How things get done
I can say from experience that as you get older and develop a broader understanding of the world, two things conspire against your focus; old ideas presented as new ideas, and scars of things not done.<p>In the first case you will find you are presented with some "new idea" which is so revolutionary it has its own set of buzzwords, its own methodology, and its own unique values. Except that it isn't new, its like those folks who drag up popular HN posts from 2 or 3 or 4 years ago and re-post them for the quick karma hit. There is are people who re-wrap old ideas and pass them off like holiday presents at a white elephant gift exchange. The trick there is to spend enough focus points to validate that the idea isn't really all that new, identify where (and if) it varies from what you've already seen/heard/done and then either discard or integrate it into the same slot.<p>The second is tougher. There was a really funny skit on Saturday Night Live where two psychics meet for their first date. As psychics they foresee all of the events from first date to heady romance to angry bittering to rejection and separation. They decide not to go out. As an experienced entrepreneur it can be really disheartening to be asked to walk down a road you've been down one or more times before where you know there is a pit of pain at the end of it. And then not proceed knowing the probable outcome without risking the possible better outcome. For example, try to find anyone, who did any startup in the 90's. to do a startup where you are selling pet food over the Internet.<p>Because of these effects I think experience can really have a damaging effect on focus if you don't actively work to avoid it.