Why focus is essential for navigating life, performing at your best, leading others and, ultimately, improving the world for future generations. His illuminating explanations of brain functions will be useful to Students and educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFocus is not just selecting the right thing, but also saying no to the wrong ones.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paying Attention<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How well you pay attention affects every aspect of your life. Effective focusing skills enhance mental processes, including understanding, learning, listening, being creative and reading other people\u2019s signals. Most people underestimate focus or overlook its importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You need to exercise all three categories of focus \u2013 \u201cinner, other and outer\u201d \u2013 to function well in life. Inner focus refers to heeding your gut feelings, values and decision \u00admaking abilities. Other focus pertains to how you relate to and connect with other people. Outer focus allows you to get by in the larger world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSelective Attention\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Someone writing poetry on a laptop in a busy coffeehouse is demonstrating selective attention \u2013 focusing on one task and ignoring external stimuli. Such distractions are either \u201csensory\u201d or \u201cemotional.\u201d Sensory distractions like shapes, colors and sounds stimulate your senses. Emotional lures cut through the clutter to draw your attention, like hearing your name called in a crowded restaurant. Emotions intrude on focus; completing a task is more difficult when you\u2019re upset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The brain\u2019s prefrontal region is responsible for selective attention. The more you focus on one thing, the better your performance. Staying on target suppresses emotional interference and helps you remain cool under pressure. Controlling your attention by focusing on one thing, then moving on to the next, indicates sound mental health. Jumping from one thing to the next multiplies any feelings of helplessness and anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You focus more easily when you\u2019re doing something you enjoy. Feeling in the zone or the \u201cflow\u201d results from immersion in an activity you find rewarding, inspiring, stimulating or intellectually challenging. In contrast, repetitive, unfulfilling tasks cause disengagement, boredom and apathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two semi\u00ad independent systems make up the human brain. The lower brain\u2019s massive computing power operates just below consciousness, coming into the forefront only when jarred by something unexpected. At such moments, the bottom brain, active in the subcortical circuitry, communicates with the top brain, or neocortex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bottom brain activity is involuntary, reflexive and fast. It functions constantly, handling rote behaviors and filtering information and stimuli. As it continually learns, it adjusts your perceptions. Emotion sways the bottom brain. The top brain, which is under your conscious control, is the locus of voluntary focus, active when you choose to watch a sunset, plan your day or learn a new task. Sometimes the bottom and top systems share mental activities to optimize your results with a minimum of exertion. For example, as you master a task like driving, the top brain learns and then the bottom brain takes over. Performing the task becomes almost instinctive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Midbrain circuitry notices things on a neural level, such as a baby\u2019s cry or a spider on the floor, and signals to the top brain. The brain\u2019s amygdala checks your surroundings for threats and sends alarms when it spots danger. When your amygdala senses a threat, it commandeers your emotions until the top brain analyzes the danger; then it defends you or sends calming signals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Never Mind<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Your \u201cwandering mind\u201d \u2013 where your thoughts travel when not engaged in a mental task \u2013 is the brain\u2019s default setting. In this state, people pause for self\u00ad reflection, contemplate future scenarios, hatch ideas, dwell on memories or question their assumptions. Brain scans show that the area for focus \u2013 the \u201cexecutive system in the prefrontal cortex\u201d \u2013 activates during downtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While your mind wanders, your sensory systems dim. Doing activities that do not require a laser focus frees your mind to ramble. Focusing sharply on one activity quells outside stimuli, such as buzzing phones. Sustaining deep attention can be draining. To replenish, take breaks, meditate, exercise or do something fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self \u00adAwareness and Self \u00adControl<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Self \u00adawareness comes from recognizing internal cues and interpreting them accurately. \u201cGut feelings\u201d are messages from the insula, the area in the brain\u2019s frontal lobes that acts as a nerve center for your internal organs. People in sync with their emotions have high \u00adfunctioning insulae and a strong inner voice. The insula\u2019s signals help you intuitively form a value system, which becomes more concrete as you articulate it to yourself and practice it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self\u00ad awareness is a focus that works as an internal compass. It governs your actions and aligns them with your values. Willpower and self regulation are functions of \u201cexecutive attention.