“If you chase two rabbits, you catch none.” — Confucius
“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” — Steve Jobs
“In a world where information is abundant and easy to access, the real advantage is knowing where to focus.” — James Clear
“What focus means is saying ‘no’ to something that you believe with every bone in your body is a phenomenal idea. You wake up thinking about it, but you say ‘no’ to it because you’re focusing on something else.” — Jony Ive
“We are kept from our goals not by obstacles but by a clear path to lesser goals.” — Robert Brault
“Develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things, whether important tasks or true peak experiences.” — [@ferriss4hourWorkweekEscape2011]
“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.” — [@newportDeepWorkRules2016]
laser/hyper-focus requires ruthless prioritization
Focus is the art of knowing what to ignore.
A focused fool can accomplish more than a distracted genius.
You’d rather have one sharp knife than 1,000 dull ones.
Negative Capability
- The mental fortitude to be able to entertain multiple contradictory ideas in your head at the same time / to stay with one activity, despite so many other things feeling unresolved.
Since focus requires saying no, it also means what smart people and strong competitors are saying no to are usually great ideas/opportunities.
- If you’re trying to find your way in an organization, it’s worth thinking about the most focused people around you and asking them about the best idea they’re not working on.
- If you’re a company, it’s worth thinking about what your strongest competition is not doing.
- “When competing against the incumbent, better to focus on what they won’t do rather than what they can’t do.” — Naval Ravikant
See also: