This year marked Apple’s 50th year in business. It came awfully close to closing shop in its second decade, largely because it lost direction. The company failed to release hit products, was losing a lot of money, and scrambling to survive. In 1993, Apple released nearly 40 products, maintaining over 70 total. (For the Apple fans, here’s a scan of a catalog.) It was too much. 

By 1998, Steve Jobs and the company’s other new leaders decided to try to save it. Steve identified two things that were working for Apple: its neglected brand, and its operating system. They cancelled a lot of product development. That year, the company released only five new products. 

There’s a fine line between being prolific and being distracted. That line is being choiceful: making thoughtful, intentional, and deliberate decisions. 

Steve’s successor Tim Cook said it well when he took up the reins at Apple: 

“We believe in saying no to thousands of projects so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us.”

It reminds me of something a former leader at Apple, Jony Ive, said: 

“What focus is, saying no to something that with every bone in your body you think is a phenomenal idea. And you wake up thinking about it, but you say no to it. Because you are focusing on something else.”

Apple spent billions of dollars on developing a car. A couple of years ago, Apple shut it down to focus on AI and continue to improve its current product portfolio.

It feels painful to practice choicefulness. The trade comes in the form of the energy you free up by choosing to focus, and a much better chance at succeeding.