Ben Horowitz on Focus Quotes

"The hardest part of planning is deciding what you are NOT going to do."

"The first rule of entrepreneurial leverage is: Niche down."

"Deep focus on the problem is the only way to find the non-obvious solution."

"The priority should always be the mission, not the politics of the office."

"Focusing on the output without focusing on the process is a recipe for failure."

"The priority in communication is clarity. Ambiguity is the enemy of execution."

"You must be willing to kill your darlings to achieve excellence."

"The most important thing I learned as an entrepreneur was to focus on what I needed to get right and stop worrying about all the things that I did wrong or might do wrong."

"Being a CEO is about managing your own psychology."

"You can't prioritize everything; if you have three priorities, you have none."

"The essence of vision is choosing what to focus on when everything seems important."

"Great CEOs have the ability to focus on the one thing that matters when everything is going wrong."

"The most important part of a vision is the part that tells you what you are not going to do."

"In a startup, you can’t do everything. You have to do the most important things."

"There is no secret to being a successful CEO. But if there is one skill that stands out, it’s the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves."

"Focus on where you are going, not on what you are afraid of."

"Belief is the discipline of keeping your eyes on the prize when the world is on fire."

"True creativity requires an obsession with the problem, not an obsession with your first solution."

"Focus on where you are going rather than on what you are trying to avoid."

"A CEO's most important job is to define the strategy and ensure the company is focused on it."

"Winning requires a level of focus that most people find uncomfortable."

"Vision is about finding the one thing that will make all other things easier or unnecessary."

"Focus on the road, not the wall."

"The most important thing for a CEO is to manage their own psychology. That is the top priority."

"Spend zero time on what you could have done, and spend all of your time on what you might do."

"The only thing that matters is the move you make next."

"Focus on where you are going rather than on what you are afraid of."

"Focus on your own game, but keep an eye on the scoreboard."

"Wartime CEO knows that the only thing that matters is the mission."

"The most important thing I learned as an entrepreneur is that you have to focus on the things you can control. Your plan should reflect that focus."

"When you are in the struggle, you have to find the one thing that will work and ignore everything else."

"Your competitor is trying to take the food out of your children's mouths."

"Wartime CEO knows that the only thing that matters is winning."