Focusing On Focus: Why We Fail To Reach Our Potential

What we focus upon, we internalize. Focus is our cognitive magnifying glass: the more intense the focus, the deeper our experience.

Most of the time, we do not focus. We move from thought to thought, activity to activity, and internalize very little. We can participate in conversations at a party and retain little of the content. We can flit from thought to thought on a long drive in the car and retain little of the surroundings we pass. This is actually adaptive, as we would quickly become overwhelmed if we internalized all stimuli all the time. When we exercise focus, we select what we will internalize, as in the case of studying for a test or gazing into the eyes of a loved one.

Meditation is a way in which we can systematically intensify our focus. When we radically quiet the mind, shutting off our ego-laden self-talk, we activate our cognitive magnifying glass. Unfortunately, when many people pursue meditation, they use it as a kind of relaxation strategy when they are stressed. They control their breathing, visualize something positive, calm themselves, and move on. While this is helpful for reducing anxiety and avoiding impulsive behavior, it does not grow our capacity for focus. When we meditate for a few minutes, it’s as if we go to the gym and lift weights a few times. It might feel good, but it’s unlikely to build our bodies or our strength.

This is an important reason we fail to reach our potential: without developed focus, our capacity for sustained purpose wanes. Many people set goals, writing their intentions in journals, but how many people actively, consistently, and vividly meditate on these? We think of meditation as emptying the mind, but this is not quite correct. Yes, we silence our self-talk to achieve focus, but meditation is also what we do with our state of enhanced focus. Religious mystics meditate on Divine images, reaching states of insight and ecstasy. In loving-kindness meditation, we focus on experiences of caring, expanding our capacity for connection to others. When we fail to meditate, our goals cannot benefit from intensified focus: we operate without the magnifying glass. Without focus, any thoughts and intentions are part of our ordinary flow and cannot transform us. Like people with attention deficit disorders, we bounce from activity to activity, thought to thought, goal to goal. Quite simply, normal human consciousness is optimized for normal human functioning, but is subnormal for achieving goals beyond the ordinary.

Most of us are aware of the benefits of physical fitness and operating with optimal health and energy. We also recognize the need for sleep and healthy eating. Meanwhile, our capacity for focus and self-directed attention becomes flabby, unexercised. We fail to achieve our goals for the same reason we would fail to win a race if we never worked out. Spending more time on goal setting is wasted effort if we do not expand our capacity to focus on our intentions and bring them to life. What if every day in our calendar was viewed purposefully and attached to concrete, meaningful, inspiring goals that we could preview, implement mindfully, and review with a sense of gratitude and accomplishment? Over time, that daily focus would enable us to internalize a fresh vision of self that would energize new efforts and new relationships.

We have the magnifying glass: what do we want to be magnifying?

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