An Irritated Exec Throws A Piece Of Paper At Steve Jobs, Why Lion Tamers Use Chairs In Their Act, And Magician Harry Houdini's Death: Why Singular Focus Wins Every Time

The 3-Word Quote: “Divided Focus Distracts”

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1. 

Steve Jobs was irritated.

He was often upset at what he viewed as incompetence in people or what he saw as inferior programming or design.

He demanded excellence from his people and his products.

As a leader, he oversaw everything Apple created, including its advertising.

It was reported that there was never an Apple advertisement that Jobs hadn't seen and approved.

But Jobs could be a taskmaster and a micromanager. 

So when Jobs was presented with a television ad for the Apple’s new iMac computer, Jobs had a quick and straightforward opinion about it.

He hated the commercial.

He was irritated because he thought it was a poor commercial.

Jobs was thrilled with the iMac but disgusted with the possible ad.

He thought the commercial wasn't genuinely showcasing what the iMac could do.

Jobs believed Apple's newest product could do several innovative functions, but the proposed commercial didn't show these four or five great features.

The commercial just focused on one.

So Jobs dug his heels in, insisting that the commercial highlight all five of the computer's best elements.

The debate continued for some time.

That's when Lee Clow, a team leader proposing the commercial, had heard enough.

He was now irritated at Jobs for not appreciating and understanding his commercial.

So Clow ripped out five sheets of paper from a notebook and crumpled one up.

Then he threw it at Steve Jobs.

2.

Most circuses don't have live animal acts anymore.

Tales of abuse and mistreatment caused most of these traveling carnivals to eliminate animals from their shows.

But in the early and mid-1900s, the circus was big business and immensely popular -and the most popular attractions were the animal acts.

The more exotic and ferocious the animal, the more popular the act.

And what drew the biggest crowds was the king of the jungle - the lion.

And in the 1900s, the king of the lion tamers was Clyde Beatty.

Beatty joined the circus life early in his life - becoming a 'cage boy' in his teens.

A 'cage boy' was little more than a cage cleaner, a lowly job in the circus.

But Beatty wasn’t a cage cleaner for long.

He eventually rose through the ranks and gained fame for his dangerous animal acts.

He was primarily known for his 'lion taming' routine.

He would enter the cage and face the dangerous lion with only three things - a whip, a gun loaded with blanks, and a small chair.

Of the three objects, the chair was by far the most important object he brought into the cage.

3.

He nearly drowned several times.

He almost suffocated on several different occasions.

He suffered multiple injuries and broke several bones.

The life of an escape artist was dangerous, and Harry Houdini was the most famous.

If you were asked to name one magician, the odds are you would come up with the name Harry Houdini.

Like Clyde Beatty, Houdini was born when the circus and live acts were popular forms of entertainment.

In the late 1800s, Houdini became intoxicated with 'trapeze arts.'

But ultimately, magic captured Houdini's heart.

He was only mildly successful as a magician until he introduced handcuffs into his act.

With the handcuffs in his act, he became an escape artist - and in the early 1900s, he was one of the highest-paid performers in the country.

His trademark trick was the Chinese Water Torture Cell.

For this trick, he was suspended upside down by his feet. His ankles were locked into wooden stocks. He was then lowered into a large glass container filled with water.

Then he would try to escape.

While submerged underwater, Houdini would then free himself from this elaborate contraption.

The audience loved it.

The danger was real, but he escaped with his lock picking ability and natural athleticism.

But the 'King of Handcuffs,' as he became known, didn't die from the Chinese Water Torture Cell or any other dangerous trick.

What killed him was a problem that we often face at work today.

The Takeaway:

So what does someone throwing a piece of paper at Steve Jobs in a meeting, a 1900s lion tamer, and Harry Houdini's death have in common?

All are examples of the power of single-tasking and the 'myth of multitasking.'

Let's take a look.

You've likely read countless Steve Jobs' tales.

These stories usually show Jobs flawlessly performing in a presentation or expertly executing a meeting.

But this particular meeting with Lee Clow wasn't going well.

Jobs had thoughts about a new iMac computer commercial.

And the thoughts weren't positive.

The Apple CEO believed the iMac was revolutionary, and the 30-second commercial needed to show all its unique features.

The debate raged on.

Clow finally crumpled up one of the five pieces of paper on his desk and threw it at Jobs.

Ken Segall details this contentious meeting in his book Insanely Simple.

To be fair, Clow didn't throw the paper at Jobs in total frustration - although he was irritated at Jobs.

The paper throw was a demonstration.

When he threw the paper, Clow said, 'Here, Steve, catch.'

'Jobs easily caught it and threw it back.'

"'That's a good ad,' said Lee. Now catch this he said, as he threw all five paper balls in Steve's direction."

'Steve didn't catch a single one, and they bounced onto the table and floor.'

"'That's a bad ad,' Lee said'"

The demonstration worked.

Lee showed Jobs that giving the audience 4 or 5 things to think about is useless - the audience wouldn't 'catch' or remember any of them.

But if the ad focuses on one item—the single most compelling feature—then people will remember it.

In other words, they'll catch the singular message like Jobs caught a single paper ball.

And the audience would catch the message because their attention isn't divided by multiple messages.

Throwing the paper was a visual reminder and a masterclass showing that people can only focus on one item at a time.

In short, they can't multitask.

