Hyperfocus: How to Manage Your Attention in a World of Distraction

by Chris Bailey

This is why switching off autopilot mode is so critical. Directing your attention toward the most important object of your choosing—and then sustaining that attention—is the most consequential decision we will make throughout the day. We are what we pay attention to.

Becoming aware of what you’re thinking about is one of the best practices for managing your attention. The more you notice what’s occupying your attentional space, the faster you can get back on track when your mind begins to wander, which it does a remarkable 47 percent of the time.

Simply noticing what is occupying our attentional space has been shown to make us more productive.

Filling the rest of your attentional space with habitual, mindless tasks is often not the best way to use spare attention, so when possible, avoid loading it to the brim.

We have to work with intention as much as possible—this is especially true when we have more to do than time within which to do it. Intention enables us to prioritize so we don’t overload our attentional space. Doing so also leaves us feeling more calm: just as you likely feel uncomfortable after overeating, stuffing your attentional space with too many tasks can make you feel unsettled.

Simplifying what we focus on in the moment may feel counterintuitive: when we have so much to get done, our natural impulse is to focus on as much as possible.

Continually seeking novel stimuli makes us feel more productive—after all, we’re doing more in each moment. But again, just because we’re busier doesn’t mean we’re getting more accomplished.

An unfortunate truth is that the brain is not built to do knowledge work—it’s wired for survival and reproduction.

Being busy doesn’t make us productive. It doesn’t matter how busy we are if that busyness doesn’t lead us to accomplish anything of importance. Productivity is not about cramming more into our days but about doing the right thing in each moment.

Technology speeds up time by tempting us in each moment to fill our attention to the brim. This leads us to remember less, because it is only when we pay attention to something that our brain actively encodes it into memory.

When we make our attentional space juggle too many tasks, we fail to notice and remember the details of our most important work.

Hyperfocus means you’re less busy, because you’re permitting fewer objects into your attentional space.

When it comes to your most important tasks, the fewer things you pay attention to, the more productive you become.

The most important aspect of hyperfocus is that only one productive or meaningful task consumes your attentional space.

You enter into hyperfocus when you engage both your thoughts and your external environment and direct them at one thing intentionally.

To hyperfocus, you must choose a productive or meaningful object of attention; eliminate as many external and internal distractions as you can; focus on that chosen object of attention; and continually draw your focus back to that one object of attention.

I’ll repeat this point frequently, as it’s one of the most important ideas in this book: again, research shows that our mind wanders for 47 percent of the day. In other words, if we’re awake for eighteen hours, we’re engaged in what we’re doing for just eight of them. It’s normal for our mind to wander, but the key is to center it so we can spend time and attention on what’s actually in front of us.

The concept of hyperfocus can be summed up in a single tranquil sentence: keep one important, complex object of attention in your awareness as you work.

Attention without intention is wasted energy.

By forcing yourself to pick just three main intentions at the start of each day, you accomplish several things. You choose what’s important but also what’s not important—the constraints of this rule push you to figure out what actually matters.

If you have a lot of tasks on your to-do list, ask yourself: which are the most consequential?

When your hourly chime rings, ask yourself the following: Was your mind wandering when the awareness chime sounded? Are you working on autopilot or on something you intentionally chose to do? (It’s so satisfying to see this improve over time.) Are you immersed in a productive task? If so, how long have you spent focusing on it? (If it was an impressive amount of time, don’t let the awareness chime trip you up—keep going!) What’s the most consequential thing you could be doing right now? Are you working on it? How full is your attentional space? Is it overflowing, or do you have attention to spare? Are there distractions preventing you from hyperfocusing on your work?

When you first start this check-in, you probably won’t fare so well and will find yourself frequently working on autopilot, getting distracted, and spending time on unnecessary and distracting tasks. That’s fine! When you do, adjust course to work on a task that’s more productive, and tame whatever distractions derailed you in that moment. If you notice the same distractions frequently popping up, make a plan to deal with them.

