Why focus matters

Pg.2

I left my phone at home so I could write distraction free, and so my mind could rest on the walk to the diner, and wander. As I'll disucss later, disconnecting is one of the most powerful ways to spark new and innovative ideas.

Pg.3

..Chose this diner over favorite cafe because there's no wi-fi-- constant connectivity is one of the worst disruptions to our focus and productivity.

Pg.3

I knew that my brain never functioned well when I was tring to multitask, but I felt compelled to do it anyway. Working with my email client open and my smartphone on my desk was simply more appealing than trying to concentrate on one or two simple things.

Pg.4

Curiously, research shows that what lets us focus when reading isn't the complexity of a paper or article- it's how interested we are in what we're reading.

Pg.5

I also found that we encounter more distraction today than we have in the entire history of humanity.

Pg.5

I went from viewing multitasking as a stimulating work hack to ragarding it as a tarap of continuous interruptions. While trying to do more task simulataneously, we prevent ourselves from fininshing any one task of significance. And I began to discover that by focussing deeply on just one important thing at a time- hyperfocusing- we become the most productive version of ourselves.

Pg.5

On the surface, the results can seem a bit like magic, but magic stops being magic the moment you know how it's done.

How to better focus on this book

Pg.7

Put your phone out of sight
- When your mind is even slightly resisting a task, it will look for more novel things to focus on.
- ...Distractions and interruptions are infinitely easier to deal with before they become a temptation.
Mind your environment
- Modifying your environment is one of the top ways to cultivate your focus.
Make a distractions list
- Whenever I have to focus, I adopt the two tactis mentioned above- and I also bring a pen and a notepad with me. In the notepad I write every distraction that makes its way into my mind- things I need to follow up on, tasks I can't forget, new ideas, and so on.
Question whether this book is worth consuming at all
- Take time to weight the value of your routine consuption. A tactic I find helpful is to view the descriptions of books, TV shows, podcasts, and everything else as "pitches" for your time and attention. Ask youself: After consuming one of those products, will you be happy with how you invested our time and attention?
- Just as you are what you eat, you are what you pay attention to. Attention is finite and the most valuable ingredient you have to live a good life- so make sure everything you consume is worth of it.
Consume some Caffeine before reading
- If it's not too late in the day- caffeine takes 8-14 hours to metabolize out of your system- consider reading along a cup of coffee or tea.
- Caffeine boosts your mental and physical performance in virutally every measurable way. Use this energy boosts wisely to work on an important task to read this book.
Grab a Pen or Highlighter
- When I finish that first read, I go thorough the book a second time, rereading just the highlighted parts so I can really process the most valuable nuggets.
When you notice your focus wavering
- For now, though when you do notice your focus fading, step back from this book for a few minutes to do something relatively mindless. Whether it's washing the dishes, people watching, or cleaing the house, you'll effectively recharge your attention. Once your focus has been reset, return to the book with a fresh mind.

Hyperfocus

Switching off Autopilot mode

Autopilot mode

Pg.15 Our not plotting out in detail everythin we do and every decision we make is, for the most part, a good thing. I made the series of decisions involved in purchasing many of my books in autopilot mode. Autopilot mode enables us to keep up with the demands of our life. For example, imagine if every email response requireedd you to draft your answer in a new Word document. From there, you'd hvae to reread it several timessend it to your significant other for improvements, and print it once or twice to do line edits, only to arrive several hours later at a final, eloquent "Sure, sounds good!". This might be a productive thing to do for an important project, but for every email? Imagine being just as deliberate buying ketchup, taking out the trash, or brushing your teeth.

Pg.16 Unless you're a monk and have the luxury of being able to meditate all day, it's impossible to live intentionally 100 percent of the time.

But some decisions are worth making deliberately. How we manage our attention is one of them.

One of the most underrated skills: letting other people finish their sentences before starting yours.

How frequently do you choose waht to focus on? In other words, roughly how much of your time do you spend deliberately and with intention, deciding in advance what you want to do and when you'll do it?

We lead busy lives, and at most we only occasionally choose to focus on something intentionally-- when we catch ourselves daydreaming, sense tht we've been procrastinating, fall into the trap of bouncing around the same several apps or websites, or realize we've zoned out while watching our kids.

This is the intentional end of this page.