2. IN PURSUIT OF
FOCUS
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2014

4. • “As hyper-connectivity expands, the ability to
focus has become an increasingly scarce asset
among people”

5. • “On an average day we
spend 2.1 hours on
distraction
• We’re distracted by
technology every 11
minutes, and it takes us
25 minutes to refocus
our minds on the deep,
creative work we were
doing before we were
distracted.”

6. • Compulsively checking Twitter feeds and
emails is only one of the multitudes of
distractions that can keep us from becoming
an asset to our co-workers and companies.

7. FOCUS IS NOT ONLY A SCARCE RESOURCE AMONG LEADERS TODAY, BUT ALSO ONE OF
THE KEYS TO THEIR ABILITY TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE

8. Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa at the University of Navarra in
Spain
How to recover focus as a means of nurturing the creativity,
productivity and innovation that strengthen performance and often
lead to success

9. • Focus is essentially a discipline.
• Exercising it requires starting with the basics:
A FOCUS ON THE SELF

10. Time and
self-managEment

13. • Identifying and managing your own personal
resources is an important aspect of self-
management, and one of these resources is
time

14. •Science says that we are at our energetic best first thing in the
morning, that’s when we have most of our focus
•For the first 90 minutes of your work day, do only important work
•Use your best hours to do your best work

15. • THE MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCE AT THE
HEART OF SELF-MANAGEMENT IS TO KNOW
YOURSELF

16. • We all come into this life equipped with an
array of strengths and personal resources,
• “Though we may not even be aware of most
of them.”

17. • With the process of discovering what these
strengths are and attaining the self-realisation
known as “flow,” the state of concentrated or
complete absorption with the activity at hand.

18. Flow-friendly environment

19. • The focus achieved through the practice of
self-management spreads out from individuals
to benefit the organisation as a whole.

20. • Important not only to recruit individuals who
understand their strengths and priorities, but
also to create flow-friendly environments
which maximise employees’ ability to reach
and contribute their potential.

21. Former Patagonia
CEO Michael Crooke
When you get a high-
powered team
together and you
really get into a zone,
“you’ll synchronise
and achieve excellent
results”

22. TO CONCLUDE
• Although it may be elusive in our hyper-connected,
fast-paced world of distraction, FOCUS is an asset
worthy of every leader’s and every organisation’s
attention.

23. • Self-management being one of the prime building
blocks of strong leaders and, consequently, of
successful organisations
• Executives who are able to step out of the
immediate demands inherent in managing others
to master the art of focus will tend to be a
greater asset to their organisations and
colleagues

24. • By developing a better ability to understand
and mindfully manage our own strengths and
priorities, we can then turn our attention to
the larger challenges of our organisations and
the world around us