What I am better at is managing my impulses ahead of time. After choosing how long you’ll focus, eliminating distractions is the second step of hyperfocus. Eliminating distractions before you hunker down on a task makes focusing infinitely easier, as important tasks fill your attentional space quite naturally when there is nothing competing with them.

Over the course of the day, we alternate between doing two types of work: focus work and collaborative work. Focus work benefits from all the attention we can bring to it—the less we’re distracted, the more deeply we’re able to focus, and the more productive we become. This allows us, as author Cal Newport has put it, to do “deep work.”

By removing every object of attention that’s potentially more stimulating and attractive than what you intend to do, you give your brain no choice but to work on that task.

people who deploy distraction blockers are more productive and focus for longer periods of time.

Every notification pulls you away from what you’re doing and reminds you there’s an entire digital world you’re missing out on. Notifications are deceiving, for while it takes just a second to glance at one, that moment can suck you into a digital vortex in which you easily lose a half hour of your time and attention. Not many notifications are worth this productivity drain.

Novel objects of attention threaten to invade your attentional space and prevent you from focusing completely on any one thing.

There is a wealth of research that examines why our mind wanders at the exact time we’re trying to focus. It does so significantly more when we’re feeling stressed or bored; we’re working in a chaotic environment; we’re dealing with and thinking about a number of personal concerns; we’re questioning whether we’re working on the most productive or meaningful task; or we have unused attentional space—the more we have, the more prone we are to mind-wandering episodes.

If you find it difficult to become immersed in your work throughout the day, it’s worth questioning whether your tasks are difficult and complex enough. If you’re frequently bored, consider whether your job takes advantage of your unique skill set. If your mind is still frequently wandering, even after implementing the ideas in the previous chapters, it’s a pretty good sign your tasks aren’t complex enough and don’t consume enough of your attentional space.

doing mindless stuff at work or at home is not only unproductive but also a sign you don’t have enough important work. This also accounts for why busywork gets set aside when you’re on deadline: there’s no time available to contain its expansion.

To measure if you have enough work in general, assess how much of your day you spend doing unproductive busywork.

Incorporate at least one hyperfocus interval each day. You’ll experience less resistance as you get accustomed to working with fewer distractions and appreciate how productive you’ve become.

When your mind wanders, it visits three main places: the past, the present, and the future. This is precisely why scattering your attention allows your creativity to flourish as you travel through time and connect what you’ve learned to what you’re doing or what you want to achieve. This enables you to work with greater intention as you consider your future and think about what you should be doing in the present to make it a reality.

A primary reason many of us feel burned out is that we never give our attention a rest.

Hyperfocus is about focusing on one thing; scatterfocus is about focusing on nothing in particular.

As well as enabling you to set intentions more often and improving your creativity, scatterfocus helps you recharge.

The lesson of this chapter is simple: the more often we scatterfocus to replenish our mental energy, the more energy we have for our most important tasks. As our mental energy steadily depletes throughout the day, so too does our ability to focus. Recharging is critical and worth the time investment.

Research has shown that a refreshing work break should have three characteristics. It should be low-effort and habitual; something you actually want to do; and something that isn’t a chore (unless you genuinely enjoy doing the chore). In short, your breaks should involve something that’s pleasurably effortless.

Because no two people are the same, the frequency and length of breaks depend on countless factors. Just as you had to try various alternatives to create a personalized distraction-free mode, experiment to learn what provides you with the most energy.

We are what we pay attention to, and almost nothing influences our productivity and creativity as much as the information we’ve consumed in the past.

Useful information is typically actionable and helps you reach your goals. For example, listening to a few talking heads argue about political issues on TV probably isn’t actionable or conducive to your personal goals. It also sucks up time that you’d otherwise spend consuming more important dots.

If you’re in doubt about consuming something, ask yourself: How do you think your life will be different knowing this piece of information?

The more creativity your job requires, the more often you should scatter your attention. In most cases, the knowledge work of today benefits from as much creativity as we can bring to it.