Attention at Work: Focus and Presence in a Distracted World

This lesson highlights many benefits associated with improving your ability to manage your attention. We also share how we define the superpower of managing attention.

You’ll notice that we describe managing attention as a “superpower for life.” In case the double meaning does not jump out at you, this is a superpower for living, AND a superpower you can use for the rest of your life.

Learn about the difference between internal and external distractions and interruptions

This is the first of a handful of experiential activities. Instead of trying to describe these ideas to you, you will experience them first-hand. This is a powerful way to learn.

For some of you, “following your attention” will be a new and interesting experience. For any of you that are familiar or practiced at this, engaging in this brief activity will help set the stage for additional activities to follow.

Have you ever thought about the geography or the landscape of attention? For many of us, the answer to that question is "no."

In order to be more intentional about managing our attention, it is helpful to have a big-picture sense of the terrain that our attention moves in and through. Without giving away the punch line, there are three “places” in this geography that you will learn about in this lesson.

Now that we’ve defined the geography of attention, here’s an experiential activity where you will have a chance to integrate that information into the process of following your attention.

In this third activity, we’ll now introduce even more conscious involvement on your part. Instead of letting your attention run free as with the first two activities, you will now be asked to intentionally move your attention to a given place within the geography of attention.

Bringing your attention to your body, as we’ve discussed, is one way to bring yourself to the present moment. In this lesson we walk you through a closed-eye exercise to focus your attention on your body, most notably your breath.

If you have meditated before or have a meditation practice, this brief activity will be familiar to you. While there is often much “more” going on in a meditation, it’s important to note that managing attention is a key component of all types of meditation and mindfulness practices.

Here’s a quick recap of the learning points from the prior activities. We also thank Gary Sherman for allowing us to use his material as well as share one of our favorite quotes on the topic of managing attention.

Managing your attention is powerful. Even small shifts in your ability to manage your attention can have a big impact.

Attention = experience = life. Remember, your attention determines your experience, and your experiences make up your life.

This is a recording of the Day 1 session of a recent 2-Day Coach Your Self Up challenge led by Mike. It highlights that Managing Attention is a pillar of self-coaching and will show you how you can utilize your improved attention skills to support your ongoing personal growth.