What Steve Jobs Claimed about Focus and Simplicity
Make It Simple
That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity.
Simple can be harder than complex.
You have to work hard to get your thinking clean
to make it simple.
But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there,
you can move mountains.

The Solution to a Complicated Life
Is your life complicated? If you’re like most people, the pace of life is more than most of us can manage. We have too much to do. Too much “stuff” in our lives. Too much of everything except time and stamina to do it all.
The solution to a complicated life is to make it simple:
What does simple mean? Although you can find multiple, complicated definitions of the word simple in various dictionaries, the root of the word gives us a clue to the foundational meaning of simple. It comes from the roots meaning one and ply. Simple means same-fold.
One ply has one fold. One ply of anything is simple. This means that something simple is uncomplicated in form, nature or design. It is made up of one substance, one essence, one piece. The root ply also occurs in the words complicated and multiple. Complicated means with-folds. Multiple means many-folds (Book Writing Made Simple 3-in-1, p. 9).
Make It Simple
The brilliant and complicated innovator Steve Jobs made a statement about making it simple:
That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
Notice that he doesn't use the word "easy." Simple is not the same as easy. Simplicity is about replacing complexity with a clear, uncomplicated focus.
How You Think
Life change results from how you think. Thinking is the critical component that identifies how you create focus and simplicity in your life.
Consider the importance of thinking in the epigraph of the book, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson:
The people who are crazy enough
to think they can change
the world are the ones who do.
Apple's "Think Different" commercial, 1997
Focus and Simplicity about Book Writing
Compare what Steve Jobs claimed about focus and simplicity in the creation of technology to what is involved in book writing. Good writers think long and hard about focus and simplicity concerning their books. Throughout history, outstanding books have also moved mountains because of the original thinking in their books. Changing the world comes down to getting your thinking clean enough to focus on new ideas, and to make the new ideas simple.
Biography of Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
Based on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs conducted over two years — as well as interviews with more than 100 family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues — Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing. Isaacson’s portrait touched millions of readers.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.[Original Post October 18, 2014]
Book Writing Made Simple 3-in-1: How to Write a Book the Simple Way is for people who are confused about how to write and publish their own books.
You might be one of them. Maybe you have dreamed of writing your own book but don’t know where to start or what to do. Maybe you have already tried to write a book but got so bogged down in the process that you never finished. Or maybe you have already written a published a book, but it was a painful, drawn-out process, and you know that here has to be a better way. There is. The better way to write a book is the simple way.
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