6 ms·

We Can Achieve Anything If We Stop Trying To Do Everything

180 points by sus_007 9y ago

rsto 9y ago
> it’s much more effective to focus your effort on one thing. This is the gist I got from this post, and while I agree with the statement I think it is too simplistic. I am one of those persons that "have a long list of goals, desires, and wants for your life" as teased in the article. I think it's clear that focus helps to achieve an item on that list. It's the issue of deciding what to focus on, when multiple items are competing for the 24 hours we have per day. Most life-advice, as the article, starts off with stating the conflict and immediately jumps to the conclusion. The hard part is in the middle. Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. That's probably different for short-term project that the article uses as examples, but these typically aren't the items I'm conflicted about.
- hvidgaard 9y ago
  That is the hard part I suppose. Figure out what matters to you, and prioritize accordingly. As many books describe, you must figure out what story you want people to tell about you after you're dead. That is your ethos. Then you make a list of what you'd like to do, and then prioritize according to your ethos. Do you want to be a 2 digit millionaire, then you have to work towards that. Do you want to be a pillar for the community, then that guides you. Want to be a fantastic parent ect.
- johnke 9y ago
  > Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. Sheryl Sandberg recently gave a talk to Inc. where she used the term 'ruthless prioritisation' to describe her decision-making process. It basically comes down to finding the best thing you can do and making a lot of tough choices. Now, she was discussing this concept from a business point of view, but speaking as someone who works from home, minds children, and runs a house, it also resonated with me. I have a long list of things to do on any given day, and only a certain number of hours in which to do them. Most days, I end up feeling guilty about not getting something done; it feels like I'm failing in one of my areas of responsibility. Or, worse, as you say, I try to get everything done concurrently and either fail or risk burnout. The main thing that ruthless prioritisation does is give me the space to forgive myself for the things I couldn't do. I know that I calculated the best thing I could do on a given day and I worked on that. It makes postponing things a lot easier to handle.
  - snarf21 9y ago
    Reminds me of John Doerr's advice on how to be successful: "Be ruthlessly intellectually honest about the biggest threat to your business and marshall all available resources to solve that." Rinse and repeat. The key is not just to do just one thing. You need focus and vision, then you'll get to your most successful as soon as possible.
- afarrell 9y ago
  > If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. What does it mean to say that you "can't live with" that thought? If in fact having that thought would cause your death, then I recommend avoiding death. However, if you are saying that figuratively, consider the possibility that you might be taking a less effective action simply due to your discomfort with the reality that we have limited time on this earth. Consider the possibility that you might be better off tolerating that discomfort and narrowing your focus to a few things rather than a dozen. (Or maybe you're just designing a well-balanced week that is made up of tango lessons, a side-project, and your job. I dunno. You're an autonomous agent.)
- sharemywin 9y ago
  I think another important point is can you even accomplish your goal in the first place? if not break it into smaller goals or find another one.
scandox 9y ago
There seems to be an assumption here (which I've seen in many other places) that ordinary people are somehow missing this trick, are failing to grasp this. I think everybody knows this - more or less explicitly perhaps. The fact is we might talk about becoming rich, but most of us don't really want to - not in a real way. Not to become worth "millions" in our sixties like this guy's mentor. People want to live rich, varied, exciting lives: Now. Sure, getting rich or being rich would help...but if it means living in a way that is controlled, patient and strategic for 30 years...well then no they don't really want that.
- svantana 9y ago
  Not only that, but saying "rich" is usually shorthand for famous and/or having high social status. The money itself seems to me the least interesting aspect of "making it". Especially in the startup world, what most of us dream of (in my experience), is recognition from our peers, attention, etc, not zeros on a bank statement.
  - __s 9y ago
    When I say "rich" I mean it in shorthand of "enough money to not have to interact with the world socially to make money" Of course it's a meme that doesn't spread itself, kind of hypocritcal to be posting on a social platform
