Photo by Babele Dunnit

The right words, said the right way, at the right time can change your life … or at least give you a new lens and vantage point.  I’m a fan of quotes, but one of the issues I’ve had is finding the right quotes when I need them.  Since I’m doing some productivity research, I decided to share my collection of personal productivity quotes.  It’s not complete  or exhaustive … by design.  Instead, it’s a "good enough for now" collection where I can quickly find some of the most relevant quotes.  I’ve framed the quotes to make them easy to traverse.  In the words of Bruce Less – "absorb what is useful."    If you have a set of favorite productivity quotes, I’d love to hear them.

Top 10 Productivity Quotes
Here’s my top ten favorite quotes:

• "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ –Bruce Lee
• “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker
• “Fall seven times, Stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
• “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
• “It’s not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know.”  – Tony Robbins
• “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” – Tony Robbins
• "Success breeds success."
• “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” – Tony Robbins
• "The perfect is the enemy of the good." – Voltaire
• “Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

Personal Productivity Frame
To organize the quotes, I created a frame.  The frame is simply a set of buckets or "hot spots":

• Action
• Approach
• Efficiency / Effectiveness
• Energy Management
• Failure
• Focus
• Goals
• Improvement
• Motivation and Mindset
• Planning
• Opportunity
• Self-Awareness
• Time Management

The hot spots helped me find the most relevant quotes and cluster them around meaningful areas.

Action

• “You always succeed in producing a result.” – Tony Robbins
• “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”  – Tony Robbins
• “You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” – Tony Robbins
• “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” – Tony Robbins
• “The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” – Tony Robbins
• “Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.”- Tony Robbins
• “It not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know.”  – Tony Robbins
• “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” – Tony Robbins
• “Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?” – Tony Robbins
• “If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. “ – Bruce Lee
• “An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Great acts are made up of small deeds. “ – Lao Tzu
• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “The best thinking has been done in solitude. The worst has been done in turmoil. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “The value of an idea lies in the using of it. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “There is no substitute for hard work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• "The perfect is the enemy of the good." – Voltaire
• “Life is bristling with thorns, and I know no other remedy than to cultivate one’s garden.” – Voltaire
• “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Never confuse motion with action. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Words may show a man’s wit but actions his meaning.” – Benjamin Franklin

Approach

• “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” – Tony Robbins
  “We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” – Peter Drucker
• "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own.“ – – Bruce Lee
• “All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” – Bruce Lee
• “Man, the living creature, the creating individual, is always more important than any established style or system. “ – Bruce Lee
• “Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind. “ – Bruce Lee
• “A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Lao Tzu
• “I have just three things to teach: simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures. “ – Lao Tzu
• “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present. “ – Lao Tzu
• “In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it. “ – Lao Tzu
• “It is better to do one’s own duty, however defective it may be, than to follow the duty of another, however well one may perform it. He who does his duty as his own nature reveals it, never sins. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. “ – Lao Tzu
• “One who is too insistent on his own views, finds few to agree with him. “ – Lao Tzu
• “The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world. “ – Lao Tzu
• “The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’ “ – Lao Tzu
• “Those who have knowledge, don’t predict. Those who predict, don’t have knowledge. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.”  – Lao Tzu
• “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.” – Thomas A. Edison
• “I start where the last man left off. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are: Hard work, Stick-to-itiveness, and Common sense.” – Thomas A. Edison

Efficiency / Effectiveness

• “Efficiency is doing better what is already being done.” – Peter Drucker
• “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker
• “The most efficient way to produce anything is to bring together under one management as many as possible of the activities needed to turn out the product.” – Peter Drucker
• “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. “ – Peter Drucker
• “It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential. “ – Bruce Lee
• “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be. “ – Bruce Lee
• “Anticipate the difficult by managing the easy. “ – Lao Tzu
• “It is astonishing what an effort it seems to be for many people to put their brains definitely and systematically to work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “There’s a way to do it better – find it.” – Thomas A. Edison
• “A place for everything, everything in its place. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “A small leak can sink a great ship. “ – Benjamin Franklin

Energy Management

• “The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” – Tony Robbins
• “Passion is the genesis of genius.” – Tony Robbins
• “The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.” – Tony Robbins
• “Live with passion!” – Tony Robbins
• “Energy and persistence conquer all things. “ – Benjamin Franklin

Failure

• “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” – Tony Robbins
• “Whatever happens, take responsibility.” – Tony Robbins
• “Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them. “ – Bruce Lee
• “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won’t work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “To have a great idea, have a lot of them. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead of it and make trial after trial until it comes. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly — that is the first law of nature.” – Voltaire
• “Do not fear mistakes. You will know failure. Continue to reach out. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Write injuries in dust, benefits in marble. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• "I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." – Bill Cosby
• "There is no failure except in no longer trying." – Elbert Hubbard
• "I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate." – George Burns
• "Indecision and delays are the parents of failure." – George Canning
• "Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." – Henry Ford
• “Fall seven times, Stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
• "You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space." – Johnny Cash
• "The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to take the place of those which fail." – Napoleon Hill
• "Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail." – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• "If you don’t accept failure as a possibility, you don’t set high goals, you don’t branch out, you don’t try — you don’t take the risk." – Rosalynn Carter
• "Many people dream of success. To me, success can only be achieved through repeated failure and introspection." – Soichiro Honda
• "If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate." – Thomas Watson, Sr
• "It’s not whether you get knocked down. It’s whether you get up again." – Vince Lombardi
• "Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

