You Must Remove Things to Focus on What Matters
Our Brain Has Limited Processing Capacity
We're hit with pings, pings, and more pings. To-do lists stack up. Expectations never stop.
But real focus doesn’t come from speeding up or doing more.
It comes from doing less.
That means cutting the non-essential—tasks, distractions, and obligations. Our brains can't handle everything. So the only option is to make hard trade-offs.
Steve Jobs understood this. He said “no” more often than “yes.” That discipline is what allowed Apple to bet big on a few products—like the iPhone—and actually pull it off.
His edge wasn't speed. It was knowing what not to do.
Debunking the Myth of Multitasking
Multitasking looks like a productivity flex. Answer emails while in meetings. Juggle three tabs. Get it all done, right?
Not really.
A 2009 Stanford study showed that heavy multitaskers were actually worse at cognitive tasks. They had a harder time filtering noise and switching gears. Their work suffered, and so did their clarity.
Picture someone jumping between emails, a spreadsheet, and a Zoom call. At the end of the day, they’re wiped—and their output shows it.
Even in jobs that demand quick decisions—like emergency responders—focus comes from tuning out everything that doesn’t matter. Not trying to do it all.
Multitasking splits your attention. Subtracting distractions strengthens it.
Why Removing Things Is Hard
It sounds simple. Remove the unnecessary. Create space for what matters.
But our brains weren’t built for this.
They evolved to scan and respond to every stimulus. And society rewards busyness. We're taught to stay booked and say “yes” to prove we’re useful.
Psychological hang-ups don’t help either.
FOMO keeps us grabbing at every opportunity. Guilt creeps in when we decline. And the sunk cost fallacy keeps us stuck in dead-end projects just because we already put time in.
These forces don’t feel huge. But they quietly steer our focus off track.
Warren Buffett’s 2-List Strategy makes this plain. Write down 25 goals. Circle the top 5. Cross off the rest.
Not just delay. Remove them.
His investing success wasn’t from doing more—it was from clearing out the clutter.
It feels safer to add. But it’s subtraction that creates room for what actually matters.
Practical Strategies for Removing Things
Cutting what doesn’t serve you takes effort. But there are ways to make it easier.
Here are four tactics that help:
Prioritize Ruthlessly
Use the Eisenhower Matrix to sort urgent vs. important. Only commit to what drives long-term goals. Example: a manager skips recurring status meetings so they can focus on strategy.Say No Confidently
Don’t over-apologize or waffle. A clear "no" shows you respect your time. If someone invites you to join a side project that doesn’t align with your goals, say: “Thanks for thinking of me, but I need to stay focused on current priorities.”Minimize Distractions
Turn off notifications. Use blockers like Freedom. Cal Newport’s "Deep Work" method isn’t just for academics—it helps anyone who wants to think clearly.Schedule Deep Work
Put it on the calendar. No meetings, no multitasking. A teacher might cut fluff from their lesson plan to spend more time engaging students one-on-one.
These habits aren’t flashy. But they get results.
Subtraction frees up focus.
Conclusion
You don’t need to do more to get more done.
You need to cut what doesn’t move the needle.
Whether it’s Jobs pushing Apple to focus on fewer products, or Marie Kondo helping people declutter, the same principle applies: Less noise means more signal.
Try this: pick one thing to subtract this week.
Skip a pointless meeting. Say no to a side project. Mute Slack for two hours.
See what happens to your focus.
As Greg McKeown put it: “If it’s not a clear yes, it’s a clear no.”
That’s not loss. That’s clarity.
That’s how you focus on what matters.