Get the key ideas from
Focus
The Hidden Driver of Excellence
Focus (2013) is a guidebook for nurturing today’s scarcest resource: attention. Using cutting-edge research, the book reveals that sharpening our focus in a world of endless distractions is the key to professional success and personal fulfillment. What makes Goleman’s contribution special is that the book expands the definition of “focus” beyond mere concentration and calls for a mindful life in which attention is paid to the self, to others and to the planet.
- Workers and students who wish to improve their focus and productivity
- Anyone who wants to learn the secret of living a focused, mindful life
- Leaders who want to channel their vision effectively and improve their relationships with employees
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and a former science journalist for the New York Times and the author of 13 books, including the bestseller Emotional Intelligence. He also lectures frequently for professionals and student groups.
Go Premium and get the best of Blinkist
Upgrade to Premium now and get unlimited access to the Blinkist library. Read or listen to key insights from the world’s best nonfiction.
Upgrade to PremiumWhat is Blinkist?
The Blinkist app gives you the key ideas from a bestselling nonfiction book in just 15 minutes. Available in bitesize text and audio, the app makes it easier than ever to find time to read.
Start free trialDiscover
3,000+ top
nonfiction titles
Get unlimited access to the most important ideas in business, investing, marketing, psychology, politics, and more. Stay ahead of the curve with recommended reading lists curated by experts.
Start free trialJoin Blinkist to get the key ideas from
Get the key ideas from
Get the key ideas from
Focus
The Hidden Driver of Excellence
- Read in 19 minutes
- Audio & text available
- Contains 12 key ideas
Synopsis
Focus (2013) is a guidebook for nurturing today’s scarcest resource: attention. Using cutting-edge research, the book reveals that sharpening our focus in a world of endless distractions is the key to professional success and personal fulfillment. What makes Goleman’s contribution special is that the book expands the definition of “focus” beyond mere concentration and calls for a mindful life in which attention is paid to the self, to others and to the planet.
Key idea 1 of 12
Attention is the key to high performance in a world of endless distractions.
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.
However, it is possible for us to focus, even when we’re surrounded by activity and stimuli. What we need is strong selective attention. Indeed, the stronger our ability to select what we focus on, the better we are at ignoring potential distractions.
For example, journalists in an open-plan office at the New York Times manage to focus on their work and meet deadlines despite being surrounded by noise and other distractions. None of these journalists ever demand quiet so they can concentrate better.
But not everyone’s selective attention is as strong. Most of us tend to daydream while we’re at work or distract ourselves with other time-wasting activities. For that reason, it’s crucial to increase our selective attention so we can ignore external distractions and accomplish our tasks.
However, the distractions that engulf us not only threaten to waste our time and reduce our productivity, they also diminish our ability to immerse ourselves in a subject, reducing our chances of reaching a state of flow and thus learning and discovering new things. In fact, this issue is so prominent that internet addiction among young people has already been identified as a national health problem in many Asian countries.
So if we can develop our ability to ignore distractions and focus well, we can help to increase our performance, and enable ourselves to have more profound reflections and deeper insights.
Key ideas in this title
- Attention is the key to high performance in a world of endless distractions.
- Life “on automatic” diminishes our experience of the present moment.
- All types of attention are valuable; open awareness is vital for creative breakthroughs.
- Focus on improving your willpower – it’s one of the key factors in achieving “inner focus.”
- Focus on building your empathy – it will help you navigate within any social context.
- Outer focus – pay attention to the larger context and manage your impact.
- Great leadership hinges on effectively capturing and directing the attention of a collective.
- Inspiring leaders look beyond their own comfort and are motivated to help other people to become successful.
- Successful leaders are aware of the larger context in which they operate.
- Meditation will help you focus on one thing and keep track of your attention span.
- Think happy thoughts: positive thinking is vital for sustaining motivation and achieving goals.
- Final summary
