3 Lessons About Focus - The Highest Leverage Resource We Have: My Takeaways From Completing A Success Workshop With High Performers From Around The World
4 times a year, I attend a Success Workshop with high performers from around the world.
In January, we discussed the wisdom from Johann Hari's book, Stolen Focus.
Here are my 3 key takeaways from our workshop on focus.
1. Mastering focus can turn an ordinary person into an extraordinary achiever
In a world brimming with distractions, true focus is a superpower.
In 1990, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote a book called Flow.
He described flow as a state we enter when we are completely relaxed and focused. To enter a flow state, set a meaningful goal that challenges you and is at the edge of your ability.
Working in a flow state is where you'll achieve your best work.
2. We incur a cost every time we get distracted
According to MIT Professor Owen Miller, it takes 23 minutes to regain focus after a distraction. Being distracted costs us.
- Memory Cost - We're less likely to remember things when we split our attention.
- Creativity Cost - Switching attention between tasks lowers our IQ by 10 points.
- Mistake Cost - We're more likely to make mistakes when switching between tasks.
- Switching Cost - We can only focus on one thing at a time, and refocusing uses time and energy.
3. We have different kinds of attention
Most people fail not because of a lack of talent but because they never truly learn to focus.
Former Google Engineer Dr James Williams outlined 3 types of attention that help us focus and achieve our goals.
- Spotlight Attention is our ability to focus on immediate tasks.
- Starlight Attention allows us to focus on medium-term goals.
- Daylight Attention is what we use to focus our attention inward on our life.