  - g00gler 9y ago
    Quoting Talib Kweli, "Give me the fortune, keep the fame". Though I agree with your sentiment as it applies in broad strokes I'd like to sell some software, make ~$10M, and be a recluse. I don't even need the $10M, though, I'd be happy to not have to wake up at 7 o'clock, rush to the train, then sit at a desk all day.
    - greeble 9y ago
      Debbie Harry sang this in 1989: "I'll keep the money, you can have the fame" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_That_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_That_Man
GarvielLoken 9y ago
I agree that it is a good mindset. But i think the advice to spend a little time each day on something consistently is more important. That allows you to improve several things concurrently.
firefoxd 9y ago
It's fun to touch at every thing especially in a start up. This summer I was on the phone, at the clients office, documenting everything with a videographer, mentoring the interns, making youtube videos, building the website, building the app, meeting with investors... Mid August came and I looked back, everything was only partially done. Not only I was exhausted of everything, I wasn't having fun anymore. I have decided to put everything aside and focus on the one thing i know how to do well. I am only programming, and in two weeks i have done more then I did all summer long.
patkai 9y ago
I appreciate the post, and it would do good for most of us to understand how compounding works in so many things in our lives, also in relationships etc. But it isn't one thing vs. everything, there is also a balanced middle ground. A generalist might be interested in several things, and not care if as a specialist she could be "more successful", usually measured by an oversimplified metric, e.g. number of dollars or books sold. But this is a very good topic.
amelius 9y ago
I'd add to that: if you always aim too high, take on too difficult tasks, then you'll end up nowhere (but you might learn a lot).
- tomhoward 9y ago
  Or: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” [1] I'm not strongly for/against either position: both can be true in different contexts. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4324-shoot-for-the-moon-even-if-you-miss-you-ll-land https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4324-shoot-for-the-moon-eve...
  - sage76 9y ago
    I think shooting for the moon works when there's several rungs of possible results to land on. In startups, the results tend to be so polarized that shooting for the moon again and again can burn you out.
    - amelius 9y ago
      Yeah, better to aim a little lower, earn some money, and then shoot for the moon.
Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago
In open source, I take the opposite approach. I tend to take on large, difficult projects and get burned out working on them for too long. Combine this with wanting to get a lot of cool projects done, and my approach is to have lots of things in progress and switch between projects often. When I start to get tired or bored of a particular project, I switch gears so I can continue working at my usual pace without getting burned out. I feel satisfied with the success of this approach so far. Among my large (with a scope of, say, 1000+ commits and/or 10000+ LoC), 2 are mature, 2 are WIP but suitable for practical use, and 2 are in their early stages. Among medium projects, maybe about 3 are mature and 5-10 are WIP. Dozens of smaller projects and experiments exist in various stages of completion as well. I haven't finished everything yet, but I have got a lot done and I'm happy with the results. Getting over the initial hump is also a great way of getting others interested in contributing to open source projects, which expands thoroughput significantly. My advice is not to be scared of taking on lots of projects :)
TygryszczPl 9y ago
I believe that you should be focused, but it is hard nowadays to be cutting your spectrum of interest. I understand his points, but still you need to like your job and develop yourself in it, you need something outside the job to keep mind healthy. Just don't go for more interests than 3. Job related, life related and sport related. There you have it.
keyle 9y ago
The only things I've truly succeeded at were simple: I didn't have a choice but to succeed. I guess it's on par with this article, you can't lose focus when you have your back against the abyss. It's your real focus.
- agumonkey 9y ago
  When backed against the wall I have 101% of brain capacity. Otherwise it's 70% at best. And that's when my ISP is down.
  - kamaal 9y ago
    David Allen, has said this in his TEDx talk. In moments of crisis and duress, its very easy for the brain to reserve all its cycles to the one task at hand. However once that moment slips, your mind begins to wander. So a degree of constancy of purpose is needed. And you need a kind of GTD system to prioritize and eliminate what is unnecessary.
