - either to time or to other people.

I am fortunate to have a very helpful team that enables me to spend time doing things that are important but not necessarily urgent. People who have no such team need to also make these larger decisions so that they can cheerfully say No to that which is urgent but not important.

You can get control of your tasks and activities only to the degree that you stop doing some things and start spending more time on the few activities that can really make a difference in your life.

When you make a to-do list, you should also make a to-not-do list. Warren Buffet was asked about the secret to success, and he said that it was saying no to almost everything. Some of those little tasks won't matter as long as you get the big tasks done.

You don't need more time in your day. You need to decide.

I find that many entrepreneurs are trying to do everything when it would be cheaper and more time-efficient to delegate, even if there are monetary costs associated with that.

In the discharge of the duties of this office, there is one rule of action more important than all others. It consists in never doing anything that someone else can do for you.

I try to compartmentalize as much as possible, and I have the most amazing team in the world. They really set up my time in a way that is completely efficient all the time.

Delegating doesn't mean passing off work you don't enjoy, but letting your employees stretch their skills and judgment.

I learned that we can do anything, but we can't do everything... at least not at the same time. So think of your priorities not in terms of what activities you do, but when you do them. Timing is everything.

The great irony of management is that the higher up you go, the less actual control you have. When you are but a humble coder, you make the computer do exactly what you want; when you're a manager, you only hope that people understand what you want, and then trust/pray that they do it both correctly and in a timely manner.

Executive ability is deciding quickly and getting somebody else to do the work.

If you want someone else to do a task, don't do it yourself.

To be an effective leader, you have to have a manipulative streak - you have to figure out the people working for you and give each tasks that will take advantage of his strength.

I'm not quite that difficult, even though maybe I'm a little bit bossy. But you know, in order to get things done, you do have to be a little bit bossy sometimes or tell people what you really want. Otherwise, things just don't get done, do they?

I either delegate something, I dump it, or I deal with it.