Stephen Dobyns Quotes

I don't have time for any nonsense.

I have to always make sure I don't stay in one place and spend too much time one subject. I have my wife tell me [through an earpiece], "Come back! You're taking too long on that subject." I need to be reeled in.

If people would reflect that one can only do one thing at a time and therefore there is never more than one thing to do at a time, there would be less fatigue in the world.

I have a great drive to make things and sometimes I forget to slow down a little.

You can't work on 15 problems at the same time.

Even though we think we're getting a lot done, ironically, multitasking makes us demonstrably less efficient.

I think that we get so distracted with our smartphones... It takes your body and your brain time to switch between tasks. If we can focus on what we're doing, we'll be more productive at that task.

One can either work or meet. One cannot do both at the same time.

I can multitask very well. But I know exactly when to block off anything coming in from the outside and just stay focused on the film.

Slowing down doesn't mean accomplishing less; it means cutting out counterproductive distractions and the perception of being rushed.

Devoting a little of yourself to everything means committing a great deal of yourself to nothing.

He that pursues two hares at once, does not catch one and lets the other go.

It's incredibly easy to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover it's leaning against the wrong wall. It is possible to be busy - very busy - without being very effective.

Don't confuse activity with productivity. Many people are simply busy being busy.

Do each day all that can be done that day. You don't need to overwork or to rush blindly into your work trying to do the greatest possible number of things in the shortest possible time. Don't try to do tomorrow's or next week's work today. It's not the number of things you do, but the quality, the efficiency of each separate action that count. To achieve this "habit of success," you need only to focus on the most important tasks and succeed in each small task of each day.

Person who chases two rabbits catches neither.

Being in a hurry. Getting to the next thing without fully entering the thing in front of me. I cannot think of a single advantage I've ever gained from being in a hurry. But a thousand broken and missed things, tens of thousands, lie in the wake of all the rushing.... Through all that haste I thought I was making up time. It turns out I was throwing it away.

While the work or play is on, it is a lot of fun if while you are doing one you don't constantly feel that you ought to be doing the other.

Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog.

I'm not a very organized person for being uber work-obsessed. I struggle to keep it all organized because everything can become important and, when you have so many spinning plates, they sometimes can cancel each other out because you lose track of everything.

Take more time, cover less ground.

I can do only one thing at a time, but I can avoid doing many things simultaneously.

I think my biggest career mistake has been taking on too much. And I think this is kind of - I think it's related to the Internet world, where you're always multitasking and you have a million windows open and you feel like you can do a lot at the same time.

He who attempts to do all will waste his life in doing little.

I try to compartmentalize as much as possible, and I have the most amazing team in the world. They really set up my time in a way that is completely efficient all the time.