Focus

• “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” – Tony Robbins
• "One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular." – Tony Robbins
• “If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. “ – Lao Tzu

Goals

• “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.” – Tony Robbins
• “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins
  “Management by objective works – if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don’t. “ – Peter Drucker
• “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”  – Peter Drucker
• “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”  – Peter Drucker
• “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at. “ – Bruce Lee
• “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want. “ – Lao Tzu

Improvement

• “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten. “ – Tony Robbins
• “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” – Tony Robbins
• “We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not.” – Tony Robbins
• “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” – Tony Robbins
• “There’s always a way – if you’re committed.” – Tony Robbins
• “There’s no abiding success without commitment.” – Tony Robbins
• “How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?”  – Tony Robbins
• “I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk. “ – Tony Robbins
• “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results. “ – Tony Robbins
• “Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” – Tony Robbins
• “Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.” – Tony Robbins
• “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” – Peter Drucker
• “Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.” – Peter Drucker
• “A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.”  – Bruce Lee
• “Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one’s potential.” – Bruce Lee
• “If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee
• “When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you. “ – Lao Tzu
• “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. “ – Socrates
• “The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. “ – Socrates
• “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “It is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning. “ – Benjamin Franklin

Motivation and Mindset

• “You see, it’s never the environment; it’s never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events – how we interpret them – that shapes who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow.” – Tony Robbins
• “It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute… that gives meaning to our lives.”  – Tony Robbins
• “Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience of life.” – Tony Robbins
• “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” – Tony Robbins
• “We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it’s not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it’s how we interpret those events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in the future.” – Tony Robbins
• “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”  – Tony Robbins
• “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives. “ – Tony Robbins
• “In life you need either inspiration or desperation.” – Tony Robbins
• “It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.”  – Tony Robbins
• “My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel a ton of pleasure and very little pain – and because of your lifestyle, have the people around you feel a lot more pleasure than they do pain.” – Tony Robbins
• “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Tony Robbins
• “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” – Tony Robbins
• “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. “ – Peter Drucker
• “Accept the fact that we have to treat almost anybody as a volunteer. “ – Peter Drucker
• “All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. Non-being is the greatest joy.” – Lao Tzu
• “If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses. “ – Lao Tzu
• “To know yet to think that one does not know is best; Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty. “ – Lao Tzu
• “Discontent is the first necessity of progress. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “I find my greatest pleasure, and so my reward, in the work that precedes what the world calls success. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “What you are will show in what you do. “ – Thomas A. Edison
• “A life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things. There will be sleeping enough in the grave. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Gain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain: and it is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Many people die at twenty five and aren’t buried until they are seventy five. “ – Benjamin Franklin

Planning

• “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
• “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” – John Steinbeck
• "Failures don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan." – Harvey Mackay

Opportunity

1. “Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”  – Tony Robbins
2. “The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.” – Tony Robbins
3. “To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities. “ – Bruce Lee
4. “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. “ – Lao Tzu
5. “I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
6. “Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do doesn’t mean it’s useless. “ – Thomas A. Edison
7. “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. “ – Thomas A. Edison
8. “There is far more opportunity than there is ability. “ – Thomas A. Edison
9. “Diligence is the mother of good luck. “ – Benjamin Franklin
10. “To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions. “ – Benjamin Franklin
11. "Success breeds success."

Self-Awareness

• “To know oneself is to study oneself in action with another person.“ – Bruce Lee
• “He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty.“ – Lao Tzu
• “He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.“ – Lao Tzu
• “He who is contented is rich.”  – Lao Tzu
• “He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself has discernment.”  – Lao Tzu
• “He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” – Lao Tzu
• “He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.” – Lao Tzu
• “Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.“ – Lao Tzu
• “Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.“ – Lao Tzu
• “To realize that you do not understand is a virtue; Not to realize that you do not understand is a defect.” – Lao Tzu
• “Your worth consists in what you are and not in what you have.“ – Thomas A. Edison
• “He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature.”  – Socrates
• “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.“ – Socrates
• “The unexamined life is not worth living “ – Socrates
• “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.“ – Socrates
• “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.“ – Socrates
• “He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” – Benjamin Franklin
• “If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you like, serve yourself. “ – Benjamin Franklin

Time Management

• “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” – Tony Robbins
• “Time is the scarcest resource and unless it is managed nothing else can be managed.”  – Peter Drucker
• “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
• “Beware the barrenness of a busy life. “ – Socrates
• “Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Lost time is never found again. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “Take time for all things: great haste makes great waste. “ – Benjamin Franklin
• “You may delay, but time will not.”  – Benjamin Franklin