John Rush

Focus is Your Enemy unless you’re a genius.
 
 It makes you blind and deaf.
 
 You, an indie maker, are so focused on coding that you miss out on the little dealbreakers lurking around.
 
 You stack all incoming requests into a backlog because you hate getting out of the flow.
 
 But the reality is that most iconic little details are usually done right on the spot.
 Someone says something in a support chat or social media, and you engage in conversation, or you see an article/podcast, read it, and get a little eureka moment.
 
 But wait…this means you’re losing your focus, right? 
 
 You better send the user to your “feedback” board, which you will check out later when you finish your current tasks.
 
 This is why most introverted makers fail, in my opinion.
 
 Some are geniuses, and they just know what needs to be done. They don't even need to ask users. They tell users what users need. But better assume you're not a genius.
 
 You can’t close your eyes and ears.
 
 You must be listening to the users in real-time.
 
 You don’t choose when to listen to them, they do.
 
 Think of it as infants. You can't ignore an infant. If an infant cries at the most annoying moment, you still have to stop all what you were doing and react. 
 
 Anyone in the world who tells you anything about your product should be treated like an infant—at least until you gain some traction.
 
 If a user smells even a minor irritation in your tone, and they won't try hard to give you their feedback.
 
 When anyone says anything about your product(good or bad, poor or rich, American or Indian, paying or free, day or night), you must reply as if you were waiting for this all your life. 
 
 If you make people feel super grateful for this, they will put much more effort into telling you more. 
 
 You must love your users/non-users more than you love yourself. 
 
 At least, this is what they must be feeling.
 
 This is really hard, 
 it's uncomfortable,
 but that's where the gold is.
 
 Things have totally changed for me the day I realized this.