What is focused attention?
Paying attention is a concept that comes to us as second nature, but what is focused attention?. Attention itself is really a natural function of the body. This is because we are all constantly in a state of paying attention to different details of everything happening in the environment around us. Little children, as we all know, find it difficult to keep their attention on one thing for too long before they run after the next shiny object!
Human beings have evolved their survival instincts by learning to avoid predators while hunting for food to eat, which means that any movement observed even out of the corner of your eye will instantly catch your attention. Because of this natural instinct, our attention shifts between a broad range of stimuli, and it is up to us to decide whether we want to pay attention to something, and for how long. In five short minutes, you may have paid attention to 5 or more stimuli!!
Focus, on the other hand, requires that you pay attention to something for a prolonged period of time while tuning out everything else. This means that you need to learn to say "NO" to certain things. Most people can relate to this not being always easy. Hence, focus is an act of will rather than a reflex, and it is a skill you learn which you can only improve with practice. It is therefore necessary to accomplishing goals and tasks you set out for yourself such as taking training on this platform, developing your website and writing blogs, to name a few!
In summary, focus means selecting between important and unimportant things in any given moment and eliminating distractors from our attention span. There can be no focus without saying “YES” to some of the raging stimuli clamoring for attention around us, and saying “NO” to others. Learn to say "NO" more often to distracting stimuli to get more work done!
Recent Comments
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Hi Cecilia,
Thanks so much for sharing the "paying attention" to "focusing" difference.
I suppose like many, I have a problem with staying focused. It should be easy in the natural sense since in our "senior years" things are pretty quiet with not too many distractions
But on the positive side, I am better at focusing than I was 10 years ago. It will always be a struggle even in my final years, but I am working to stay focused as best I can.
Bill
Hi Bill,
Delighted that this resonates with you and that you are already self aware. To be quite honest, I reside in a small businesses world of productivity, efficiency etc and know lots of tips and hacks that you can adopt. Focus is like a muscle - the harder you exercise it, the better it becomes. I will send you a couple of tips to help you improve your focus via DM (:-)
Ceci
I really enjoyed reading this Cecilia as I practice what I call conscious focus when I'm working. The challenge is that when I am writing or creating I can guarantee that someone will want to chat with me right then. It won't be something important but I've found that I do need to make them feel listened to. (I think women more often get this working at home.)
So I've worked on being present while maintaining my focus on what I was doing. It is like I lock my mind on what I'm doing whilst appearing to listen and answer, which I am. In a perfect world, we could shut our office door and just get it done but life isn't perfect.
It's a skill that we all need to have if we want to be consistent in our business and treat our family with respect.
Occasionally, I just want to yell at them to leave me alone! LOL
Lily
Hi Lily,
Thanks for your honesty. Many of us really find it challenging to remain focussed - which is concentrating on ONLY ONE task or activity in a given timeframe.
We all tend to believe that we can multi-task - but there's a lag while your brain shifts attention from one task to the other and back again. While it feels like the shift is seamless, it actually takes time AND energy. There are scientific studies demonstrating this ( e.g. American Psychological Association, Stanford U).
Which is why your brain is operating in a frustrating red light/green light way and you end up waning to yell at the folks causing this! Ha!Ha! Productivity is an area of my specialiization, so we can chat further via DM should you desire (:-)
Thanks for stopping to read the article.
Ceci
Thanks, Ceci,
Unless you can make my family disappear I guess there isn't anything to do. Lol.
Lily
Hi Cecilia
An excellent post on a very important subject that comes up time and time again. I could bore you into submission on the way the brain and mind work... but won't.
The biggest challenge is noticing interruptions as they arise (whether internal or external) to a point of awareness where we are consciously able to make the decision to say yes or no as appropriate.
Most people just allow the interruption to take over with little or no awareness of their options.
Becoming aware takes practice (as I'm sure you know).
Thank you
:-)
Richard
Hi Richard,
You are so right! Not being self aware is three quarters of the trouble and once again, as you rightly deduced, it requires that you create a new habit to do so. Don't be mistaken though, we all still fall down the rabbit hole of distractions - including yours truly - and I am a productivity expert! The difference though is that BECAUSE you are self aware, you can quickly take certain steps to pull yourself out.
Thanks for your comment. (:-)
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Very true, indeed! This made me think for a minute, Cecelia!
Jeff
Awesome Jeffrey! Delighted I got you thinking Ha!Ha!Ha!
Me too, Cecelia! Enjoy your weekend (Frisatsu)!
Jeff