Where not to spend your focus and energy
Professionals, unlike amateurs, spend their time carefully. They prioritize because they know they can’t put their best effort on everything. Businesses put it like this: focus on the 20% that makes 80% of your profit.
If you are serious about your work, track how you spend your time, at least for a week. Review your data, identify your leaks, and then decide what you are not going to do.
I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody_1. Deciding what you won’t do is the hardest part, because it not only implies saying _no to yourself, but to other people’s expectations.
- Quote attributed to Bill Cosby. ↩