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The same is true when you practice mindfulness: until the coffee cup is empty (or half
full), your shower is finished, or you’re done walking to where you intend to go, you
focus on what you’re doing then and there. When you keep a single intention in mind,
you’re able to live and work more intentionally for the rest of the day too. And because
both meditation and mindfulness increase the size of your attentional space, both
practices make you more likely to maintain intentions.
As if these benefits weren’t enough, meditation and mindfulness also help you step
back from your thoughts. This makes it infinitely easier to check what’s occupying your
attentional space. The more you notice what’s grasped your attention, the more quickly
you’ll be able to redirect it to your intention. With enough awareness, you might even
notice your mind has wandered to somewhere productive and you want to continue that
train of thought. For example, a higher working memory capacity means your mind is
more likely to make plans and set intentions for the future. With this extra awareness,
you gain the power to notice stray objects of attention at the edges of your attentional
space, such as when you’re seeking external stimulation or about to fall victim to a
seductive distraction.
The research is clear: mindfulness and meditation improve virtually every aspect of
how you manage your attention.
Every once in a while, I like to travel to a local Buddhist monastery to join a public
Saturday-afternoon meditation. This usually consists of a potluck and an hourlong
meditation session, followed by a talk given by one of the monks. During one of my
visits, a monk spoke about how for several weeks during his meditation practice he
focused solely on the sensation his breath made on the tip of his nose
—an impossibly
small object of attention. I tried doing the same during an extended two-hour meditation
practice the next day, and my mind has never wandered so much. With an object of
attention that small, it’s no surprise.
But the following Monday morning, I focused more deeply on my work than I had in
weeks. I wrote several thousand words in just a few hours, brainstormed three talks,
and had time left over to clear my email inboxes. The positive effects lingered beyond
that day, as I was able to focus better throughout the week. The quality of attention is so
integral to productivity that increasing it even slightly makes a remarkable difference in
how much we accomplish.
Luckily, you don’t have to spend hours focusing on the tip of your nose to experience
the remarkable benefits of mindfulness and meditation. Even only a few minutes a day
will help immensely. If you take away one lesson from this chapter, it should be that few
practices will improve the quality of your attention
—and the size of your attentional
space
—more than meditation and mindfulness. While both will consume some of your
time, you’ll make that time back, and then some, in how much more clearly, deeply, and
deliberately you’ll think and focus.
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