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1-Page Summary of Focus

Overview

Have you ever felt that the distractions around you are holding you back from improving your skills, doing better work and living a more fulfilling life? Today’s society is filled with potential distractions: your smartphone, email, even thoughts about where to go on vacation. As these things distract us we become less effective in our jobs and lives.

Daniel Goleman takes a look at the definition of focus. He also looks beyond it to help people live more focused lives. By paying attention to ourselves, others and larger contexts such as our planet and the future, we can gain a richer, fuller existence.

This book draws on many real-life examples to help readers enhance their level of attention. The author suggests ways to practice mindfulness, positive thinking and focused preparation.

In this article, you will learn about the benefits of mind wandering and how it can help you accomplish your goals. You’ll also find out why empathy is a great quality for leaders to have. In addition, you’ll discover how willpower works like a muscle and how doing something that you love can make accomplishing tasks much easier when we’re stressed. Finally, you will learn why having a positive attitude helps us think more clearly while dealing with stress.

Big Idea #1: Attention is critical to success in today’s information age.

In today’s world, we are constantly bombarded with information and stimuli. We have an urge to check our email or phone in case of new messages. When we do give in to the urge, it feels unsatisfying when there is nothing waiting for us. The constant distraction leads us to a state of continuous partial attention where we leap from one thing to another without fully engaging ourselves in any task at hand.

However, we can focus despite being surrounded by noise and distractions. What’s needed is the ability to selectively pay attention to what you want while ignoring other things. For example, journalists at The New York Times are able to complete their work even in an open-plan office full of noise and distractions. They never demand quiet because they have a strong ability to select what they pay attention to.

Not everyone has good selective attention. They can’t ignore distractions and focus on the task at hand, which reduces their productivity. In addition, it’s hard to immerse yourself in a subject when you’re constantly distracted by other things and your ability to learn new things is reduced. This issue is so prevalent that internet addiction among young people has been identified as a national health problem in many Asian countries.

So if we can ignore distractions and focus well, we’ll be able to perform better.

Big Idea #2: When we live life on auto-pilot, we don’t really experience the present moment.

Having the ability to focus is obviously an advantage, both in life and work, as it enables us to get into a flow state and perform better. However, we pay attention to things based on factors that are either bottom-up or top-down.

The mind has two parts, one of which is fast and impulsive while the other is slower. The first part automatically drives our emotions and routines in life while the second part plans things out, reflects on them, and learns new skills.

People who rely on their top-down minds are more likely to lose focus and become unaware of the world around them. For example, there was a time when people would wait in line for a photocopier. One psychologist decided to ask some people to move up in line by saying that they needed copies made.

People often ask others to use the copier when they’re done with it.