Few things have more of an impact on your life and career than the ability to zero in on what really matters. Most information is irrelevant. Most of your time is wasted. Knowing what to ignore is the key to unlocking another level.

In the process, we skip the most important thing of all: our mind.

Einstein’s greatest skill was the ability to sift the essential from the inessential — to grasp simplicity when everyone else was lost in the clutter.

Only a master can make the complicated simple. Only a master can see the simple point that others miss.

“I soon learned,” Einstein wrote, “to scent out what was able to lead to fundamentals and to turn aside from everything else, from the multitude of things that clutter up the mind.”

The biggest mistake that most of us make is that we try to consume more information without understanding what’s relevant and what’s not.

The constant search for more is the natural response of someone who doesn’t truly understand what matters and what doesn’t. Often, wanting more information is a sign you don’t understand the problem. If you understood the problem, you’d want specific information.

Most information is irrelevant. Most of our time spent chasing it is wasted. But only those who can learn to sift the essential from the inessential, only those who can learn to see the simplicity, know what to ignore.

The skills to better filter and process are within our grasp: (1) focus on understanding basic, timeless, general principles of the world and use them to help filter people, ideas, and projects; (2) take time to think about what we’re trying to achieve and the 2-3 variables that will most help us get there; (3) remove the inessential clutter from our lives; (4) think backwards about what we want to avoid.