Focusing requires saying no to things you actually want to do.
I stumbled across an interview with Jonny Ive sharing something he learned working with Steve Jobs. From the interview:
“You can achieve so much when you truly focus. One of the things Steve would say – I think because he was concerned that I wasn’t – he would say “how many things have you said no to?” And honestly I would have these sacrificial things. Because I wanted to be very honest about it “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. What focus means is saying no to something that 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 everything else.”
He acknowledges, like I imagine many of us would, that sacrifice is a good thing. There’s something noble about sacrifice.
But I love his admission that sometimes he kept around ideas that he didn’t care about, so he could appear focused when he dismissed them.
To achieve Jonny Ive’s or Steve Job’s level of focus, you need to get to the point where you’re eliminating things you actually want, in favor of what’s essential. You cut and cut all the way into and past the good ideas until you get down to what’s great.