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To show you the power of attention, click on the link “The Monkey Business Illusion” and follow the directions.

It is CRAZY to realize that our focus can be so in touch with some things to the exclusion of others. Approximately 50% miss the gorilla and the two other transitions that take place. How can we miss something so obvious? Bow does that get past us? The real question is what are we currently missing in the lives of our Team Members that we should pay attention to? 

That experiment was conducted by two leading cognitive psychology researchers: Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons. It’s one of psychology’s most famous experiments. Here is a more indepth video on The Invisible Gorilla.

Well, for our purposes Today, let’s just say that when “distractions” appear it is most people’s full-time jobs, there’s no room to focus on anything meaningful!! When we combine the 4+ hours the average person spends watching TV with the 4+ hours they spend on their smartphones, DISTRACTION IS A FULL-TIME JOB!!
Daniel Simons states, “The key is that when you’re focusing your attention on one aspect of your world, you don’t have an unlimited amount of attention to devote to other things.” Something is going to suffer because of your inattention.

Author Goleman writes about the distraction being seen as far back as 1977 when Nobel Prize winning economist Herbert Simon wrote about the coming information rich world. He warned that what information consumes is the attention of its recipients – Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention. The million dollar question is how to properly rest your mental muscle for greater performance?

Stephen Kaplan at the University of Michigan discusses the power of nature in what he calls “attention restoration theory.” This restoration occurs when we switch from effortful attention, where the mind needs to suppress distractions, to letting go and allowing our attention to be captured by whatever presents itself. Therefore, experiencing nature walks has an amazing effect upon mental restoration.

So that we are clear and not misleading, the active ability to  FOCUS our attention is essential to excellence. But so is the ability to turn that part of our mind off and allow for a more open awareness of life around us.

Seneca, over 2,000 years ago wrote, “The mind should not be kept continuously at the same pitch of concentration, but given amusing diversions.” The largest lens for our FOCUS encompasses global perspectives as well as the needs of others around us.

Is it just for me, or for others?

For the benefit of a few, or the many?

For now, or for the future?

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