The secret to focus

Photo by Zachary Keimig on Unsplash

Steve Jobs explains the secret to focus

“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. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”

Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice (Steve Jobs)

Recently, I've had some experiences where I've had occasion to replay some scenes from my recent past in my head.

I Googled 'public recognition versus inner satisfaction quotes' and that Steve Jobs one came up first.

Seems I needed a wise quote to restore some balance and boy, oh boy - does Steve Jobs sum it up well!

Only way to feel the noise is when it's good and loud (Motorhead)

Schools went back to work in the UK this week. Hopefully that means it will be a little less frenetic on the nation's high streets for the rest of our London holiday (which helps explain why this post is a tad late this week).

That said - here are five more cool things from my bookmarks:

1 Your next book

This place suggests your next book for you. For instance My Murakami search revealed Rhys Thomas and Graeme Simsion.

2 Transformers
Richard Wells watched a pile of TED talks and came up with this nifty list of five things that transform a school.

3 New Year mayhem
This is a good example of how people see things differently. And people are blimmin clever when they do! Another great story from The Guardian.

4 Sir Ken Robinson
Creativity is an important word/concept that Sir ken returns to often.  

5 Presentation lessons from Steve Jobs
Finally this week - some nifty lessons to learn from Apple presentations.

You're the apple of my eye (Badfinger)

It seems that there is an awful lot of Steve Jobs product out there at the moment. I'm talking about books and articles on him rather than the ubiquitous ipad, iphone, ipod, Pixar, iMac presence in our world.

Bookshops are full of him. I can't help but notice the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson and there is also a book being advertised called I, Steve by Mr Jobs himself.

I bought the latest Rolling Stone magazine yesterday, with a cover story on Steve (I'm sure he won't mind me be overly familiar - he feels like everyone's favourite uncle).

I love the pose in each of these covers. We don't change much in fundamental ways and we can't run from our genes.

I started reading the article in the bookstore and got hooked. Mainly because his former girlfriend (who he had a daughter by that he claimed wasn't his until DNA proved otherwise) wrote such a loving piece about him.

Until the last paragraph that is. Later he became (according to her) 'a despotic jerk'; before then he had shared a romantic youth with her and others.

The accounts I've read of him seem to bear out her characterisation.

In shorthand - he was a romantic dreamer in his youth with abandonment issues (he was adopted by the Jobs' family), a seeker of enlightenment, a Dylanologist, a hard driving visionary boss who embraced capitalism, a despotic jerk, and finally a micromanaging Apple figurehead who came to terms with his life and loves after the cancer diagnosis.

Like any shorthand it's both wildly unfair while containing grains of truth.

Whatever and whoever he was as a man (and he's nothing if not fascinating) he was someone who changed the world.

I love this quote from him when challenged about starting up a for-profit company like Apple:

Remember in the sixties, when people were raising their fists and saying, "Power to the people"? Well, that's what I'm doing with Apple. By building affordable personal computers and putting one on every desk, in every hand, I'm giving people power. They don't have to go through the high priests of mainframe - they can access information themselves. They can steal fire from the mountain. And this is going to inspire far more change than any nonprofit.