\u201d Focusing on achieving a goal requires exercising self\u00ad control to subdue your impulses and ignore intrusive emotions. An iconic study by the psychologist Walter Mischel in the 1970s measured the willpower of young children. In the \u201cmarshmallow test,\u201d researchers told four\u00ad year\u00ad old they could eat a marshmallow right away or they could wait a few minutes and get two marshmallows. Left alone with one marshmallow, the children who successfully waited for the extra treat succeeded by distracting their focus from the marshmallow by using fantasy play or singing songs. The continuing study eventually showed that the children who could delay gratification at age four performed better in all aspects of their adult lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Practice Makes Perfect, Sometimes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Psychologist Anders Ericsson\u2019s research about expertise laid the foundation for the \u201c10,000\u00adhour rule,\u201d which holds that achieving the highest possible level of performance takes at least 10,000 hours of practice. Unfortunately, the rule is only partly true. Practice makes close\u00ad to \u00adperfect only if it\u2019s conducted in a \u201csmart\u201d way \u2013 that is, if the person who is practicing uses that time to make adjustments and improvements. How much attention you pay during practice is crucial. Productive practice includes feedback, which is why dancers practice in front of a mirror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professional athletes, experts and other high performers counteract the brain\u2019s natural inclination to make routines automatic and to transfer them to the bottom mind. They use focus, skill development, refinement and positivity to strengthen their brain circuitry. Feeling upbeat is a crucial requirement for productive practice. Positive emotions ignite the brain\u2019s left prefrontal area, making people feel motivated, aware and energized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mindfulness refers to the practice of paying \u201cattention to attention.\u201d Meditation focuses on your inner state and develops your capacity to observe yourself in the moment without judgment. It strengthens focus by improving your ability to sustain attention. The meditation cycle rotates through the following four steps: \u201cThe mind wanders, you notice it\u2019s wandering, you shift your attention to your breath and you keep it there,\u201d until your mind wanders again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Games and Cognitive Skills<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Playing video games generally diminishes brainpower. Certain games do improve some cognitive abilities, including \u201cvisual acuity and spatial perception, attention switching, decision making and the ability to track objects.\u201d \u201cSmart games\u201d that improve focus and boost cognitive function may become educational tools. Such games provide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2022 Specific goals for different levels of play. In the Classroom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some schools are adding \u201csocial and emotional learning\u201d (SEL) practices to their curriculum in order to help children self \u00adregulate. For example, the \u201cstoplight\u201d exercise instructs kids to think of a traffic signal when they become upset or overstimulated. The red light means: Take deep breaths and try to calm down. A yellow light cautions kids to pause first, then reflect and come up with alternative behavior. A green light encourages them to try a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The constant lure of technology waylays young people\u2019s attention and compromises their interactions with other people. Today\u2019s youth, the first digital generation, grow up more attuned to devices than to people. They may develop cognitive skills for navigating the virtual world at the cost of the kind of person \u00adto\u00ad person attentive skills needed to build rapport, empathy and social dexterity. Adults are not immune. They may find it hard to read more than a couple of pages, listen to a speech longer than five minutes or stop constantly checking their smartphones. However, the ability to pay attention grows stronger with use, exercise and practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Source Book – FOCUS (Author | Denial Goleman)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunita Sarda | Advocate, Image and Soft skills Coach, Blogger and a Reiki Practitioner<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Why focus is essential for navigating life, performing at your best, leading others and, ultimately, improving the world for future…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-psychology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.exampraxis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2022 Feedback and pacing geared toward each user.
\u2022 Challenges that progress in accordance with players\u2019 skills. \u2022 Different contexts for applying a particular set of skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n