Controlled Attention (Concentrated Effort) is the ability to take all the power, energy, and attention and concentrate them on one single thing at a time.
The relationship between accurate thinking and concentrated attention is that accurate thinking gathers every piece of information, and the agency that gathers the knowledge and the skill used. In contrast, concentrated attention combines what is gathered into a ball pack of energy and beams it on the desire or effort you seek—the channeling of actions to give you the desired results.
It’s equally referred to as the apex of self-discipline.
You focus your whole energy on the definite purpose, desire.
Controlled attention or Concentration is the agency
It is gathering your focus, attention, and energy to achieve a given goal, whether earning a Ph.D. or getting a million dollars.
To better understand Controlled attention, here are four crucial comparisons.
- Racehorse
When a horse is on the tracks, they cover the sides of his eyes so he can stay focused on the tracks and avoid distractions.
Trains running on Steams: To achieve this, you must concentrate the steam on the engine you want to power. (Concentrated Attention)
- Laser Cutter
A laser cutter can use air or wind to cut hard objects like concrete. This is achieved by a high, intense Concentration of energy on the object to be cut.
- Magnifying Glass
When the sun is out, and you concentrate the magnifying glass on an object or a piece of paper, you will find that you can start a fire. However, when you keep moving the glass, it’s impossible to achieve high Concentration and get results like fire.
If you were a Boy Scout or Girl Scout, you would know that it is the concentrated rubbing of the stones, the friction that causes the fire.
Six key areas where Controlled attention is applied
- Specialized Knowledge
There’s always high specialization in efficient, large, or big organizations. Take, for example, Banks. Some people are employed to work on electronic transfers; Some tellers serve regular customers while others serve high network customers. With this specialization, there is greater value per minute to the marketplace.
- Greater Value to the Marketplace
When you specialize in a specific thing, you find that you can give and generate more excellent value to the marketplace than someone who is not specialized (touch and go). Take, for example, Alexander Bell Graham, who developed the telephone. When Bell made the phone work, it was out of Concentration of effort. Sometimes, you find that one extra minute, one extra hour on something you pursue, can make the whole difference.
- Optimization
When you say a work process is optimized, it means there’s limited wastage, increased effectiveness, and increased efficiency. What makes people with controlled attention more effective? Being effective means doing the right thing, while being efficient means doing the thing right.
You can be doing something right, but that is not what you should be doing. You can do something the right way, but it may not be effective. This is where Concentration of effort comes in. A combination of effectiveness plus efficiency is what is needed.
- Enduring Legacy (legacy thoughts)
Alexander Bell Graham said, ‘in future, people would not only call via phone, but they would be able to see each other.’ That was his imagination, then. And out of that, we now have an enduring legacy that the phone still serves us. Even Henry Ford left a legacy by building Ford motors.
Thus, when an effort is fully concentrated, it creates that enduring Legacy.
- Depth of Knowledge
When you start, you find that your base knowledge is very minimal. But as you continue drilling in, learning, and taking action, you are deepening your knowledge; you are deepening your understanding, digging deeper into yourself, and broadening your knowledge. Thus, the depth of knowledge of people with concentrated effort is different and deeper than those who are drifting and wandering around.
- Willpower
After considering the above, how do they all dovetail into success?
You would consider willpower active and engaged purpose-driven willpower. It creates commitment. A person with a high concentration of power and high concentrated effort has a greater propensity to succeed because of his willpower to do, become, and achieve. If something doesn’t contribute to the major purpose, they cut it off.
How can young people develop the art of Controlled attention to develop their personal lives & career?
This goes back to being open-minded for a young person.
- Be open-minded
Accommodate things. Know them. The more things you know, the more people you interact with, and the faster you will see what you do not like.
- Know clearly what you do not want
When you have identified what you do not want, what happens is that anytime you see what you don’t want, you are quick to single it out and avoid it.
- Clarity
From here, you would be able to, with astounding clarity, identify what you want and go instantly for it. Then, focusing and concentrating your attention becomes second nature.
One thing that would stand out for every young person trying to become better is having’ Definiteness of Purpose.’
With this, it becomes easier to focus on your purpose and achieve it.
