Noise

We live in a world full of noise. If you find yourself constantly picking up your phone, getting sucked into one spicy Twitter thread after another, endlessly scrolling through social media, or addicted to a “two-minute” video game, know that this is a ginormous waste of time.

Building anything of value requires focus. You need to put your attention on one thing, which is whatever you are creating. This includes all the necessary learning you need to do along the way. Being surrounded by distractions will undoubtedly fragment your attention and be a hurdle to your progress.

Leading a noisy life will lead to noisy results. The best products are simple and have a certain calm about them. They don’t take much time to explain, and using them is intuitive. Reducing the noise in your life will also reduce the noise in your creations.

The opposite of noise is silence. This is what you want. Eliminating distractions will let you focus on what really matters. This applies to life as much as it does to entrepreneurship. 

One way to gain back your attention is through meditation. Instead of letting the outside world direct your attention, take some time in your day to sit quietly and focus on your breath. If you get distracted, just start over. You can do this as often as you’d like. This will train you to become more focused.

You can then apply this clear-headed focus to your product and build something in silence. This will allow you to differentiate your offering from all the noise and create something which genuinely stands out. It might even have the potential to move the world forward.