Jobs agreed to run the commercial that only focused on one of the fantastic features of the iMac.

***

And this is true in most jobs - multitasking doesn't work.

Scores of studies and hundreds of articles all detail 'the myth of multitasking.'

Intense focus or single-tasking, also called mono-tasking, is far more efficient - it's simply what works.

Everyone has multiple projects and often dozens of tasks on any given day.

But we accomplish these complex tasks one at a time.

People rarely get two or three things done simultaneously - because they can't.

Some are better at task-switching - bouncing back and forth between different tasks. But each activity is completed on its own, not together.

Great task-switchers appear to accomplish multiple things at once, but they don't.

Steve Jobs likely already knew this despite his insistence on producing a commercial with five key points.

But everyone, even visionary leaders, need reminders—sometimes visual ones—that it is nearly impossible to focus our attention on more than one thing at a time.

It's why Jobs didn't catch any of the five paper balls thrown at him.

His focus was divided.

***

And this brings us to the famed lion-tamer, Clyde Beatty.

Beatty frequently put himself in danger for his act.

Recall that he would enter the lion cage with a whip, a gun loaded with blanks, and a chair.

The whip was used in an emergency - to defend himself if needed.

The gun wasn't to shoot the lion. It was loaded with blanks, and the sound of the gunshot would scare away the lion if necessary.

But the chair was the most crucial tool Beatty brought into the cage.

But why a chair?

Because Beatty knew what Lee Clow showed Steve Jobs.

People—and, in Beatty's case, lions—can only focus on one thing at a time.

So why a chair?

The chair has four legs.

And Beatty would always grab the chair and hold it towards the lion.

And when you see a picture of lion tamers in a ring holding a chair, the legs always point toward the lion.

This is because the four legs of the chair confuse the lion.

The lion stares at the four legs and doesn't know what to do, so it often appears that the lion is almost in a daze.

The lion seems in a daze because its attention is divided by those four chair legs.

But to the audience, the lion has been 'tamed.'

The chair legs are like the paper balls thrown at Jobs - they distract. There are too many things to focus on.

The lion, like Jobs, couldn't multitask - neither could concentrate on multiple things at once.

None of us can.

And like the lion, people at work often seem to be in a daze when facing too many projects. The projects, at times, divide their attention.

Great workers can prioritize and task-switch to skillfully accomplish their tasks.

But they're not truly multitasking.

***

And what of Harry Houdini?

Houdini was good at mono-tasking.

He had to be.

The Chinese Water Torture Cell escape involved multiple steps.

Each step needed to be quick - he was underwater during this escape.

So, each task was quickly completed, and then he'd move to the next step.

Deliberate. Methodical. And fast.

Each step required singular focus because his life depended on it.

Even some of Houdini’s smaller tests and escapes were an exercise in focus.

Houdini occasionally asked people to punch him in the stomach as hard as possible.

Houdini would allow this to prove his 'invincibility.'

But even to complete this, he had to have singular focus and complete each step one at a time.

First, he'd take a deep breath. Then, he would hold the breath.

Next, he would flex his abdominal muscles as he prepared for the blow.

And then he'd let the person punch him.

These punches affected him very little because of his work as a boxer and his focused steps.

However, that would change.

On October 11, 1926, Houdini broke his ankle doing the Chinese Water Torture Cell trick.

But that injury didn't stop him from touring.

A few days later, on October 22 in Montreal, several McGill University students and fans visited Houdini before a show.

One of them was a student named J. Gordon Whitehead.

While Houdini sat on a couch resting his ankle, Whitehead asked Houdini if it was true that he could take anyone's most brutal punch.

Houdini said it was indeed true.

A moment later, a witness said Whitehead delivered 'four or five terribly forcible, deliberate well-directed blows' to Houdini's stomach.

Houdini was caught off guard, and the blows stunned him.

Houdini had been talking to others, sitting on a couch, thinking of his upcoming show while resting his broken ankle.

He was not expecting a series of vicious punches to his midsection.

Later that night, he complained of intense pain and stomach cramps.

His condition worsened the next day.

Cold sweats, more pain, and a fever of 104 degrees eventually led others to take him to a hospital.

Houdini died days later on halloween night.

There is much written about Houdini's death.

Most accounts attribute his death to a combination of appendicitis, overwork - and those vicious body blows by Whitehead.

Houdini was likely in bad shape before receiving those punches.

But when Whitehead punched Houdini, the magician was not focused on receiving punches as he usually would have been.

Houdini didn't inhale, he didn't hold his breath, he didn't flex his abdominal muscles, and he didn't mentally prepare.

Whitehead's blows likely wouldn't have caused Houdini so much trouble if he had been allowed to focus and prepare for those punches.

He wasn't trying to multitask the night he was punched, but his attention was scattered.

Like Jobs dropping the paper balls, like the lion mesmerized by the chair, Houdini's focus was divided.

And it cost him dearly.

A tech giant, a giant lion, and a famed escape artist - none could multitask.

And neither can we.

Focus must be directed to a singular task to truly do that task well.

Doing anything different will likely be frustrating and futile.

3 things before you go:

1. Listen: Benson Boone, Slow It Down: a quick, slow-building song that seems to be everywhere

2. Read: an article that shows sometimes small and simple is the way to go

3. Share: please share the3mix, if you enjoy it

Thanks for reading to the end. See you in 10 days.

-Jeff