Steven Soderbergh Quotes

The best way to make a long story short is to stop listening.

If you don't have time, the truth is, you don't have priorities. Think harder; don't work harder.

You have to be able to do a bunch of things at once, and not think about things you're not doing while you're doing other things. You have to be disciplined about not trying to do everything, all at the same time. It's hard and fun.

I'm a better musician now, and I rarely practice because age has taught me the value of economy. And I think I'm a better writer now because I don't waste as much time, dilly-dallying and sassafrassin' and sloop and sloppin' and frying eggs. When you start writing, half the time you're just saying howdy to the page. My process now is a little more lean and muscular. I don't waste a lot of time. When I had kids, I learned how much time I had before, and how much time you actually need to do something. If you don't have time, you'll just do it and get it done.

Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog.

The essence of the best thinking in the area of time management (practice planning) can be captured in a single phrase: Organize and execute around priorities

Don't dissipate your powers; strive to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it will surely repent of every ill-judged outlay.

Much better to do fewer things and have time to make the most of them.

The secret of the truly successful ... is that they learned early in life how not to be busy.

The primary reason we do too much is that we have never taken the time to discover that portion of what we do that makes the biggest difference.

We all have many opportunities, but limited capacity to pursue them. Make choices, focus your time and energy, so that you can submit your share of masterpieces to the greater good.

You don't look at it as the size of the role. Quantity is not the point. You can be as thorough in 30 seconds as you can in three hours.

Be quick, but don't hurry.

Work on one thing at a time until finished.

Our days are like identical suitcases. Even though they are all the same size, some people are able to pack more into them then others. The reason? They know what to pack.

Do one thing at a time. Start the day with a list of things you have to do, and do the most important things first.

We think about time as something not to waste, not as something to invest.

You could be in the United Nations office all night every night and still feel like you were not making a sufficient dent in the world's problems. I think the key is prioritization. But every job presents the tyranny of the inbox, of allowing the urgent to crowd out the important. So we have to have our lodestars.

Sneaking up on it sometimes helps: I've found I can be very productive for an hour before dinner, because there obviously isn't enough time to really do anything, so I can tell myself I'm just screwing around.

We cannot do everything at once, but we can do a great deal if we choose our goals well and work diligently to attain them.

I can do only one thing at a time, but I can avoid doing many things simultaneously.

These people who are always briskly doing something and as busy as waltzing mice, they have little, sharp, staccato ideas, such as: "I see where I can make an annual cut of $3.47 in my meat budget." But they have no slow, big ideas.

Your greatest job is shedding what you don't have to do.

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.

I think when you take forever off the table, it does something really interesting to what you think is important.