Tony Fadell Quotes

I think long and hard about what it is I'm actually trying to do, and then I kind of have to narrow my focus into that. If I don't, I'm too all over the place.

There is great power in focusing on what you want..... The person who tries to do everything accomplishes nothing. Most people try to be all things to everyone. And so they end up being nothing to anyone. Confucius nailed the point: "Person who chases two rabbits catches neither."

If you want to make good use of your time, you've got to know what's most important and then give it all you've got.

It's marvelous the change that comes about when a man gets together all his forces and centers them upon the doing of one thing at a time.

It's hard to edit. It's hard to stay focused. And yet, we know we'll only do our best work if we stay focused. And so, you know, the hardest decisions we made are all the things not to work on, frankly.

Don't think to hunt two hares with one dog.

There are many things I can do, but I have to narrow it down to the one thing I must do. The secret of concentration is elimination.

Focusing is about saying No.

Focus is a matter of deciding what things you're not going to do.

Whatever you are doing, give it all of your attention. Prioritise what you're going to do carefully, and then be in the moment.

You have to establish in your life some sense of prioritizing things, of giving emphasis to the important things and of laying aside the unimportant things that will lead to nothing.

One skill of a great entrepreneur is to get a whole complicated discussion and then say, 'We're going to do this one and we're only going to do this one'. Managers are good at prioritizing. Entrepreneurs know what is the one thing.

And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. 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.

I've realized that I can't multitask in the writing department; I can only kind of do one thing at a time.

At some point you start seeing the difference between what you really want, and what is your priority order. I feel that today I know what I want. That's the problem with perspective, as well as focus and concentration.

Try not to do too many things at once. Know what you want, the number one thing today and tomorrow. Persevere and get it done.

You do what is manageable, and you do it well rather than trying to do a thousand things just a little bit OK.

Prioritization sounds like such a simple thing, but true prioritization starts with a very difficult question to answer, especially at a company with a portfolio approach: If you could only do one thing, what would it be? And you can't rationalize the answer, and you can't attach the one thing to some other things. It's just the one thing.

Who begins too much accomplishes little.

I don't put the focus on things that don't matter.

The people who work with me know how focused I am, and so I would advise people who are not concerned with me to rather focus on themselves instead of focusing on my focus.

I've learned that the more I streamline what my actual tasks are and where I'd like to direct my energy, as opposed to where I let my energy go in an unaware state of mind, the more energy I have to place where my intentions are. Boundaries are good! Use them and know where they are.

If I dabble in too many things and don't focus on channelizing my energy into one thing, I might mess it up.

It's so hard for me to focus on things for a long time that I'm not incredibly passionate about.

That's a big part of the process: making the right choice from the beginning. Not getting distracted by shiny things.