Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More

by Chris Bailey

Our attention has never been as overwhelmed or in demand as it is today; we've never been so busy while accomplishing so little, and we've grown uncomfortable with boredom and a lack of stimulation and distraction.

In Hyperfocus, Chris Bailey - described by TED.com as 'the most productive man you could ever hope to meet' - provides profound insights into how we can best manage our attention. He reveals how the brain switches between two mental modes - hyperfocus, our deep concentration mode, and scatterfocus, our creative, reflective mode - and how the surest path to being our most creative and efficient selves at work is to combine them both.

The often counter-intuitive wisdom at play includes:
- How working fewer hours increases our productivity
- How drinking caffeine strategically instead of habitually gives us more energy
- How we get more done by making our work harder, not easier
- How we do our best creative work when we're the most tired

Merging neuroscience, psychology and mindfulness with practical takeaways for being more focused in our work and wider lives, Hyperfocus will help you think about and manage your attention on a daily basis.

• ISBN10: 1509866116
• ISBN13: 9781509866113
• Publish Date: 6 September 2018 (first published 28 August 2018)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 3 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[Joséphine]

Initial thoughts: Great book to start the year with. Bailey clearly spent a lot of time researching this subject and experimenting, and it shows. We've all heard that multitasking is bad for you, that we're just rapidly switching between tasks, that we should keep our smartphones away if we are working on something important, etc. Bailey takes it one step further and details the impact on our minds. He outlines why we struggle to focus and explains exactly how we can overcome distractions to truly maximise our time on what matters to us.

Interestingly, he also dedicated a few chapters on scatterfocus as the antithesis to hyperfocus and how we can make use of both. While I do struggle with focussing and am a seasoned procrastinator (uni course mates used me a yardstick of when was the absolute latest to start assignments and still submit them on time for a decent to good grade), it turns out that scatterfocus really is what has gotten me through a multitude of projects. I mull over problems in my downtime and tend to connect dots between seemingly unrelated topics, in order to solve problems. Knowing this now, I hope to apply what I've learnt to be fully productive during fewer hours, so I can reclaim a proper, healthy sleep cycle.