“Prophetic words were written by Nobel laureate Gerber Simon in 1977: “Information absorbs attention. Consequently, the wealth of information gives rise to the impoverishment of attention and the need to dispose of it as efficiently as possible. About this — in Daniel Goleman’s book «Focus. About attention, distraction and success in life”, which was read for us by Anastasia Gosteva.
“Attention is a subtle property of our psyche, which underlies all human mental functions. What we pay attention to determines what we see, how we feel, and what reality we live in. If we do not manage attention, we do not actually manage ourselves and our lives. But in the world of gadgets and a huge number of distractions, this is increasingly difficult to do. The typical 10-12 year old teenager receives and sends about 100 messages a day. Adults now and then check their smartphones, forgetting about those around them, whether it is an important meeting at work or dinner in the family circle. It is enough to look around to understand Daniel Goleman’s main thesis: inattention costs us too much, and it’s time to change something.
Goleman identifies three types of focus available to us. The first (self-awareness) is responsible for our personal well-being. If we are not able to pay attention to the pain signals of our body in time, we can miss the first signs of the disease. By being aware of our emotions, we live a more fulfilling life. The second type of focus (empathy) is related to how we are able to empathize with and understand the feelings of other people. The third type of focus (external) affects how we are able to see the hidden connections that permeate all levels of life on a macro scale, and to understand how decisions made here and now affect the distant corners of the world and future generations. All the major problems of our time, from refugees from Syria to environmental disasters, are the result of the fact that world leaders are not ready to think in terms of the planet.
Attention is like a muscle: if we train it, it develops, if we do not load it, it becomes flabby. Hence the main conclusion of the book: in the modern world, we must specially train attention. Goleman said that he fully realized the seriousness of the problem when he came with his idea to the publisher. “I want to write a book about attention deficit,” Goleman said. «Fabulous! the publisher replied. “Just make it shorter, otherwise no one will read to the end.” Apparently, it is with this order that the Focus leaves a slightly chaotic impression — it is, in fact, a lot of short essays collected in a collage. To keep the reader’s attention, the author pours in facts and curious examples, the abundance of which is sometimes tiring. Nevertheless, it is one of the most important books of the decade.»