Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence (2013)
discusses the importance of focus and improvement
concentration in this increasingly complex era.
The author also invites you to understand
how the mind can work more optimally
when you focus. Want more
productive in this new era? Please read "recipes
which are summarized in the following book
•Who is the author of this book?
Daniel Goleman is a psychologist who has
wrote several bestselling books on
psychology in business. Some of the books he has
writing is Emotional Intelligence (1995); Working
with Emotional Intelligence (1998); Primal Leadership
(2002); Destructive Emotions (2003); and Social
Intelligence (2006).
•Who is this book for?
• Generation living in a complex era and
flooded with so much information
• Anyone who wants to improve performance and
achievement through the ability to concentration
•What does this book cover?
The importance of concentration to increase
self productivity.
In an era that was overrun with so much
information, focus becomes something difficult
owned. Though, focus can improve
one's ability and productivity.
This ability to focus is influenced by the brain,
and the brain is like a muscle, it must be trained to
can concentrate well.
Goleman himself divided the focus inward
three types; self-awareness (inner
focus), awareness of others (other
focus) and awareness of external conditions
(outer focus).
Interesting things you can learn between
other:
•what are the types of focus abilities
that you need to have in order to achieve
success;
how the human mind works
consciously and unconsciously;
• why an athlete can fail
as he struggled to remember which technique
ever studied;
• what is meant by intuition and from
where did it come from; and
• why empathy can help you
in managing relationships with people
other.
"We are most susceptible to focus
which is driven by emotion when
our minds split, when
our attention is distracted, or
when we are flooded with information -
or all three"
Daniel Goleman
You need to understand how
the brain works consciously
nor consciously so
can improve focus
You learn best when
your attention is focused on what is
you are studying.
If your mind is going anywhere, your brain is
will "chatter" things it doesn't
with regards to what you're currently on
learn. As a result, you can't
remember the lesson clearly. Because
that's selective attention--or concentration
very important.
In general, there are two forms of diversion
attention, namely sensory, which is easy
seen, and emotional, which is not seen
but more difficult to overcome.
Sensory attentional disturbances
Examples are sound, smell, taste, color
etc. While distraction
related emotional attention
with disturbing emotions
thoughts, such as anxiety, curiosity,
fear, and so on.
Emotional attention grabber
these are usually more intimidating and difficult to overcome
compared to attention grabbers
sensory. They are relatively immune
to emotional turmoil and not easy
emotionally disturbed will be more able
concentrating.
The human mind itself can be distinguished
into two, namely bottom-up thinking and
top-down mind.
The bottom-up mind operates very well
fast because it is always on and working on
unconscious (automatic). This thought is
intuitive, impulsive, and driven by emotion.
This bottom-up mind becomes the executor for
your routines and habits.
Meanwhile, top-down thinking works
sober and slower because it has to be
endeavored. This mind becomes the center
self-control, which sometimes it can
beat auto control.
Your attention is influenced by these two thoughts.
Top-down attention is driven
consciously by will and choice
you create; while attention is
bottom-up driven by reflexes, impulses,
and routine habits.
Although it seems that top-down thinking can
take control of the human mind,
actually bottom-up thinking a lot of the time
more dominant. Bottom-up thinking becomes
Powerful because it saves energy
brain removed. Your new things
learn and do consciously (top
down), over time it will become
habits and routines (bottom-up).
That's why when you try too
hard for something, often it's you
fail.
For example, when an athlete tries
to win by remembering all
technique he learned, he failed because
body that has been trained for
actually do these techniques
distracted by his thoughts.
In essence, excessive attention precisely
reduced mental control. When you
depressed, you just tend to
forget things. When you are pressed
not to do or say
something, it's precisely you tend to
do or say what
prohibited.
So you need to balance between
bottom-up and top-down thinking. Moment
leaning too much on bottom-up thinking,
your life becomes automatic and voluminous
actions that you do not
aware.
Therefore, you need to get involved
active mind top-down to improve
attention, and choose to ignore
various sensory disturbances
emotional.
Self-awareness is very necessary
to increase
productivity
Self-awareness or internal focus
is the first key for
increase self productivity. Accuracy
in explaining instructions
your inner self plays a role
important for concentration.
The internal radar is the key to management
of what you do and don't do
You did.
Everyone knows intuition, or sound
inner. Intuition is a message from the mind
simplified bottom-up
life decisions by guiding you to
smarter choice.
When making decisions, it's often you
feel a 'challenge'.
These 'stuffs' are called somatic markers,
namely a sensation that is felt when
You feel a choice is right or wrong.
Speaking of self-awareness, you will too
have to be able to see yourself
how others see you.
Your self-meaning arises from social interactions
and seen from how other people
seeing you.
There are two types of attention that you need to be aware of
is inside you. First, attention
selective which makes you focus on one
target and ignore the rest.
And secondly, open attention that creates
You can absorb a lot of information
and pay attention to the instructions
faintly there. You have to keep that in mind
not too extreme to one side, because
such conditions make you not
self aware.
"Focus on improving
our sensitivity to intuition
us, our guiding values
us, and decision making
better"
{Daniel Goleman}
Social awareness has
important role for
increase productivity
Some people have social sensitivity
and keen to recognize visible emotional signals
faint from others. This ability will
help you in socializing because
You know when to
show joy, when to
entertain, when to let people
others and so on. This matter
called empathy.
