One of the points in my 8-point meditation program is one-pointed attention, another way of saying “mindfulness” or focusing on one thing at a time. In our multi-tasking age, it’s easy to say that it’s impossible or your boss wouldn’t allow it. But there’s plenty of scientific evidence to show that focusing is the key to tapping into deeper resources and drawing up brilliance. I think one-pointed attention is a very valuable tool for all of us working in sustainability. Daniel Goleman wrote an entire book about focus. Here’s the description.
Focus, The Hidden Driver of Excellence
By Daniel Goleman
In Focus, Psychologist and journalist Daniel Goleman, author of the #1 international bestseller Emotional Intelligence, offers a groundbreaking look at today’s scarcest resource and the secret to high performance and fulfillment: attention.
Combining cutting-edge research with practical findings, Focus delves into the science of attention in all its varieties, presenting a long overdue discussion of this little-noticed and under-rated mental asset. In an era of unstoppable distractions, Goleman persuasively argues that now more than ever we must learn to sharpen focus if we are to survive in a complex world.
Goleman boils down attention research into a threesome: inner, other, and outer focus. Drawing on rich case studies from fields as diverse as competitive sports, education, the arts, and business, he shows why high-achievers need all three kinds of focus, and explains how those who rely on Smart Practices—mindfulness meditation, focused preparation and recovery, positive emotions and connections, and mental “prosthetics” that help them improve habits, add new skills, and sustain greatness—excel while others do not.