Books we recommend
Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention
Johann Hari
Published 2023
LeadershipSelf-care
- Modern life is systematically eroding our ability to focus through constant distraction, information overload, and addictive technologies.
- Attention is not just an individual willpower problem; it is shaped by social, economic, and technological systems designed to hijack our minds.
- Deep focus is essential for leadership, creativity, and meaningful work, yet most environments are optimized for interruption instead.
- Protecting your attention requires setting boundaries: limiting notifications, creating distraction-free time blocks, and designing tech use intentionally.
- Rest, sleep, and genuine downtime are not luxuries but prerequisites for sustained concentration and emotional resilience.
- Leaders have a responsibility to model healthy attention habits and to create team norms that reduce multitasking and digital overload.
- Reclaiming focus is both a personal practice and a collective project: we can push for policies and platforms that respect, rather than exploit, our attention.
