Easter is a little over a month away, and I am gig-less.

As a trumpet player, I’ve played an Easter morning service at one church or another nearly every year for 15 years. This year, I have no plans. My phone hasn’t rung, and I haven’t asked around. The trumpet is on the back burner right now, because I’m finally internalizing a valuable life lesson after years of trying:

Success rewards focus.

Or, as Sean Covey and his coauthors write in The Four Disciplines of Execution, “the more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish.” Derek Sivers also put it well in a now-classic blog post: ‘If you’re not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, say “no”.’

When we’re trying to improve our results in some area, it’s useful to remember that the highly successful are ruthlessly focused while average folks spread their resources ultra-thin.

It’s okay to narrow your focus and reorder your priorities. In fact, it may be necessary in order to get the results you want.

Doing more is overrated. Do less, better.