    - agumonkey 9y ago
      Surely. I also believe we need some training. If you give up at the first mental shortcoming you will take a lot of time. Making a habit of having thinking runs of 30min or a long enough period. Also, I believe there's another factor at play in crisis, you don't hesitate. Any option will do as long as it's not too absurd. Your brain is full on, but your mind is also more open.
  - ikeyany 9y ago
    Procrastinators will feel vindicated by this.
    - icebraining 9y ago
      Calvin: You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. Hobbes: What mood is that? Calvin: Last-minute panic.
d--b 9y ago
ugh, I can't stand this. 1. No, it will not necessarily happen. You can focus on one thing and still fail. See the story about the guy who dropped everything to try and be a professional golfer. 2. When you spend 20 years of your life doing that one thing, you'd better succeed because if not, it means you failed everything. 3. You need to define success. Being awesome at one thing is not for everyone. Steve Jobs' last words were about how giving everything to being the best at business stripped him from a good chunk of enjoyable things life has to offer. 4. Some people are excellent at a lot of stuff - Leonardo da Vinci is a good example. 5. Everyone should learn not to expect to become someone exceptional. You'll live happier if you accept the fact that you may never be in the top 0.1% of anything. As a consolation, you'll be like the remaining 99.9% of humanity.
- SyneRyder 9y ago
  I think a citation is required for point #3. As I understand it, Steve Jobs' last words were "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow." The best-at-business quote is fake: http://www.snopes.com/steve-jobs-deathbed-speech/ http://www.snopes.com/steve-jobs-deathbed-speech/
  - d--b 9y ago
    Ah good to know thanks! I still stand by point 3 though. I'm sure one can find a good quote by someone who worked on one thing for too long and managed to do it, and then was unhappy because of the time lost.
  - techer 9y ago
    The same page also has this: “I wanted my kids to know me,” Mr Isaacson recalled Mr Jobs saying, in a posthumous tribute the biographer wrote for Time magazine. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.” “He was very human. He was so much more of a real person than most people know. That’s what made him so great,” he added. “Steve made choices. I asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done’.”
- maxxxxx 9y ago
Acalyptol 9y ago
I didn't put much toughs about it regarding life goals and aspirations, but regarding little creative projects, I've found that it's really hard to focus just on one thing because passion for the project progressively drops while ideas for new projects flourish. I've tried sticking to doing one and only one project, but all what happened is that my passion dropped to the point of zero productivity and I was doing nothing. Can't start a new project because this one isn't finished. Can't finish this project because new ones are more interesting. I imagine that it's about the same for life, and that the solution is so much more complex.
tw1010 9y ago
Not everyone in the olympics can get the gold.
ivanhoe 9y ago
One thing at the time is never really just one thing in real life, specially if you have a family. But lets say a few important things, and doing it for a limited period of time (weeks, months, a few years), then I can accept this as a solid advice. Otherwise, IMHO life is just to damn short to waste it all on a single goal, even if you make it in the end. As they say traveling is not about destination, but what you choose to do along the way...
pillowkusis 9y ago
this is classic survivorship bias. in order to reach incredibly high levels of success, of course you have to dedicate all of your energy to it. Of course, this ignores all the people who dropped everything to pursue something and failed, catastrophically too, because they let everything else suffer in pursuit of this objective. It's like singling out big slot machine winners and saying, "look! the common thread among all these people who won it huge is that they spent thousands of dollars, all day, every day, playing the slots, and eventually they made it. So if you want to make money playing slots, you have to just keep at it!"
valuearb 9y ago
Buffett would agree with everything written here, including not trying to get rich by actively investing in the stock market. He recommends index funds.
wepple 9y ago
The author suggests that good things take time (there are no shortcuts), and focus on a primary goal is how you achieve. Then his instagram bio; I write, run a business, podcast, draw, run, and lift weights. Get my free ebook that teaches you to 2X your productivity.

