Book Review: Free to Focus

Michael Hyatt has been a favorite writer of mine for years.  I started by following him on social media and then regularly reading his blog.  I occasionally listen to his podcast and posted a review of his book No Fail Meetings on this blog.  What I really appreciate about Hyatt is that his goal is not productivity just for the sake of efficiency and getting things done…his heart is truly set on doing more of the right things.  He is very open about his own story earlier in his career where he had his priorities out of line and what that cost him.  His platform now is to help people keep their focus on the right things.  I really enjoyed Free to Focus and highlighted several things while reading.  I posted those notes below…

• “What will your life have been, in the end, but the sum total of everything you spent it focusing on?” – Oliver Burkeman, p. 11
• Information is no longer scarce.  But attention is.  In fact, in a world where information is freely available, focus becomes one of the most valuable commodities in the workplace. p. 13
• We’re doing more and gaining less, which leaves us with a huge gap between what we want to achieve and what we actually accomplish. p. 14
• The goal, the true objective of productivity, should be freedom.  I define freedom four ways:
  1.  Freedom to Focus
  2.  Freedom to be Present
  3.  Freedom to be Spontaneous
  4.  Freedom to do nothing p. 36
• “La dolce far niente” Italian for “the sweetness of doing nothing” p. 37
• We should design our lives first and then tailor our work to meet our lifestyle objectives. p. 38
• “Everybody ends up somewhere in life.  A few people end up somewhere on purpose.” – Andy Stanley, p. 43
• Aptitude signals skill alone, while proficiency signals skill plus contribution.  It’s what you offer the world that the world rewards. p. 46
• “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” -Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, p. 50
• True productivity is about doing more of what is in your Desire Zone and less of everything else. p. 57
• I have all the time I need to accomplish what matters most. p. 59
• I have the ability to make better use of the time I control. p. 60
• Productivity is a skill I can develop. p. 61
• I don’t have to wait until my circumstances change to get started and make progress.  p. 62
• “Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” -Anne Lamott p. 65
• Personal energy is a renewable resource, replenished by seven basic practices.  We must:
  1. Sleep
  2. Eat
  3. Move
  4. Connect
  5. Play
  6. Reflect
  7. Unplug p. 68
• “Play nurtures a supple mind, a willingness to think in new categories, and an ability to make unexpected associations.  The spirit of play not only encourages problem solving but, through novel and analogies, fosters originality and clarity.” (Virginia Postrel) Play produces creative breakthroughs. p. 81
• “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.” Steve Jobs p. 91
• If we want to be free to focus, we must eliminate everything standing in our way.  That doesn’t mean simply saying no to a lot of bad ideas; it also means turning down a ton of good and worthwhile ideas. p. 92
• Five tips for a tactful no:
  1.  Acknowledge your resources are finite.
  2.  Determine who needs access to you and who doesn’t.
  3.  Let your calendar say no for you.
  4.  Adopt a strategy for responding to requests.
  5.  Accept the fact that you will be misunderstood. p. 107
• I can’t accept a new request without going back on a commitment I’ve already made, even if that original commitment was to myself. p. 103
• If someone is going to walk away disappointed, I’m going to do everything possible to make sure I’m not disappointing those closest to me. p. 108
• “Innovation means saying no to a thousand things.” – Steve Jobs, p. 111
• “Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them.”-Alfred North Whitehead p. 115
• Automation means solving a problem once, then putting the solution on autopilot. p. 121
• At its heart, delegation means focusing primarily on the work only you can do by transferring everything else to others who are more passionate about the work or proficient in the tasks. p. 138
• To what extent am I passionate about this?  Is it worth parking this task in my Development Zone to see if I can hone my skills enough to move it into my Desire Zone? p. 144
• “A schedule defends from chaos and whim.  It is a net for catching days.” – Annie Dillard p, 161
• You can’t bring your best to the rest of the day unless you schedule time to refresh. p. 177
• Once you put firm boundaries in place and force yourself to stay within them for a while, it’s amazing how natural it becomes to fall into the weekly rhythm regardless of what’s going on. p. 181
• “If you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.” -Greg McKeown, p. 183
• “My experience is what I agree to attend to.”-William James, p. 205
• Oliver Burkeman says an email inbox is like having a to-do list everyone in the world can populate. p. 211
• We work in the Distraction Economy.  Attention is a scarce resource, and almost everyone out there is trying to capitalize on your focus.  If you’re not careful, you’ll spend your most valuable resource to achieve someone else’s goals. p. 228