Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction

by Chris Bailey

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Bailey synthesizes attention research to argue that human productivity depends on skillfully toggling between two modes: hyperfocus, where attention is deliberately narrowed onto one intention, and scatterfocus, the mind-wandering mode where the brain consolidates memory and generates insight. He provides specific protocols for expanding attentional space, manageing distractions, and scheduling both modes.

Published:: 2018
Pages:: 256

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In the Conversation

In this collection, Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction references 4 other books.

It draws on Deep Work, Getting Things Done and Flow.

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What This Book Draws On

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Bailey positions Hyperfocus as a cognitive-science counterpart to Newport's Deep Work, citing Newport's framework while adding the neuroscience of attentional space and the complementary role of mind-wandering

References

Deep Work

by Cal Newport

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Draws on Allen's Getting Things Done for the externalization and capture techniques that clear attentional space, framing GTD inboxes as the infrastructure hyperfocus requires

References

Getting Things Done

by David Allen

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Cites Csikszentmihalyi's Flow research on the experience of absorbed attention as the psychological backdrop for hyperfocus, distinguishing flow's effortlessness from hyperfocus's deliberate intention

References

Flow

by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Uses Duhigg's Power of Habit cue-routine-reward model to explain how distraction loops form and how attention habits can be engineered

References

The Power of Habit

by Charles Duhigg

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Intellectual Lineage

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2 steps back

The Pragmatic Programmer

The 4-Hour Workweek

The Effective Executive

Man's Search for Meaning

Nicomachean Ethics

The Selfish Gene

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