Fine-Tune Your Focus in 12 Minutes a Day.

• Author: Ryckman, Lisa

Nov. 16, 2022

State Legislatures News

When it comes to sharpening your mind's ability to focus, the least expensive option seems to be the best.

"To retain your focus, we can do so by training it--with mindfulness," neuroscientist Amishi Jha explained during a session at NCSL Base Camp. Jha is the author of "Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day."

Growing up in Indian family, Jha heard about meditation her entire life. "I was quite a skeptic that meditation would enter the laboratory of a serious scientist," she says. "It ended up being the only thing that was effective."

Studies consistently show that people pay attention just 50% of the time to any task.--Amishi Jha, neuroscientist

Studies consistently show that people pay attention just 50% of the time to any task, Jha says. "It's the nature of the brain to do this, but it has consequences."

Attention is an extremely powerful system that is also very vulnerable--and trainable, she says. Attention breaks down into three distinct brain systems: focus; broadening; and the executive. They tend to be antagonistic, so if one is functioning, the others are suppressed.

"When we think about attention and its utility in thinking, that focusing aspect is what we talk about. When we say we have a 'train of thought,' what does that actually mean? That means that flashlight of attention is serving as a kind of glue that hyperlinks idea, after idea, after idea," Jha says.

But another key aspect of attention is the ability to think more expansively. "Let's say you're in a situation where a problem needs to be solved, and you need to brainstorm a possible solution," she says. "That's when thinking has to be broad and receptive."

The third system, executive functioning, is critical when it comes to decision-making, Jha says. The ability to determine a course of action with the proper emotional response is key to effective leadership, she says.

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