The ruthless math of focus
The world doesn’t reward nonexperts. It rewards people who go unreasonably deep on a few things and ignore almost everything else. Three to five priorities? Cute. Try two. Maybe even one. The harsh reality is that most of what’s on your plate is either a distraction or a security blanket dressed up as “diversification”.
Why? Because attention isn’t free. Every new priority splits the same finite mental RAM. And worse, most people confuse being busy with being useful. They spread themselves like peanut butter across projects, meetings, and metrics, then wonder why nothing compounds. The people are just allergic to doing too much.
The best hedge is not optionality. It’s depth. Going all-in on a small number of asymmetric bets, where your edge can actually grow. Cut the side quests. Pick your hill. Climb it publicly and when you get to the top, people will say you’re lucky. But really, you were just focused.
