There is one idea I keep coming back to, and it quietly shapes how I work and how I live: limit your options, and do those few things really well.

I picked it up from Jack Dorsey . Years ago, in a Stanford talk, the then CEO of Twitter said something that stuck with me: limit your options, and do those options really well.

I have taken it further than most people would. I try to do only that, in every part of my life. Friends, family, my work, even the features I choose to build. I would rather go vertical than spread thin. Pick a small number of things, give them everything I have, and see how far I can take them.

That is the whole philosophy. It sounds almost too simple, but it works. Narrow the field, and you have more of yourself left to give to whatever survives the cut.

Here is the short version I recorded:

Take it to heart. It gives you a lot of what you actually want in life.

If you want the original source, here is Jack’s full Stanford talk that started this for me: