Three Steve Jobs Quotes on Focus
I recently finished the Steve Jobs book by Walter Isaacson. If you haven’t read it, jump on it. It’s well-written, entertaining and most of all, inspiring.
You will definitely learn more about the Steve Jobs that you’ve heard about. The charisma. The obsession with creating amazing products. There is also no shortage of stories about him being a huge asshole. Anyone who has followed the tech industry in the past 30 years has heard a few of these stories. Hell, the fact Jobs could be an enormous dick was taught to me back in high school. My PASCAL class watched “Pirates of Silicon Valley” in my freshman year back in the Spring of 1999.
Take these kind of stories out of context, you might think that you can become rich and famous by being an overly emotional jerk. I mean, you can, sort of, just look at Jersey Shore. Pretty sure Mike the Situation has a Range Rover and a few nice watches. But to leave a legacy of creating things that benefit millions of people’s lives, that’s a whole other story.
So what you really get from the Isaacson’s book is that Steve Jobs was intense. And this is most evident and important in his ability to focus. Jobs had relentless focus. I’ve put together five quotes on focus from Jobs as well as a couple quotes from Issacson that help explain Steve.
Issacson on Steve Jobs and His Ability to Focus:
“Job’s Intensity was also evident in his ability to focus. He would set priorities, aim his laser attention on them, and filter out distractions. If something engaged him – the user interface for the original Macintosh, the design of the iPod and iPhone, getting music companies into the iTunes Store – he was relentless.”
”He attributed his ability to focus and his love of simplicity to his Zen training. It honed his appreciation for intution, showed him how to filter out anything that was distracting or unnecessary, and nurtured in him an aesthetic based on minimalism.”
Three Quotes From The Man Himself:
“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. That’s true for companies, and it’s true for products.”
“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
“We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”
And couple more Steve Jobs quotes for good fun:
“I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
“Real artists ship.”