Empathy can be divided into three
level.
The first is cognitive empathy, namely ability
to read emotional signals
others. This allows us
take other people's perspectives and
understand their mental state. People
who have good cognitive emotions can
manage one's own emotions at the same time
with when he evaluates others.
This ability can be a process
top-down mentality.
Cognitive empathy will increase with
curiosity. Trend
to learn from everyone will
improve our ability to understand
others. This cognitive empathy begins
develops between the ages of two and five
years and continues to grow throughout
teenage age.
The second level is emotional empathy,
that is when you have been able to feel what
that is felt by others, whether in the form of
happiness or sadness. Appearance
this same feeling generally occurs
in the bottom-up mind that works
automatically. Your subconscious mind
bring up the emotional state that you are
catch from someone else in your body
alone.
Babies can feel what they feel
others because they are empathetic
Emotional development begins at an early age.
This emotional empathy relies on muscles
attention, where you can improve
sensitivity to other people's feelings
by paying attention to facial cues,
sound and other emotional signals.
The third level is empathic concern,
is the feeling of caring for others
that can move you to
help them when needed.
Cognitive empathy and emotional empathy are not
always end up wanting to
help or sympathy, whereas
empathic concern can move
you are even further.
Empathic caring works in two
stage, namely the emergence of feelings of not
comfortable because of other people's conditions, and
mind to consider as big
do you respect people's interests
other.
In the process, think bottom up
You generate caring within
brain, while the top down mind will
evaluate the need for assistance
given. There are times, your focus is absorbed
on yourself. That's when caring
your empathy will drop.
Focusing on the social context helps
You understand existing social cues
and ultimately guide your way
behave. This ability in term
length will help you to be able to
manage relationships with others.
Focusing on the social context helps
You understand existing social cues
and ultimately guide your way
behave. This ability in term
length will help you to be able to
manage relationships with others
Awareness of the surrounding conditions
apparently also needed for
increase productivity
Large amounts of data not necessarily
useful when there is no knowledge
obtained from it. data to be
useful or not depend on
manager. When reading data, the brain
You will detect a pattern.
A set of patterns that are integrated and characteristic
order is called a system. Naturally,
the brain has a tendency to
trying to understand a pattern/system.
Nevertheless, in comparison with
self-awareness and awareness of
fellow, awareness of this system is necessary
try and learn before you can
arise naturally.
Various systems that exist in the world on
initially invisible in your brain. You
do not have direct perception about
the existence of various systems that can
affect your life.
Currently, you can use a variety of
artificial aids to help you
understand patterns and systems, not anymore
depending on personal sensitivity
to the environmental conditions.
Tradition is a form
understanding of the derived system
hereditary. Ancient people
map the various patterns and systems that
exist and generate efforts to
survive in the existing ecosystem.
Understanding of types of food
nutritious and toxic, how to
raising livestock and so on is understood through
a learning process.
An increasingly complex and flooded world
information, often gets you
having trouble seeing the system and getting stuck in
chaos.
The existence of blind spots in the human brain is increasing
exacerbate information chaos
accepted. Your brain can catch on
useful information for
survival, but often not
can detect existing threats. Exist
tendency not to care about
emerging threats.
So, what needs to be done to get
survival and success is the focus on
number of important patterns you can manage,
while the rest you can ignore.
You need to upgrade your skills
to simplify that complexity
there so that decision making can
done more effectively and efficiently.
"And an outward focus got us
can sail in the world more
wide"
{Daniel Goleman}
Exercise is required for
improve focus
What distinguishes amateur players and
professional player lies in how
the way they practice.
Practice a skill basically
requires top-down focus. However,
after repeated practice, skill
it will come to mind
bottom up which has become a routine.
It is this point that differentiates between amateurs
and professional.
Amateur players will rest on their laurels and
make exercise your bottom focus
up is automatic, in contrast to the player
professionals who will continue to use
focus on top down to improve
techniques and analyze errors
there is.
Good practice is not determined on
length of hours of practice but how optimal
You are in maintaining concentration
and the awareness to keep doing
repair.
Not only to build expertise
Of course, awareness is also important
support daily work. At the moment,
more and more companies are
realize the importance of inner awareness
work. The current unconscious has
considered as one wastage in
workplace.
Mindfulness training is necessary for
improve your ability to not
reactive or emotional. you need
practice to focus on yang
is in your presence and prevents yourself
You are lost in a wandering train of thoughts
everywhere.
•Conclusion From the Book
•Your actions are managed by the brain
through two ways, namely the bottom mind
up that is automatic and not
aware; and more top-down thoughts
slow and consciously managed.
• Intuition arises from bottom-up thinking
that records that experience
ever experienced before and
arise automatically for
help decision making.
• Empathy can be divided into three;
First, cognitive empathy arisesc97b67aea49cfc32ea1e8873db1af8e2c4abc5b66ec9962bf5f0ea30296bad43.jpg
of signal reading ability
other people's emotional
top-down mind controlled; second,
inclined to emotional empathy
reflects what is felt by
mind-controlled others
bottom-up; and third, caring
empathy in the form of a desire to
help-which is controlled by
top-down and bottom thinking
up at once.
• With outward focus, you can
understand patterns and systems that exist in
the world to benefit from
and avoid existing threats.
{Thank you for reading this article, hope it's useful!}
