Focus is deciding what remains undone

Focus is often described as concentration. Before concentration, there is exclusion.

To give sustained attention to one important thing, we must allow several other worthwhile things to remain undone. That is the part productivity advice tends to soften.

There will always be more useful work than a life can contain. No system will remove that fact.

The purpose of focus is not to complete everything efficiently. It is to make a deliberate choice about which unfinished things we are willing to live with.