no art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it. - Paul Graham

Someone asked about tricks for meeting eminent people. I said the best plan is just to do really good work. Then you'll tend to meet them organically. In the worst case you'll see one whenever you look in the mirror.

This was naturally a great incentive, and possibly indeed the main cause of the second big change, industrialization. A great deal has been written about the causes of the Industrial Revolution. But surely a necessary, if not sufficient, condition was that people who made fortunes be able to enjoy them in peace.

Focus, as Steve Jobs said, is about saying no.

The only dangerous competitors are focused ones.

Ergo there are things that even the most dangerous competitors say no to, and it would be worth thinking explicitly about what those are.