Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long

by David Rock

To avoid distractions, it’s helpful to get into the habit of vetoing behaviors early, quickly, and often, well before they take over.

The verb stress means “to emphasize,” and it’s not necessarily a negative thing. It’s wrong to think your performance would improve if stress disappeared from your life. It takes a certain amount of stress just to get out of bed in the morning. This type of stress is known as eustress, or positive stress. Positive stress helps focus your attention.

When you can’t seem to think, writing ideas down to get them “out of your head” can help.

Peak mental performance requires just the right level of stress, not minimal stress.

The ability to stop oneself from thinking something is central to creativity.