180 points by sus_007 9y ago

rsto 9y ago

> it’s much more effective to focus your effort on one thing. This is the gist I got from this post, and while I agree with the statement I think it is too simplistic. I am one of those persons that "have a long list of goals, desires, and wants for your life" as teased in the article. I think it's clear that focus helps to achieve an item on that list. It's the issue of deciding what to focus on, when multiple items are competing for the 24 hours we have per day. Most life-advice, as the article, starts off with stating the conflict and immediately jumps to the conclusion. The hard part is in the middle. Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. That's probably different for short-term project that the article uses as examples, but these typically aren't the items I'm conflicted about.

hvidgaard 9y ago
That is the hard part I suppose. Figure out what matters to you, and prioritize accordingly. As many books describe, you must figure out what story you want people to tell about you after you're dead. That is your ethos. Then you make a list of what you'd like to do, and then prioritize according to your ethos. Do you want to be a 2 digit millionaire, then you have to work towards that. Do you want to be a pillar for the community, then that guides you. Want to be a fantastic parent ect.
johnke 9y ago
> Personally, I came to the conclusion that everything I postpone to a later stage in life might just as well never materialise. If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. Sheryl Sandberg recently gave a talk to Inc. where she used the term 'ruthless prioritisation' to describe her decision-making process. It basically comes down to finding the best thing you can do and making a lot of tough choices. Now, she was discussing this concept from a business point of view, but speaking as someone who works from home, minds children, and runs a house, it also resonated with me. I have a long list of things to do on any given day, and only a certain number of hours in which to do them. Most days, I end up feeling guilty about not getting something done; it feels like I'm failing in one of my areas of responsibility. Or, worse, as you say, I try to get everything done concurrently and either fail or risk burnout. The main thing that ruthless prioritisation does is give me the space to forgive myself for the things I couldn't do. I know that I calculated the best thing I could do on a given day and I worked on that. It makes postponing things a lot easier to handle.
- snarf21 9y ago
  Reminds me of John Doerr's advice on how to be successful: "Be ruthlessly intellectually honest about the biggest threat to your business and marshall all available resources to solve that." Rinse and repeat. The key is not just to do just one thing. You need focus and vision, then you'll get to your most successful as soon as possible.
afarrell 9y ago
> If I can't live with that thought, then it has to be done concurrently. What does it mean to say that you "can't live with" that thought? If in fact having that thought would cause your death, then I recommend avoiding death. However, if you are saying that figuratively, consider the possibility that you might be taking a less effective action simply due to your discomfort with the reality that we have limited time on this earth. Consider the possibility that you might be better off tolerating that discomfort and narrowing your focus to a few things rather than a dozen. (Or maybe you're just designing a well-balanced week that is made up of tango lessons, a side-project, and your job. I dunno. You're an autonomous agent.)
sharemywin 9y ago
I think another important point is can you even accomplish your goal in the first place? if not break it into smaller goals or find another one.

scandox 9y ago

There seems to be an assumption here (which I've seen in many other places) that ordinary people are somehow missing this trick, are failing to grasp this. I think everybody knows this - more or less explicitly perhaps. The fact is we might talk about becoming rich, but most of us don't really want to - not in a real way. Not to become worth "millions" in our sixties like this guy's mentor. People want to live rich, varied, exciting lives: Now. Sure, getting rich or being rich would help...but if it means living in a way that is controlled, patient and strategic for 30 years...well then no they don't really want that.

svantana 9y ago
Not only that, but saying "rich" is usually shorthand for famous and/or having high social status. The money itself seems to me the least interesting aspect of "making it". Especially in the startup world, what most of us dream of (in my experience), is recognition from our peers, attention, etc, not zeros on a bank statement.
- __s 9y ago
  When I say "rich" I mean it in shorthand of "enough money to not have to interact with the world socially to make money" Of course it's a meme that doesn't spread itself, kind of hypocritcal to be posting on a social platform
- g00gler 9y ago
  Quoting Talib Kweli, "Give me the fortune, keep the fame". Though I agree with your sentiment as it applies in broad strokes I'd like to sell some software, make ~$10M, and be a recluse. I don't even need the $10M, though, I'd be happy to not have to wake up at 7 o'clock, rush to the train, then sit at a desk all day.
  - greeble 9y ago
    Debbie Harry sang this in 1989: "I'll keep the money, you can have the fame" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_That_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_That_Man

