Focus, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER FOUR

How to overcome the obstacles to focus

A crucial part of focusing on the vital 20% of what you do is to get rid of some of the 80% of activities that don’t pay off very well. In this chapter you’ll find out how to do that. There is also another obstacle, this one hidden, to doing the most useful things. Learning how to overcome it may be the single most important benefit you’ll gain from reading this book. First, let’s deal with the more obvious obstacle.

Getting rid of some of the less useful 80%

It sounds simple: stop doing the things that don’t give you the greatest value so you can focus time and attention on the ones that do. But when you look more closely it becomes clear that many of the tasks in the 80% category support, ...