Bailey Chris - Hyperfocus: how to manage your attention in a world of distraction

The Productivity Project

Im writing these words over the sounds of clanging cutlery and muffled conversation at a small diner in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Ive always been a fan of people-watching. Theres so much to take inhow they dress, walk, converse, and act when theyre either around or not around others. At a busy caf, or at a diner like this, its fun to see personalities collide like particles in an accelerator; to observe a guys personality change when he switches from talking to his friend to chatting up the waitress; to watch the personalities of waitstaff shift when serving each table, adapting to large families, young couples.

In focusing on other people, Ive made a lot of observations about what those people are focusing on. In any given moment, we are all focusing on something, even if were just lost in our internal thoughts. Lets take a glance through the diner.

I turn my attention first to the two twentysomething girls at the table to my left, who are mostly focusing on their smartphones instead of each other. Between bouts of texting, they flip their phones facedown on the table. This, it seems, is a pretty pointless gesturetheyve picked them back up thirty seconds later. While I cant make out their every word, I can tell theyre skimming the surface of the conversation they could be having. Theyre with each other in person, but their attention is elsewhere.

Or take the couple across the room. Theyre engrossed in a conversation fueled by hot coffee and buttermilk pancakes. They were engaged in relatively quiet small talk when they arrived, but their conversation soon became more animated. Unlike the girls, this couple has focused only on each other since sitting down.

A catchy Ed Sheeran song comes on over the restaurants speakers, and my attention is drawn to the two guys sitting a few tables over from the couple. One of them subtly taps his foot to the beat while his friend orders. The foot tapper is presumably spreading his attention across three things: the song, what his friend is ordering, and his own breakfast decision. After he orders the Three Egg Express, when the server asks how hed like his eggs prepared, he directs his attention inward, seemingly recalling how he usually takes them. He orders scrambled.

At the bar are a few strangers making idle conversation while watching last nights football highlights. I find it especially fascinating that millions of people around the world, including these three guys, are fixated on an eleven-inch piece of tanned cowhide. As I watch, one of the guys cocks his head, lost in thought. Then, as though a shock wave was traveling through his body, he rushes to capture an idea in his pocketed notepad. While he was lost in a daydream, and to the tune of football highlights, an insight struck from out of the blue. He had a eureka moment.

Or take me, sitting here with my laptop. This morning, as I sip coffee and nibble home fries, Ive been able to focus more deeply on my work and have more energy to burn. My morning meditation may have helpedI find Im able to write more words when I take part in this ritual (40 percent more, by my calculations). 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 Ill discuss later, disconnecting is one of the most powerful ways to spark new and innovative ideas. The music playing on the restaurant speakers is catchy, but not enough to be distracting. Im not here for the soundtrack, though, and also chose this diner over my favorite caf because theres no wi-ficonstant connectivity is one of the worst disruptions to our focus and productivity. As the last few paragraphs demonstrate, I am a bit distracted by the environment and the people its hosting, but theyre serving as good fodder for this introduction.

This restaurant scene is a handy illustration of a revelation I had awhile back: attention is all around us. Once you see it, you cant unsee it. Everyone awake on the planet, in this one momentwhether theyre eating breakfast, working, or spending time with their familyis focused on something. Attention is the backdrop against which we live our lives wherever we go and whatever we do, even if were just noticing the thoughts in our head.

It has been a few years since I first began to explore how we can not only focus better but also think more clearly. While this is tough to admit, especially as someone who was making his living as a productivity expert, I started to notice my own increased distraction, especially as I accumulated more devices. I had never been so busy while accomplishing so little. I had grown restless with boredom and a lack of stimulation and was trying to cram as much into every moment as I could. I knew that my brain never functioned well when I was trying 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. For me, this book was born out of necessity: I wrote it because I needed it.

When I get excited by a new idea, I typically order dozens of books on it and nerd out about that topic. Focus has been my most recent fascination. This includes how we can best manage the distractions around us; multitask more effectively, if thats possible (it is); battle our resistance to focusing on tasks that make us procrastinate; and also better