{"id":89806,"date":"2023-01-18T11:58:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T15:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=89806"},"modified":"2023-01-26T13:12:15","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T17:12:15","slug":"focus-the-hidden-driver-of-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focus-the-hidden-driver-of-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence\u2014Book Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is mind-wandering beneficial? Can attention be trained? How can systems awareness<\/a> make you a better leader?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Focus<\/em>: The Hidden Driver of Excellence<\/em>, Daniel Goleman explores how you can understand, harness, and improve your attention. This results in a more fulfilling, productive life<\/a> as you become a healthier, more adaptive, and more engaged citizen of society and the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more for an overview of this practical book<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Overview of Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Goleman argues that attention is a complex and underappreciated cognitive resource in our modern society overrun with distractions. Your relationship to this resource\u2014how you use it, strengthen it, and restore it\u2014affects virtually every aspect of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Focus<\/em>: The Hidden Driver of Excellence<\/em>, he asks readers to consider that what you focus on indicates what you care about\u2014what we, as a collective, care about\u2014and how this will impact the planet’s future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goleman is a psychologist and science journalist known for his work on emotional intelligence and leadership<\/a>. His work has been widely influential in psychology, education, and business. In addition to his writing, Goleman is also a speaker and consultant, and he has worked with organizations around the world to help them improve their leadership and management practices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll explore Goleman\u2019s explanations of how attention works and his theories about the three directions we can deploy our attention\u2014inward, toward other people, and outward toward the wider world. We\u2019ll also explore how attention impacts our lives and Goleman\u2019s advice on how you can improve your attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Authors Have Advice on Focus<\/strong>

Many other authors have also explored the topic of focus, providing advice and guides on how to reclaim your ability to focus and resist distractions. This subgenre includes Deep Work<\/em><\/a> by Cal Newport, which offers practical techniques for cultivating attention and maximizing<\/a> productivity, Hyperfocus<\/em><\/a> by Chris Bailey, which helps you learn to optimize your focus, and Indistractable<\/em><\/a> by Nir Eyal, which helps you understand and fix your relationship with distraction. Although Goleman addresses some ways to improve your focus<\/a>, it is less a how-to guide and more a sweeping and detailed dive into cognition and how attention affects our lives. Another book that has similarly approached attention is Stolen Focus<\/em><\/a> <\/em>by Johann Hari, which diagnoses the modern \u201ccrisis of attention.\u201d<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Understanding Attention<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Goleman highlights three fundamental characteristics of attention<\/a> that we must understand as we explore more specific aspects of this mental resource:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Attention is indivisible. <\/strong>You can\u2019t divide your attention between multiple things simultaneously, as in multitasking. You can only switch your attention back and forth between things. <\/li>
  2. Attention is like a muscle<\/strong>. Its strength is limited but it can be improved. <\/li>
  3. Attention is like a camera<\/strong>. To achieve different goals you can move your attention in different directions and switch between focused and unfocused states.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Goleman highlights two system-wide processes in the brain and body\u2014\u201cbottom-up processing\u201d and \u201ctop-down processing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bottom-up processing <\/strong>is an involuntary cognitive process driven by raw sensory data, impulses, and emotions. With bottom-up processing, your responses to the world are rapid, instinctual, and habitual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Top-down processing <\/strong>is a conscious, voluntary, and effortful cognitive process that integrates the information it receives from the bottom up and helps you deliberate and reason before responding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Open Awareness Versus Selective Attention<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Bottom-up and top-down processing<\/a> produce different states of attention. Goleman highlights two such states, open awareness<\/a><\/em> and selective attention<\/a><\/em>, each of which our brain uses in different contexts toward different goals. Your mind passes back and forth between these different attention states during the day depending on what is happening inside and around you and what you aim to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Shortform note: Goleman\u2019s choice to spotlight these two states of attention is unique for several reasons: a) They are far from being the only types,<\/a> and b) open awareness is not a term often used in cognitive science\u2014it\u2019s more closely associated with meditation teachings<\/a>. In centering these two states, Goleman is making a case for what he believes are the most consequential types of attention and blurring the line between science and contemplative traditions.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Open Awareness<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Open Awareness <\/strong>is a state of fluid, passive attention where you are not focusing on one specific thing or task. Instead, you allow your thoughts to drift\u2014what Goleman calls mind-wandering<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Being in a state of open awareness can spark enormous creativity and sudden flashes of insight. Goleman highlights mind-wandering as your brain\u2019s \u201cdefault mode.\u201d When you aren\u2019t deliberately focusing on one thing<\/a>, your mind naturally drifts from topic to topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Goleman stresses that mind-wandering is a natural and important process that benefits our lives by facilitating self-reflection and problem-solving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On the downside, mind-wandering carries our attention away from the present moment\u2014we make more errors, cause more accidents, and comprehend less in this state of mind. And mind-wandering can also encompass an adverse mental state of rumination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To enter states of open awareness, you need time and space free of interruptions. You cannot force mind-wandering\u2014you must take a wandering mind when it comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Selective Attention<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    Selective attention helps your brain select what is relevant to pay attention to and choose where you direct your attention<\/a>. Working to develop selective attention skills\u2014which you can do because it involves top-down processing\u2014will support you in having greater productivity, willpower, and better mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Three Directions of Attention<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Goleman outlines three main directions you can aim your attention: inward, toward others, and outward. These three directions of attention<\/a> represent three sets of attention skills that can support you in every significant aspect of your life and help you reach your full potential<\/a>. These skills are self-awareness and willpower (Inner), empathy and social awareness (Other), and systems awareness (Outer). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    (Shortform note: You can think of each of the three directions as levels that build on one another. Without developing the inner focus skill of self-awareness and paying attention to how you<\/em> feel, for example, it would be challenging to meaningfully focus on others<\/a> with empathy and pay attention to how they<\/em> feel.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He writes that, when you’ve mastered the attention skills necessary for each of these directions, you’ll master emotional intelligence<\/em> (a combination of self-awareness, empathy, and social skills), which, he argues, underpins all successful relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How Strong Attention Skills Can Build Emotional Intelligence<\/strong>

    Goleman goes into more detail about emotional intelligence in his book Emotional Intelligence<\/em><\/a>. He defines it as the ability to understand and manage our own emotions and the emotions of others. He outlines five components of emotional intelligence, each of which relies on some aspect of attention. The five main components of emotional intelligence are:

    \u2022     Knowing your emotions<\/a>, which requires self-awareness.
    \u2022     Managing your emotions<\/a>, which requires selective attention skills.
    \u2022     Recognizing emotions in others,<\/a> which requires empathy and social awareness.
    \u2022     Motivating yourself<\/a>, which requires self-awareness and willpower.
    \u2022     Handling your relationships<\/a>, which requires self-awareness, empathy, and sometimes systems awareness when your relationships are embedded within a team or organization.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Inner Focus<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Goleman highlights two essential life skills that inner focus can help you develop: self-awareness and willpower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Self-awareness<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

    When you have keen self-awareness, you can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n