focus

#1 Are you proud of the choices you are making at home? #2 Are you proud of the choices you are making at work? Connie Podesta (via Two Questions You Should Ask Yourself Every Morning )

Eliminate an old activity before you add a new one. Greg McKeown (in The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Harvard Business Review ) This simple rule ensures that you don’t add an activity that is less valuable than something you are already doing.

Instead of asking, “How much do I value this item?” we should ask “If I did not own this item, how much would I pay to obtain it?” Greg McKeown (in The Disciplined Pursuit of Less – Harvard Business Review ) … and the same goes for career opportunities, business projects, etc.

Never say “no,” but rarely say “yes.” So the principle is easy: Set the conditions of “yes” such that: If they say “yes,” you’re happy because the terms or money are so good, it more than compensates for the distraction, possibly even funding the thing you really want to do. If they say “no,” you’re happy because it wasn’t a great fit anyway, so it’s not worthwhile for a small return on your time and effort....

A startup can focus on only one metric. So you have to decide what that is and ignore everything else. Noah Kagan, in The full story of “the one important thing” for startups At a little company there’s no time for small changes achieving small goals. — Jason Cohen

Your time is $1000/hour, and you need to act accordingly. Jason Cohen , founder of WP Engine in How should a startup founder value her time?

(…) flow is completely focused motivation. Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the moment, present, in the zone, wired in, in the groove, or keeping your head in the game . Flow theory postulates three conditions that have to be met to achieve a flow state: One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. (…) The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback....