Atul Gawande Quotes

Be brief, be pointed, let your matter standLucid in order, solid and at hand;Spend not your words on trifles but condense;Strike with the mass of thought, not drops of sense;Press to close with vigor, once begun,And leave, (how hard the task!) leave off, when done.

Better to do a little well, then a great deal badly.

Simple, yet effective!

He that pursues two hares at once, does not catch one and lets the other go.

The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done.

It is possible to be busy-very busy-without being very effective.

You can do anything you want, as long as it works.

Why should a blacksmith put his hands in the fire if he has tongs?

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

Nothing easier than to confuse busyness with goodness.

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.

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.

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything.

You think effectiveness with people and efficiency with things.

Dispatch is the soul of business.

There are more useful systems developed in languages deemed awful than in languages praised for being beautiful - many more.

Conciseness is underrated

Don't confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.

If there is any one secret of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.

Being busy does not always mean real work.

Things that are complex are not useful, Things that are useful are simple.

Speak little, do much.

Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.

No matter how smart you are, you're smarter if you take the easy ways when they are available.

What is done well is done quickly enough.