Alan Lakein Quotes

When I come into the office, the first thing I do is I plan out what I want to accomplish that day. I write it down in my notebook and make sure I accomplish it before I leave that day.

Write down the most important things you have to do tomorrow.

One of the things Mr. Kennedy taught me was that in laying out a new project, you shouldn't try to cope with every little problem.

I try to list the top three things to get done every day, and I'll be lucky if I hit all three, but it's amazing what that does to keep you on track.

Each night before I go to bed, I take out a small card and write a list of the things I need to do the next day in order of their priority.

Getting all the things down game-management wise, that's what I want to excel at.

Planning defines the particular place you want to be and how you intend to get there. It's a responsibility rather than a technique.

I think ultimately it's just time management. You're just doing a lot more stuff. You're doing the same stuff, you're writing and you're producing, but it just comes with a lot of other things. A lot of long term thinking and plotting things out for the future, bringing elements together. I have a lot of support.

In the organization of any major sporting event or the planning of a building, long-term thinking is key.

The hard part of running a business is that there are a hundred things that you could be doing, and only five of those actually matter, and only one of them matters more than all of the rest of them combined. So figuring out there is a critical path thing to focus on and ignoring everything else is really important.

I've got lots and lots planned out, and other ideas knocking around in my head, too. I'm kind of an obsessive pre-planner, so I have a lot of material.

Also, I'm always learning better and better how to prioritize and how to leave certain things for the next day.

I suppose I learned organization from Altman.

Time management is really key for me.

In short, you can't let the deadline define the mission. The mission has to define the duration.

Don't worry if you don't complete everything on the schedule. At least you will have completed the most important projects before getting to the less important ones.

I don't think in terms of projects.

Part of executive functions is the ability to look to a goal deadline and assess where an organization is in meeting it.

The secret to multitasking is that it isn't actually multitasking. It's just extreme focus and organization.

It’s quite difficult to find the time for strategic thought.

If you expect to grow your business, you need to be plotting out your schedules days in advance. Until you get that most basic of steps orchestrated, you can never get to the critical steps that I outline in any one of dozens of books.

Honest to God, for me, I've never been a guy to stack projects. A lot of these other guys, they like to do this and then line up what they're doing next and line up what they're doing next. I just can't do it.

I always make lists of things I need to get done. I like the sense of having completed one thing so I can move on to the next.

I like to plan. I like to see the future.

I start every day reviewing priorities, prepping for meetings, and getting updated on key projects.