How do you change the tires on a rolling car? That’s the question Harry and I explored in episode 13 of the Traction Heroes podcast.
Of course, I don’t mean this literally. Many of us are pivoting as AI transforms the nature of work. But shifts aren’t clean breaks. Often, you must continue doing the “old thing” for a bit — if for no other reason, to pay the bills.
How do you decide how much time to give the old vs. the new?
There’s risk here. You must make time for the new thing for the pivot to work. But you don’t want to drop balls on the old stuff. And for some of us, turning down work is hard, either because we need the money or because we find it hard to say “no.”
Maintaining focus is the focus of this conversation. And focus means saying “no.” As always, Harry had good suggestions: I’ve already bought the book he recommended and intend to read it in short order.
For now, I’ll close with a Steve Jobs quote I cited toward the end of the conversation:
People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.