Quotes from Jason Fried

The solution: Break the big thing into smaller things. The smaller it is, the easier it is to estimate. You're probably still going to get it wrong, but you'll be a lot less wrong than if you estimated a big project. If something takes twice as long as you expected, better to have it be a small project that's a couple weeks over rather than a long one that's a couple months over. Keep breaking your time frames down into

What distinguishes people who are ten times more effective than the norm is not that they work ten times as hard; it's that they use their creativity to come up with solutions that require one-tenth of the effort.

There's a beauty to imperfection. This is the essence of the Japanese principle of wabi-sabi. Wabi-sabi values character and uniqueness over a shiny facade. It teaches that cracks and scratches in things should be embraced. It's also about simplicity. You strip things down and then use what you have.

With a small team, you need people who are going to do work, not delegate work. Everyone's got to be producing. No one can be above the work.

The new luxury is to shed the shackles of deferred living—to pursue your passions now, while you're still working.

Most people suffering from a lack of motivation will blame themselves first. "Ah, it's because I'm such a procrastinator!" "Why can't I just get myself together?" The truth, more often than not, is that you are not the problem; it's the world you're working in.

When you spend time with potential customers, you get to hear about their struggles firsthand. You see their eyes light up with excitement or darken with confusion. You learn things you would never find in a survey, database, or questionnaire. You learn why people buy.

If you ask people where they go when they really need to get work done, very few will respond 'the office.' If they do say the office, they'll include a qualifier such as 'super-early in the morning before anyone gets in,' or 'I stay late at night after everyone's left,' or 'I sneak in on the weekend.'

Your company is a product. Who are its customers? Your employees, who use it to do their jobs.

It feels good to be productive.

Very, very few people actually have long stretches of uninterrupted time at an office.

We like to bully deadlines. Pick on them; make fun of them; even spit on them sometimes. But what a terrible thing to do. Deadlines are actually our best friends.