In a world that often seems to move at the speed of light, productivity has become the holy grail of personal and professional success. Whether you’re an entrepreneur striving to grow your business, a student looking to ace exams, or simply someone seeking a better work-life balance, the quest for increased productivity is universal.
But how do you unlock the secrets to becoming more productive? One powerful way is through the wisdom and insights shared by those who have already walked the path of achievement. In this article, we’ve gathered 67 handpicked productivity quotes from a diverse range of thinkers, leaders, and visionaries. These quotes serve as both guiding principles and sources of inspiration, offering timeless advice on how to manage your time effectively, maintain focus, and channel your energy into achieving your goals.
Join us on this journey through the wisdom of productivity, where you’ll find gems of motivation, actionable strategies, and the encouragement to transform your aspirations into accomplishments. Let these quotes be your companions on the road to supercharging your success and mastering the art of time management.
1. Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort. – Paul J. Meyer, Author
2. The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule but to schedule your priorities. – Stephen Covey, Author
3. Don’t watch the clock; do what it does. Keep going. – Sam Levenson, Humorist
4. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. – Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple Inc.
5. The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat. – Richard Marcinko, U. S. Navy SEAL
6. The key to productivity is to rotate your avoidance techniques. – Tom Limoncelli, Author
7. Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm. – Winston S. Churchill, Former Prime Minister of the UK
8. The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity. – Tom Peters, Author
9. Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work. – Stephen King, Author
10. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing. – Walt Disney, Co-founder of The Walt Disney Company
11. Do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. – Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
12. The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
13. What gets measured gets managed. – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
14. You can’t make up for lost time. You can only do better in the future. – Ashley Ormon, Author
15. Procrastination is the thief of time. – Edward Young, Poet
16. It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less. – Nathan W. Morris, Author
17. Your work is your responsibility, not its result. – Bhagavad Gita, Ancient Hindu Scripture
18. The best way to get something done is to begin. – Author Unknown
19. The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. – Oscar Wilde, Writer and Poet
20. The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings. – Thomas Sowell, Economist
21. Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. – William Penn, Philosopher and Founder of Pennsylvania
22. Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essayist and Philosopher
23. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. – Chinese Proverb
24. Efficiency is doing better what is already being done. – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
25. Action is the foundational key to all success. – Pablo Picasso, Artist
26. The only thing standing between you and your goal is the story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it. – Jordan Belfort, Author
27. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. – Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Legend
28. The harder you work, the luckier you get. – Gary Player, Professional Golfer
29. If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. – Olin Miller, Humorist
30. To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing. – Eva Young, Author
31. Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer, Philosopher and Nobel Laureate
32. In a society that judges self-worth on productivity, it’s no wonder we fall prey to the misconception that the more we do, the more we’re worth. – Ellen Sue Stern, Author
33. The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus. – Bruce Lee, Martial Artist and Actor
34. Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before. – Franz Kafka, Novelist
35. If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done. – Bruce Lee, Martial Artist and Actor
36. Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest. – Leo Babauta, Author
37. Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. – Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher and Author
38. The best way to predict the future is to create it. – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
39. The only thing worse than starting something and failing is not starting something. – Seth Godin, Author
40. Work hard, stay focused, never give up, and never say ‘can’t. ‘ – George H. Meyer, Writer and Producer
41. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. – Peter Drucker, Management Consultant
42. To do two things at once is to do neither. – Publilius Syrus, Writer and Maxim Author
43. You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. – Henry Ford, Founder of Ford Motor Company
44. The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. – Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa
45. Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. – Steve Jobs, Co-founder of Apple Inc.
46. You don’t have to be a genius or a visionary or even a college graduate to be successful. You just need a framework and a dream. – Michael Dell, Founder of Dell Technologies
47. You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C. S. Lewis, Author
48. The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. – H. Jackson Brown Jr. , Author
49. Don’t count the days; make the days count. – Muhammad Ali, Boxing Legend
50. Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. – Benjamin Disraeli, Former UK Prime Minister
51. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. – Mark Twain, Author
52. You can’t let your failures define you. You have to let your failures teach you. – Barack Obama, Former President of the United States
53. It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer. – Albert Einstein, Physicist
54. Don’t be busy. Be productive. – Kimberly Joki, Author
55. The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best. – Epictetus, Greek Philosopher
56. The successful person makes a habit of doing what the failing person doesn’t like to do. – Thomas Edison, Inventor
57. You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it. – Charles Buxton, Philanthropist
58. It’s not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? – Henry David Thoreau, Philosopher and Author
59. Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better. – Jim Rohn, Entrepreneur
60. The secret to getting ahead is getting started. – Mark Twain, Author
61. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston S. Churchill, Former Prime Minister of the UK
62. Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. – Alan Cohen, Author
63. Success is not in what you have, but who you are. – Bo Bennett, Author
64. When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice. – William James, Philosopher
65. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power. – Lao Tzu, Philosopher
66. The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. – Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former President of the United States
67. The best way to predict your future is to create it. – Abraham Lincoln, Former President of the United States