Saved by Luc Cheung and
The Focus to Say No
Anyone can say no to bad ideas, but only a focused person can say no to good ideas. Focus is about saying no.
When talking about one of the biggest lessons he learned from Steve Jobs, Jonny Ive said it was focus.
When talking about one of the biggest lessons he learned from Steve Jobs, Jonny Ive said it was focus.
This sounds really simplistic, but it still shocks me how few people actually practice this, and it’s a struggle to practice, but is this... See more
Farnam Street • Focus to Win
Saying no doesn't mean you'll never do anything interesting or innovative or spontaneous. It just means that you say yes in a focused way. Once you have knocked out the distractions, it can make sense to say yes to any opportunity that could potentially move you in the right direction. You may have to try many things to discover what works and what... See more
James Clear • The Ultimate Productivity Hack is Saying No
Anyone can say no to bad ideas, but only a focused person can say no to good ideas.
Farnam Street • Focus to Win
Jobs would often test people, asking them, “how many things have you said no to?” Ive was up to the task of answering, only he didn’t mean it, and Jobs read right through him.
I would have these sacrificial things, because I wanted to be very honest about it. And so I’d say, “Well, I said no to this and no to that.” But he knew that I wasn’t vaguel... See more
Farnam Street • Focus to Win
“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.”
Al Pittampalli • Persuadable: How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World
One of the things Steve [Jobs] would say [to me] because he was worried I wasn’t focused — he would say, “How many things have you said no to?” I would tell him I said no to this. And I said no to that. But he knew I wasn’t interested in doing those things. There was no sacrifice in saying no [to those things]. What focus means is saying no to some... See more