Our ability/inability to focus

Did you know that the average person unlocks his or her phone 110 times a day?

According to the study by Locket (an app creator), we not only can’t help but check our smart phones incessantly, we also use them 195 min per day (2013), it was only 95 min/day in 2011.

If you want to check if that is YOU, just download the free app ‘Checky’ and it will count how many times you are following this habit.

No wonder our attention span is a mere 8 seconds! How are we expecting to learn, when we cannot even hold a thought for a minute, our focus on a conversation or a lecture at school or work?

The ability to gain and maintain focus has become not only a rare talent, but also a very lucrative one. It is the very ability that makes an average student brilliant, it is the trait of extraordinary people, millionaires and sages.

I never forget the story by Jim Kwik, when he met Bill Clinton. Jim was intrigued by Bill’s reputation of having an excellent memory. It is Jim’s profession to teach people how to increase their mental capacity and memory. He asked Mr. Clinton which tricks he uses. Is it imagery, rhymes, associations? To his surprise, it was none of these. There were no tricks or shortcuts. Mr. Clinton simply pays attention and gives 100 % of his focus to the person he talks to. It occurred to Jim that during their entire conversation, nobody else seemed to matter, the security guards, phones ringing and noises were not a distraction and he had the feeling that for Bill nobody else existed while they were talking.

For any dyslexic individual – and those with ADD or ADHD – this is a huge breakthrough, when they have learned to use that gift of total focus and stop their minds from running the show, unchecked and causing disorientation. Their ability can develop and knowledge can be gathered, when there is focus.