Jeanette Winterson Quotes

I just think there are enough hours in the day. If you just focus and dedicate yourself and approach each task as it presents itself, you can accomplish a lot.

I'm at my desk before nine, and I go all day. I'm not necessarily productive all day, but really, who is?

If there's a deadline, I work late. If not, I like to have normal hours, and get up early and work. When things are going well, I hate to quit. And then I'll work 'till exhausted.

I can do a book in three months if I spend all day, seven days a week at it and, in fact, I work better that way.

Here in Seattle, I'm the most productive I've ever been. I don't allow myself personal distractions. I'm extremely disciplined here.

I like to work for four or five hours a day. I aim for seven days a week.

I take breaks now and then. But when I work, I get things done at a fast pace.

Every day I'm not working or writing is a wasted day to me.

In college, my idea of a productive day was to start writing at 7 A.M. and not leave my chair until dinnertime.

If you give yourself to your task at once, you won't have to do it twice.

I can handle a lot of work. I've always been able to. I'm a very focused individual. I come to my studio at about 7:30 in the morning and exit almost 5:00 P.M. In that time, those eight or nine hours, it's kind of laser focus on whatever I'm working on. There aren't really any distractions or anything.

A lot of people thought I wasn't doing anything because I was spending a lot of time socialising and going out, but I've always managed to get work actually done.

I knew I could control one thing, and that is my time and my hours and my effort and my efficiency.

On a regular basis if you're trying to produce something, I think you should work every day and set achievable goals.

Once you get into the habit of work, you can be more productive in the things you want to do.

When I was bringing up a child, I taught myself to write in very short, concentrated bursts. If I had a weekend, or a week, I'd do unbelievable amounts of work.

There'll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time, unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.

I've always had, when I needed it, an extreme amount of focus that I could put into something. That has served me well.

I have certain rules that I've established for myself that took a while post-day job to figure out. Everyone says people who freelance or are writers struggle with the structure of it. I'm not allowed to check email before a certain hour. I'm not allowed to run errands during the day. I have to write a certain amount every day.

The added work load of a degree has made me focus a lot more when I am in work.

I just get things done instead of talking about getting them done. I don't go out and party. I don't smoke, drink or do drugs and I'm not married, that leaves a lot of time for my work.

If I waited to be inspired to go to the gym, I'd never get there. I schedule my exercise time; I schedule my work time. This is especially important if you have a day job as I did while writing my first seven novels.

I'm not a particularly disciplined person in terms of my work habits.

I want to concentrate on work and won't do anything to divert my concentration.

I don't think I would deliver the best work if I would do several projects at the same time. So it's one at a time, but I work a lot. I work nonstop actually, but that's what I like.