Hyperfocus
Chris Bailey's practical book on how attention works – how you drop into hyperfocus on a single task, and why letting the mind wander matters just as much.
Chris Bailey is a Canadian author who writes about productivity and attention. In Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction (2018) he examines how our attention actually works, and how it can be steered.
What the book covers
- Hyperfocus – directing all your attention at one task at a time, and what it takes to get there and stay there.
- Scatterfocus – the opposite: deliberately letting the mind wander. Bailey argues this is not waste, but something the brain needs in order to connect ideas and rest.
- Autopilot. Much of the day passes without our choosing what we point our attention at. The first step is noticing where it actually goes.
- How much we can hold at once, and why tasks that are both boring and demanding are the hardest ones to stay with.
- Practical moves for removing distractions before they arise, rather than resisting them in the moment.
Worth knowing
The book is practical and easy to read, with concrete exercises. Where Stolen Focus looks at the surroundings and the systems around us, this one looks at the craft – what you can do yourself. The two complement each other well, and read nicely together.
The content is general information and is not individual medical advice. For questions about your own health, contact a qualified health professional.
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Mentioned in the episode
Focus – why it has become so hard
Why has concentrating become so hard? A walk through two books about attention – Stolen Focus by Johann Hari and Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey – and what they say separately and together.