Quotes About Focus

There is one quality which one must possess to win," writes Napoleon Hill in his all-time classic Think and Grow Rich, "and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.

There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is the definiteness of purpose,

It's just a matter of mastering the mundane—of repeating simple little disciplines that, done consistently over time, will add up to the very biggest accomplishments.

Hoping for "the big break"—the breakthrough, the magic bullet—is not only futile, it's dangerous, because it keeps you from taking the actions you need to create the results you want.

Globo.com is good at it. That's not because the company is faster than everyone else — sure, it's fast, but it's not that fast. It's because it's smart about doing less.

Prioritize specific business goals, customers, and users, and then their goals, before prioritizing features.

It all seems important. But then we step back and think about the specific people who will use our product, and what they'll need to accomplish to be successful. We distill that into a sentence or two. Then we carve away everything we don't need, and we're shocked at how small our viable solution really is. It's magic

Slice out a release strategy. Remember: there's always too much to build.

Minimize output, and maximize outcome and impact.

Focus on outcomes—what users need to do and see when the system comes out—and slice out releases that will get you those outcomes.

Story mapping keeps us focused on users and their experience, and the result is a better conversation, and ultimately a better product.

A sea-level task is one we'd expect to complete before intentionally stopping to do something else.

Focusing on specific target outcomes is the secret to prioritizing development work.

If your goal in reading this book is to learn to write better stories, you've got the wrong goal.

My job is to Ã¢â'¬Â¦ do my job. Lead, for God's sake. Keep my nose out of places where the machine is working, and stick it in deep where it isn't.

if you're obsessively focused on trying not to make mistakes, it can take some of the soul out of your performance

If you don't know your passion, it confuses your mind, not your heart.

But what if you discover that the price of purpose is to render invisible so many other things?

People with packs are people with purpose.

My mother was an overwrought artist who achieved some success but was a little too fond of alcohol and always struggled to find new clients, while my dad the underemployed accountant specialized in schemes to get rich quick that usually brought in nothing. Neither of them seemed to possess the ability to focus on one thing for any length of time. Sometimes it felt as if I had been placed with a family rather than born into one.

Empty away your many thoughts to make room for more needed material instead of thoughts that we will never use. Einstein

Attention can be trained very naturally, with affection, just as you train a puppy. When something distracts your attention, you say "Come back" and bring it back again. With a lot of training, you can teach your mind to come running back to you when you call, just like a friendly pup.

When we do things with only a part of the mind, we are just skimming the surface of life. Nothing sinks in; nothing has real impact. It leads to an empty feeling inside. Unfortunately, it is this very emptiness that drives us to pack in even more, seeking desperately to fill the void in our hearts. What we need to do is just the opposite: to slow down and live completely in the present. Then every moment will be full.

I find it easier to abstain than do a little bit of anything. I'm not a 'little bit' kind of dame. I want it all, whatever I do.