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!