GarvielLoken 9y ago

I agree that it is a good mindset. But i think the advice to spend a little time each day on something consistently is more important. That allows you to improve several things concurrently.

firefoxd 9y ago

It's fun to touch at every thing especially in a start up. This summer I was on the phone, at the clients office, documenting everything with a videographer, mentoring the interns, making youtube videos, building the website, building the app, meeting with investors... Mid August came and I looked back, everything was only partially done. Not only I was exhausted of everything, I wasn't having fun anymore. I have decided to put everything aside and focus on the one thing i know how to do well. I am only programming, and in two weeks i have done more then I did all summer long.

patkai 9y ago

I appreciate the post, and it would do good for most of us to understand how compounding works in so many things in our lives, also in relationships etc. But it isn't one thing vs. everything, there is also a balanced middle ground. A generalist might be interested in several things, and not care if as a specialist she could be "more successful", usually measured by an oversimplified metric, e.g. number of dollars or books sold. But this is a very good topic.

amelius 9y ago

I'd add to that: if you always aim too high, take on too difficult tasks, then you'll end up nowhere (but you might learn a lot).

tomhoward 9y ago
Or: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” [1] I'm not strongly for/against either position: both can be true in different contexts. [1] https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4324-shoot-for-the-moon-even-if-you-miss-you-ll-land https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4324-shoot-for-the-moon-eve...
- sage76 9y ago
  I think shooting for the moon works when there's several rungs of possible results to land on. In startups, the results tend to be so polarized that shooting for the moon again and again can burn you out.
  - amelius 9y ago
    Yeah, better to aim a little lower, earn some money, and then shoot for the moon.

Sir_Cmpwn 9y ago

In open source, I take the opposite approach. I tend to take on large, difficult projects and get burned out working on them for too long. Combine this with wanting to get a lot of cool projects done, and my approach is to have lots of things in progress and switch between projects often. When I start to get tired or bored of a particular project, I switch gears so I can continue working at my usual pace without getting burned out. I feel satisfied with the success of this approach so far. Among my large (with a scope of, say, 1000+ commits and/or 10000+ LoC), 2 are mature, 2 are WIP but suitable for practical use, and 2 are in their early stages. Among medium projects, maybe about 3 are mature and 5-10 are WIP. Dozens of smaller projects and experiments exist in various stages of completion as well. I haven't finished everything yet, but I have got a lot done and I'm happy with the results. Getting over the initial hump is also a great way of getting others interested in contributing to open source projects, which expands thoroughput significantly. My advice is not to be scared of taking on lots of projects :)

TygryszczPl 9y ago

I believe that you should be focused, but it is hard nowadays to be cutting your spectrum of interest. I understand his points, but still you need to like your job and develop yourself in it, you need something outside the job to keep mind healthy. Just don't go for more interests than 3. Job related, life related and sport related. There you have it.

keyle 9y ago

The only things I've truly succeeded at were simple: I didn't have a choice but to succeed. I guess it's on par with this article, you can't lose focus when you have your back against the abyss. It's your real focus.

