Focus summary

Whenever you don’t check your email or phone for a while, do you find yourself fighting a remarkably strong urge to drop whatever you’re doing and take a peek? And if you do give in to the urge, do you feel somehow unsatisfied if there are no new messages waiting for you?

We live in distracting times. The constant urge to respond to the overwhelming amount of information and stimuli in our environment leads us to a state of continuous partial attention in which we leap carelessly from one thing to another, from our phones to our email to Facebook and in doing so weaken our ability to select what we pay attention to.

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. But choosing to pay attention to one thing rather than another involves a push-pull process between the bottom-up and top-down minds.

The bottom-up mind, responsible for our automatic and routine mental activity, is very fast, driven by our emotions, and impulsive. In contrast, the top-down mind, in charge of planning, reflection and learning new skills, is slower and requires voluntary attention and self-control.

It might not always be valuable to have a narrow focus or a goal-oriented type of attention. Sometimes it can be more effective to maintain an open awareness or mind-wandering. Rather than wandering away from what counts, we may well be wandering toward something valuable.

This is because allowing our minds to wander provides fertile ground for serendipitous insights.

Accomplishing goals requires strong focus, motivation and determination – all qualities that constitute strong willpower. And the more challenging the goal, the more willpower we require.

Our willpower plays a crucial role in determining the course of our lives. For example, it’s more probable that children who display a high level of willpower will become successful in their futures, compared to those who don’t show such self-control.

In order to have fulfilling interactions with others, we need to be empathetic, and empathy takes two main forms: cognitive empathy and emotional empathy.

Cognitive empathy is the kind that enables us to see the world through the eyes of others. It can help us to comprehend other people’s mental states and the ways in which they understand the world.

People tend to focus on what’s happening in their immediate environment and to plan only for the near future. The problem with this approach is that they neglect to deal with distant threats which might have a significant impact in the long run.

Yet this is part of our nature: distant threats simply don’t trigger the same sense of fear as more immediate ones like not being able to pay your rent, or getting into a heated argument with a loved one.

When it comes to leading a successful organization, focus is crucial. The ability to move an organization’s focus to the right place at the right time depends on the leader’s level of self-awareness.

While a high IQ score may land you the job, it’s not enough to make you an outstanding leader. Unless leaders have self-awareness, it’s unlikely they will make an inspiring leader.

Rather than being overly focused on the “prize” and remaining ignorant of the impact they have on the people around them, inspiring leaders strive to empower others and contribute to their community.

Of course, companies require their leaders to produce great results. But rather than simply instructing others to perform certain tasks, a good leader focuses on identifying and developing other people’s potential.

Successful leaders lead with a focus on the future. To do this requires exploring the broader context in which their organization operates, as this enables them to identify opportunities for growth in the market.

For example, Steve Jobs took the brave step of reorganizing Apple’s portfolio: rather than concentrating their efforts on many different products, Jobs decided that Apple should focus on just four computers – a desktop and a laptop, each for two markets: consumer and professional.

Attention is not an innate gift that you do or do not have. Rather, it’s a kind of mental muscle – one that you can strengthen and grow by exercise.

One way to do this is to learn to be aware of when your mind starts to wander and correct this by refocusing your attention on a given target.

Have you ever noticed that when you feel positive even the most difficult tasks seem much easier?

Why is this?