Selective Decision Making Quotes

I was told, 'Your career's made by what you don't do,' and that always stuck with me. I drive my agent mad!

I answer the questions I want, and I don't the ones I don't.

At the beginning of my career, fresh out of college, I did everything that I could do. And now I'm a little bit more selective. I think that's sort of a natural process.

I only want to do good projects. I want to make good decisions. If it's just a dumb movie, then no, I'd rather stay in school. But if it's a movie worth telling and that I think I would really benefit from, then I would like to do it. And that's one of the reasons I still live in Colorado. I love being with my family and going to school, and then when I come out to L.A., that is the time to be in the movies. People ask me the questions, I do the promotion work, then I get to go back home and live my life.

I do a lot of TV stuff, but I also turn a lot down - it's got to be an adventure.

If we actually thought about every decision we made, we'd be paralyzed ... You have to decide which decisions you're actually going to make, and then you have to let the rest of them go.

I was so lucky because I started working very young. And my father was very wealthy and I didn't need to work. I did my films. I was very well paid for my age, and I could make choices, decide not to do a film for six months and wait until I'd get the right thing. Which made me quite a coward, you know. It's so easy to say no to stuff, and then, after a while, it's very hard to go back in.

Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.

I do get offered a lot more roles than I choose to do. I'm very busy as a producer and a writer, especially with my Internet stuff, and I tend to only accept the roles that I know will have an impact and has a fanbase.

I'm as proud of many of the things we haven't done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things.

I've spent years saying no to things. It's important to be selective with both projects and partners.

You know, I spend most of my life turning things down. There's a lot of crap out there.

I'm picking and choosing what I want to do.

Right around 2004 when 'Ray' came out, I made a conscious decision to be more discerning because I thought to myself, 'After something like this, I really have to try to be strong enough to turn stuff down.'

I do my best to choose carefully. If I don’t feel that collaboration is going to happen, I say no. Think about it. These projects can involve a five-to-seven-year partnership. If you don’t feel comfortable with someone, you can’t get rid of them. I just walked away from a job for that reason. Every one of these projects is an emotional investment, like falling in love. You’ve got to believe in it and you’ve got to like the people you work with.

I was very well paid for my age, and I could make choices, decide not to do a film for six months and wait until I'd get the right thing. Which made me quite a coward.