James Surowiecki Quotes

What is urgent will always take precedence over what is important.

Do it, delegate it, delay it, or dump it.

Do not put off today's work until tomorrow, lest work accumulate and you achieve nothing.

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

Any time we have projects that we haven't begun or completed, they drain energy.

Because, as we all know, it’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent, like thinking. And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.

I procrastinate, and I push writing to the last available moment, because I don't like to settle on anything. I guess you can call it indecision or you can call it holding out for inspiration.

Otherwise, my whole career has just been flinging myself at whatever is most overdue first and letting everything else stack up.

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

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. Even if you don't get the list done, you've gotten the most important things done. So many people spend so much time on things that aren't important.

Do not put off today's work for tomorrow.

Don't fool yourself that important things can be put off till tomorrow; they can be put off forever, or not at all

When priorities are in place, one can more patiently tolerate unfinished business.

Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow if tomorrow might improve the odds.

I like to organize. I have an opinion. I like to get stuff done.

I guess I would say, it's okay to put things off until the very last minute as long as you know you've got them under control.

Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.

The real key is time management and being able to focus on what you need to, on using every available minute to accomplish something that needs to be done.

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.

People have to decide on priorities if they want to get anywhere. The best lessons I learned was to just do it.

Eat that frog! If you have to eat 3 frogs, eat the biggest and uggliest one first.

You must distinguish between what is urgent and what is important. You could accomplish all of the urgent things that you desire without accomplishing anything that is important.

But I still feel I waste a lot of time leaning on my elbow and thinking to myself, 'alright sucker, now what?'

Person who chases two rabbits catches neither.

The easiest thing to do in the world is to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.