The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility.

Options – the ability to choose – is real power. This book is all about how to see and create those options with the least effort and cost. It just so happens, paradoxically, that you can make more money – a lot more money – by doing half of what you are doing now.

You don’t need more recipes. You need to learn to cook without them.

Don’t dismiss people, don’t be a dick, and don’t rush. Play the long game.

Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals, and outside of your influence. 

You can fail at plenty as long as you get a few important things right.

If you want to have more, do more, and be more, it all begins with the voice that no one else hears.

Just because they say it can’t be done doesn’t make it so.

If you let pride stop you, you will hate life. 

If you believe you can change the world, which I hope you do, do what you believe is right and expect resistance and expect attackers.

The objective is to control your time – a non-renewable resource – and apply it where you have the highest leverage or enjoyment.

It’s lonely at the top. Ninety-nine percent of people in the world are convinced they are incapable of achieving great things, so they aim for the mediocre. The level of competition is thus fiercest for ‘realistic’ goals, paradoxically making them the most time and energy-consuming.

Give vulnerability a shot. Give discomfort its due. Because I think he or she who is willing to be the most uncomfortable is not only the bravest, but rises the fastest.

The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.

The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.

Stop wishing and start doing.

Being busy is a form of laziness – lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

Never, ever give up.

Age doesn’t matter: an open mind does.

Big things are coming.

The gems I’ve found were forged in the struggle.

Tomorrow becomes never, no matter how small the task, take the first step now.

If I want a better-than-average career, I can’t simply ‘go with the flow’ and get it. Most people do just that: they wish for an outcome but make no intention-driven actions toward that outcome. If they would just do something most people would find that they get some version of the outcome they’re looking for. That’s been my secret. Stop wishing and start doing.

Most “superheroes” are nothing of the sort. They’re weird, neurotic creatures who do big things despite lots of self-defeating habits and self-talk.

You develop confidence through action, and you have to have courage first.

Babe Ruth struck out all the time, but he’s not remembered for that. He’s remembered for what worked.

It doesn’t take much to seem superhuman and appear “successful” to nearly everyone around you. In fact, you just need one rule: What you do is more important than how you do everything else, and doing something well does not make it important.

Great creative work isn’t possible if you’re trying to piece together 30 minutes here and 45 minutes there.

People are poor judges of importance and inflate minutiae to fill time and feel important.

Poisonous people do not deserve your time. To think otherwise is masochistic.

Believe it or not, it is not only possible to accomplish more by doing less, it is mandatory. Enter the world of elimination.

The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.

I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.

If we’re talking about just distractions, we’re talking about prioritization. If you feel like you don’t have time, you don’t have priorities. Everyone has the same amount of time.

It is imperative that you learn to ignore or redirect all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable. Most are all three.

In a world of distraction and multitasking, the ability to single task — to genuinely do one thing without getting distracted by push notifications, alerts, email, text messages, social media, whatever it might be — is a super power.

Schedule things in advance, or you might be inclined to quit. A lot of standup comedians do this, because they may have six or 12 gigs before they do their first set well. Commit beforehand; prepay if you can.

It’s hip to focus on getting things done, but it’s only possible once we remove the constant static and distraction.

I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.

Blaming idiots for interruptions is like blaming clowns for scaring children – they can’t help it. It’s their nature. Then again, I had, on occasion, been known to create interruptions out of thin air. If you’re anything like me, that makes us both occasional idiots. Learn to recognize and fight the interruption impulse. This is infinitely easier when you have a set of rules, responses, and routines to follow.

What bullshit excuses do you have for not going after whatever it is that you want?

My agenda became a list of everyone else’s agendas.

No newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, or nonmusic radio. Musicis permitted at all times. No news websites whatsoever (cnn.com, drudgereport.com, msn.com,10 etc.). No television at all, except for one hour of pleasure viewing each evening. No reading books, except for this book and one hour of fiction11 pleasure reading prior to bed. No web surfing at the desk unless it is necessary to complete a work task for that day. Necessary means necessary, not nice to have.

The world doesn’t even hiccup, much less end, when you cut the information umbilical cord.

Create slack, as no one will give it to you. This is the only way to swim forward instead of treading water.

People don’t lose in various aspects of their lives because they pursue a lot of bad ideas. They lose because they say yes to too many ‘kinda cool’ things/ideas.

Doing less is not being lazy. Don’t give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.

Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

If I’m “busy,” it is because I’ve made choices that put me in that position, so I’ve forbidden myself to reply to “How are you?” with “Busy.” I have no right to complain. Instead, if I’m too busy, it’s a cue to reexamine my systems and rules.

I was once refused for a lunch date with a very famous tech investor and he said, ‘Sorry, I’m on a no-meeting diet for the next month and I have a policy of saying no to all meetings’. So I started using a ‘no conference call diet’ and people just rolled with it. It was incredible. There was no feedback, no push-back.