agumonkey 9y ago
When backed against the wall I have 101% of brain capacity. Otherwise it's 70% at best. And that's when my ISP is down.
- kamaal 9y ago
  David Allen, has said this in his TEDx talk. In moments of crisis and duress, its very easy for the brain to reserve all its cycles to the one task at hand. However once that moment slips, your mind begins to wander. So a degree of constancy of purpose is needed. And you need a kind of GTD system to prioritize and eliminate what is unnecessary.
  - agumonkey 9y ago
    Surely. I also believe we need some training. If you give up at the first mental shortcoming you will take a lot of time. Making a habit of having thinking runs of 30min or a long enough period. Also, I believe there's another factor at play in crisis, you don't hesitate. Any option will do as long as it's not too absurd. Your brain is full on, but your mind is also more open.
- ikeyany 9y ago
  Procrastinators will feel vindicated by this.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    Calvin: You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. Hobbes: What mood is that? Calvin: Last-minute panic.

d--b 9y ago

ugh, I can't stand this. 1. No, it will not necessarily happen. You can focus on one thing and still fail. See the story about the guy who dropped everything to try and be a professional golfer. 2. When you spend 20 years of your life doing that one thing, you'd better succeed because if not, it means you failed everything. 3. You need to define success. Being awesome at one thing is not for everyone. Steve Jobs' last words were about how giving everything to being the best at business stripped him from a good chunk of enjoyable things life has to offer. 4. Some people are excellent at a lot of stuff - Leonardo da Vinci is a good example. 5. Everyone should learn not to expect to become someone exceptional. You'll live happier if you accept the fact that you may never be in the top 0.1% of anything. As a consolation, you'll be like the remaining 99.9% of humanity.

SyneRyder 9y ago
I think a citation is required for point #3. As I understand it, Steve Jobs' last words were "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow." The best-at-business quote is fake: http://www.snopes.com/steve-jobs-deathbed-speech/ http://www.snopes.com/steve-jobs-deathbed-speech/
- d--b 9y ago
  Ah good to know thanks! I still stand by point 3 though. I'm sure one can find a good quote by someone who worked on one thing for too long and managed to do it, and then was unhappy because of the time lost.
- techer 9y ago
  The same page also has this: “I wanted my kids to know me,” Mr Isaacson recalled Mr Jobs saying, in a posthumous tribute the biographer wrote for Time magazine. “I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did.” “He was very human. He was so much more of a real person than most people know. That’s what made him so great,” he added. “Steve made choices. I asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done’.”
maxxxxx 9y ago

Acalyptol 9y ago

I didn't put much toughs about it regarding life goals and aspirations, but regarding little creative projects, I've found that it's really hard to focus just on one thing because passion for the project progressively drops while ideas for new projects flourish. I've tried sticking to doing one and only one project, but all what happened is that my passion dropped to the point of zero productivity and I was doing nothing. Can't start a new project because this one isn't finished. Can't finish this project because new ones are more interesting. I imagine that it's about the same for life, and that the solution is so much more complex.

tw1010 9y ago

Not everyone in the olympics can get the gold.

ivanhoe 9y ago

One thing at the time is never really just one thing in real life, specially if you have a family. But lets say a few important things, and doing it for a limited period of time (weeks, months, a few years), then I can accept this as a solid advice. Otherwise, IMHO life is just to damn short to waste it all on a single goal, even if you make it in the end. As they say traveling is not about destination, but what you choose to do along the way...

pillowkusis 9y ago

this is classic survivorship bias. in order to reach incredibly high levels of success, of course you have to dedicate all of your energy to it. Of course, this ignores all the people who dropped everything to pursue something and failed, catastrophically too, because they let everything else suffer in pursuit of this objective. It's like singling out big slot machine winners and saying, "look! the common thread among all these people who won it huge is that they spent thousands of dollars, all day, every day, playing the slots, and eventually they made it. So if you want to make money playing slots, you have to just keep at it!"

valuearb 9y ago

Buffett would agree with everything written here, including not trying to get rich by actively investing in the stock market. He recommends index funds.

wepple 9y ago

The author suggests that good things take time (there are no shortcuts), and focus on a primary goal is how you achieve. Then his instagram bio; I write, run a business, podcast, draw, run, and lift weights. Get my free ebook that teaches you to 2X your productivity.