“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”
Choosing quality over quantity means that you’re more invested in choosing things that can stand the test of time over choosing many things that could easily fall apart. It’s a concept that applies to many areas of life.
“Satisfying projects tend to be those that ask questions and challenge the grey matter, projects which allow us exercise our creative muscle for clients and collaborators who trust us to deliver something beyond their expectations, and who are happy to pay us to do exactly that.
Design is an adventure, a new relationship defined by as yet undefined possibilities and uncharted opportunities. New clients offer the chance to explore and evolve new relationships, create new histories. New work for existing clients allows us to delve deeper and develop richer experiences.”
“The male ego can in some cases be tied to how and where a man sees his place in the world and whether he’s living up to expectations — his and those of society.
Cultural stereotypes for men can be intricately tied to both the inflation and deflation of the male ego. Some men measure themselves by the answers to the following questions:
Am I strong enough? Am I wealthy enough? Do I meet the traditional definition of masculinity? Do I attract women? Do I control things or people? Do people recognize me for these things and am I respected and revered for them?”
“What’s so interesting is that we seem to intuitively understand that if we can get ourselves to believe something first, we’ll be more effective at getting others to believe it,” says William von Hippel, a psychologist at The University of Queensland, who co-authored the study. “So we process information in a biased fashion, we convince ourselves, and we convince others. The beauty is, those are the steps Trivers outlined—and they all lined up in one study.”
