Robert Pozen Quotes

But make not more business necessary than is so; and rather lessen than augment work for thyself.

I'm a big believer in minimalism. Not materialist minimalism, although that's part of it, but time and energy minimalism. The body is given only so much energy a day.

Habit is a good thing for the human race. ... You have to spend so much energy just getting through the day when you have no habits that you don't have any left for productive labor.

Habit: The great economizer of energy.

We only have so much energy for our work, for our relationships, for ourselves. A smart person understands this and guards it carefully. Meanwhile, idiots focus on marginal productivity hacks and gains while they leak out energy each passing day.

You have to ruthlessly prioritize.

The first fifteen minutes of your day should be spent planning your day. Set specific goals as to what you will accomplish. These clear goals will give you focal points on which you can govern your actions and provide your with a template you can live your day from.

I find that if I use my time well and take care of my mind/body when I'm outside of work, then I feel more supported throughout my day. So, instead of waking up and going straight for my cell phone or running to the gym, I take a few deep breaths, envision what I'd like to achieve that day, then rid my mind of anything that isn't going to help me get there.

The greatest mystery about a human being is not his reaction to sex or praise, but the manner in which he contrives to put in twenty-four hours a day. It is this which puzzles the longshoreman about the clerk, the Londoner about the bushman.

Delegate - work smarter not harder; do what you do best and drop the rest; get control of your calendar; do what you love because it will give you energy; work with people you like so your energy isn't depleted.

As the day goes on you get more and more tired. Even if people say they're afternoon people or evening people, it's always best to start out first thing in the morning with your most important task as opposed to your email, phone calls, or checking the internet. If you start out with that then basically you'll just do that all day long.

If you were to fault yourself in one of three areas, which would it be: (1) the inability to prioritize; (2) the inability or desire to organize around those priorities; or (3) the lack of discipline to execute around them? ... Most people say their main fault is a lack of discipline. On deeper thought, I believe that is not the case. The basic problem is that their priorities have not become deeply planted in their hearts and minds. They haven't really internalized Habit 2 [Begin with the end in mind].

Establish a closing ritual. Know when to stop working. Try to end each work day the same way, too. Straighten up your desk. Back up your computer. Make a list of what you need to do tomorrow.

I tend to be pretty efficient with my time. I work on a novel for four to five hours a day, and then the rest of my day is spent doing other things, whether it's spending time with my family, or going through and making notes on the script, or working on the marketing. It's just a matter of scheduling.

Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,Four spend in prayer, the rest on Nature fix.

The whole thing is, do as much as you can, when you possibly can, and don't stress.

My day is pretty much busy. I do 15 million things in the course of a day. I'm holding up I think. I don't know how I look, but I think I'm holding up.

I'm learning real skills that I can apply throughout the rest of my life...procrastinating and rationalizing.

Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise.

Energy apparently increases with the amount of work to be done. When nothing of burning urgency is waiting, it decreases much sooner. Heaven seems to understand such economy.

Each morning sees some task begin, each evening sees it close.

If you get up by 6am, exercise, plan your day, and start on your biggest task, then your whole day is different. If you do this regularly it becomes a habit.

I find that if I use my time well and take care of my mind/body when I'm outside of work, then I feel more supported throughout my day.

There were times in my life when I had one thing to do all day, but I still couldn’t get to it. “I gotta go to the post office, but I’d probably have to put on pants. And they’re only open till five. Looks like I’m going to have to do that next week.

It’s not about how much you sleep. It’s what you do while you’re awake.