Mindfulness

Focus: A Modern Day Superpower

How a mindfulness practice will give you the superhuman ability to focus.

Image by the author on Canva.

Focus is a modern-day superpower. Only a select few high performers maintain the ability to fully focus, which makes it a valuable skill to acquire for work and life.

These high performers were not innately gifted with the ability to focus. Instead, they install habits, routines, processes, and systems, and curate their environment to enable full engagement.

A crucial component of focus is the mental ability to bring awareness back to what you are doing. Too often our minds will wander and we will unknowingly follow it, allowing our subconscious to take control of the present moment. If we are not careful, this moment will become hours and days. We may think we are being more productive by attempting to do more things, but we are actually doing less and accomplishing nothing.

Renowned sports psychologist and author of one of the most influential books on the subject has this to say about focus in his book The Inner Game of Work:

“If there is one thing that excellence in sports and excellence in work have in common, it can be summed up in a single phrase: focus of attention. Focus is the quintessential component of superior…