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Nassim Taleb's thinking on Focus goes deeper than surface-level advice. This curated archive brings together their essential quotes on the subject, revealing patterns and principles you can apply immediately. Each entry includes full source context, allowing you to understand not just what they said, but why it matters. Whether you're navigating challenges or pursuing mastery, these insights offer the mental models you need to think clearly about Focus.
"If you find yourself checking the clock, you are not doing deep work."
"The quality of your work is inversely proportional to the number of emails you answer."
"Mastery is the discipline of ignoring the irrelevant."
"Complexity is often a mask for a lack of mastery."
"The quality of your work is measured by its resistance to noise."
"The person who reads the most is not the person who learns the most; the person who thinks the most wins."
"I want to be broad-minded and narrow-focused."
"The noise is what kills the signal. In deep work, you are searching for the signal."
"We are built to be hunters, not planners."
"The mark of a charlatan is that he focuses on the data that confirms his hypothesis."
"Practice is the only way to filter out the noise."
"Wisdom is knowing what to ignore."
"The most productive tool ever invented is the 'Do Not Disturb' button."
"I need long hours of idleness to produce anything of value. If I am busy, I am not thinking."
"The strategist is a person who focuses on what is not changing."
"Knowledge is reached by any process that is not a bureaucratic one."
"Focus is about what you say no to, especially the news, which is just noise designed to distract you."
"Via negativa is the path to mastery: subtract the noise."
"Knowledge is not just about facts; it's about the ability to ignore the noise."
"To be truly free, you must be able to work on one thing for ten hours straight without checking your phone."
"To understand the world, you must spend a lot of time doing nothing but observing."
"Simplicity is the final stage of mastery."
Seeing how Nassim Taleb approaches Focus helps you apply the idea with more precision.
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"Use this collection whenever you need Nassim Taleb's lens on Focus."