The secrets of hyperfocus...

Hyperfocus.

That's the name of a book I read this week by Chris Bailey.

Hyperfocus is the narrowing of our attention to a single task.

Hyperfocus happens during those deep work sessions where we are completely zoned in on a particular task.

We enter a flow state where time moves differently. We're able to move through work with ease. It feels as if we've been given superpowers.

As Salesforce professionals, tapping into hyperfocus can be one of the main ways we create and deliver value.

We all know hyperfocus isn't always available.

We can't turn it on and off like a light switch.

But there are things we can do to invite its presence.

The book teaches us how to achieve hyperfocus more often.

One main approach is going at the idea of focus backwards.

What's the opposite of focus?

Distraction.

So, if we don't "perform" distraction, we will have a better chance of becoming focused.

Major Distractions

• Smart Phone
• Email
• Coworker interruptions
• Meetings
• Keeping your to-do list in your head

Chris offers specific strategies for dealing with each of these distractions in the book.

The better we get at taming distraction, the more room is available for focus.

Why?

Timothy Wilson, a psychologist from the University of Virginia, estimates that our brain receives 11-million bits of information in the form of sensory experience every second.

While our conscious minds can only process 40 bits of information per second.

A huge discrepancy. 

Our attentional space is constantly bombarded, and there's not much we can do to enlarge it.

We'll never get to 1% of 11 million bits (110,000 bits) of conscious processing power, for example.

We're stuck with the hardwiring nature gave us.

Two ways to slightly enlarge our attentional space are:

• Meditation
• Sleep

Both directly enhance our brain's ability to sustain focus - giving us more out of what we've got.

But we'll never 1000x our attentional space. So we need to subtract and remove distractions to create space for what we do want our attention to be on.

Which brings us to scatterfocus.

Scatterfocus is the widening of our attention to everything and at the same time nothing at all.

In some ways it's the opposite of hyperfocus.

Scatterfocus happens during those times of routine activity where we're in autopilot mode on a habitual task.

Think about taking a walk on a familiar trail and letting your mind roam. 

The quiet rhythm of household chores like folding laundry, doing dishes, or vacuuming. We're half thinking, half witnessing what's being thought.

Or the brief period while falling asleep where the mind is linking the days events to other ideas and memories, as though without effort a constellation of thought was forming in your mind.

Chris's insight is that this type of focus - scatterfocus - recharges our ability to hyperfocus.

So scatterfocus is powerful and useful in its own way.

The key takeaway is to plan and set up your days to alternate regularly between hyperfocus and scatterfocus so that your brain gets the best of both worlds. 

It's like a heartbeat. An intense period of focus followed by a brief period of rest.

The systole and diastole of productivity.

I loved the concepts in the book and wanted to share them with you.

And I would definitely recommend reading the book if you're curious to learn more.

That's a wrap for this week!

Best,

Nick