终极生产力小窍门是专注

Focus is about saying no.

专注就是说不。

Anyone can say no to bad ideas, but only a focused person will say no to good ideas.

任何人都可以对坏主意说不，但只有专注的人才会对好主意说不。

Focus is something that people consistently bring up as a key to success. When Warren Buffett was asked the key to his success, he simply replied, “Focus.” Bill Gates had the same reply. And Jonny Ive, mentioned it was the biggest lesson he learned from Steve Jobs:

专注是人们一直认为成功的关键。当沃伦·巴菲特 （Warren Buffett） 被问及他成功的关键时，他简单地回答说：“专注。比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）也有同样的回答。Jonny Ive 提到这是他从史蒂夫乔布斯那里学到的最重要的一课：

This sounds really simplistic, but it still shocks me how few people actually practice this, and it’s a struggle to practice, but is this issue of focus.
这听起来真的很简单，但仍然让我感到震惊的是，真正实践这个的人很少，而且实践起来很困难，但这就是焦点的问题。

Jobs was one the most focused people in the world. While focus doesn’t ensure you will be victorious, not being focused virtually ensures defeat.

乔布斯是世界上最专注的人之一。虽然专注并不能确保你会胜利，但不专注实际上会确保失败。

The most misunderstood thing about focus is that it’s not a light switch that you can simply turn on and off when you want to. It’s more like a muscle that you have to practice every day.

关于焦点最容易被误解的是，它不是一个可以随心所欲地打开和关闭的电灯开关。它更像是你每天都必须练习的肌肉。

Focus is not the sort of thing you aspire to … or you decide on Monday. It’s something you do every minute.
专注不是你渴望的那种东西......或者你在星期一决定。这是你每分钟都在做的事情。

Since not doing something always gives you more time than doing something, Jobs would often test people, asking them, “How many things have you said no to?” or “What have you said no to?”

因为不做某事总是比做某事给你更多的时间，乔布斯经常会试探人们，问他们：“你对多少件事说过不？”或“你对什么说过不？

People often tried to make things up, but Jobs would see right through them. This is a lesson Ive learned:

人们经常试图编造事情，但乔布斯会看穿它们。这是我学到的教训：

I would have these sacrificial things, because I wanted to be very honest about it. And so I’d say, “Well, I said no to this and no to that.” But he knew that I wasn’t vaguely interested in doing those things anyway, so there was no real sacrifice.
我会有这些牺牲的东西，因为我想非常诚实地对待它。所以我会说，“嗯，我对这个说不，对那个说不。但他知道我对做这些事情没有模糊的兴趣，所以没有真正的牺牲。
What focus means is saying no to something that you, with every bone in your body, you think is a phenomenal idea and you wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it because you’re focusing on something else.
专注的意思是对你身体的每一根骨头都认为是一个非凡的想法说不，你醒来后会思考它，但你对它说不，因为你专注于其他事情。

A world with abundant opportunities encourages poverty of commitment. And without commitment, you can’t have focus. Without focus, your energy gets diffused, and it impact is reduced.

一个拥有丰富机会的世界会鼓励承诺的贫困。没有承诺，就无法专注。没有专注，你的能量就会分散，影响就会减少。

Filtering with Focus  

使用 Focus 进行筛选

People and organizations tend to lose focus. It’s entropy.

人们和组织往往会失去焦点。 这是熵 。

Staying focused requires a lot of effort and discipline. One clue outstanding people leave is that they tend to commit and focus on something for an abnormally long period, even if the results are not immediately visible. Jobs was fired. Gates slept at the office for a decade. Few had heard of Warren Buffett until the 1980s, nearly 30 years after he started. Imagine working 30 years on the same thing.

保持专注需要大量的努力和纪律。杰出的人留下的一个线索是，他们倾向于在异常长的时间内投入并专注于某件事，即使结果不会立即显现。乔布斯被解雇了。盖茨在办公室里睡了十年。直到 1980 年代，也就是他开始工作近 30 年后，很少有人听说过沃伦·巴菲特。想象一下，在同样的事情上工作了 30 年。

The only people you should hire are focused ones. The only competitors you should worry about are the focused ones.您唯一应该雇用的人是专注的人。您唯一应该担心的竞争对手是专注的竞争对手。

People naturally lose focus when they forget that focus means saying no to good opportunities and good people. Average ideas are everywhere, and they try to pull you in. The more successful you are, the more people want to work with you.当人们忘记专注意味着对好机会和好人说不时，他们自然会失去专注。普通的想法无处不在，它们试图吸引你。你越成功，就越多人想和你一起工作。

If you start saying yes to average ideas, you quickly lose the space and time you need to execute on the great ones.

如果你开始对普通的想法说“是”，你很快就会失去执行伟大想法所需的空间和时间。

Focus is hard, and because it’s hard, it also creates a hidden place to find opportunities.

专注是困难的，因为它很难，它也创造了一个寻找机会的隐藏场所。

Finding Ideas  寻找想法

The focus of others creates opportunities. Since focus requires saying no, it also means that really smart people and strong competitors are saying no to really good ideas.

他人的关注创造了机会。由于专注需要说不，这也意味着真正聪明的人和强大的竞争对手会对真正好的想法说不。

If you’re trying to find your way in an organization, it’s worth thinking about the most focused people around you and asking them about the best idea they’re not working on. While they might not say it directly, they’ll leave clues a curious person will find.

如果您想在组织中找到自己的方向，那么值得考虑您周围最专注的人，并询问他们没有致力于的最佳想法。虽然他们可能不会直接说出来，但他们会留下好奇的人会发现的线索。

If you’re a company, it’s worth thinking about what your strongest competition is not doing. You can often figure this out by interviewing smart people from the competition.

如果您是一家公司，那么值得考虑一下您最强大的竞争对手没有做什么。您通常可以通过采访竞争对手的聪明人来弄清楚这一点。

Energy into Results  

将能量转化为结果

The people and organizations moving the fastest are the focused ones.

行动最快的人和组织是专注的。

Not only do they focus on a few ideas, but within the scope of those ideas, they relentlessly focus on the key variables. Identifying the variables that matter comes with focus. When you commit to living with a problem, you understand things about it that the casual observer misses.

他们不仅关注少数几个想法，而且在这些想法的范围内，他们坚持不懈地关注关键变量。确定重要的变量需要关注。当你致力于与问题共存时，你就会理解漫不经心的观察者会错过的事情。

Focus converts energy into results. Why spend time on your 5th most important idea? All of the energy that goes toward anything that is not the most important thing comes at the expense of the most important thing.

专注将能量转化为结果。为什么要花时间研究您的第 5 个最重要的想法？所有用于非最重要事情的精力都是以牺牲最重要的事情为代价的。

Narrow the focus. Raise the standard. And set yourself apart.

缩小焦点。提高标准。让自己与众不同。