From our newsletter Outside the Lines

Don’t take my word for it

Smart people thinking aloud about focus and planning.

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.”
- Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
- Dwight D. Eisenhower, American general & politician

“Focusing isn’t just an optical activity, it is also a mental one.”
- Bridget Riley, British artist

“I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. That’s were the fun is.”
- Donald Trump, American entrepreneur

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
- Mark Twain, American writer

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”
- Gloria Steinem, American feminist

“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
- Alan Lakein, American business writer

“Adventure is just bad planning.”
- Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer