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Tag: high performer

  • How to Stop Wasting Mental Energy and Train Your Focus Like a High Performer

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    Japanese psychology often likens attention to a flashlight. Wherever you shine this flashlight is where your focus and energy go.  However, problems can arise when people shine this flashlight inwards for too long. They focus obsessively on their thoughts and emotions, and particularly those related to things outside of their control. Another common tendency that causes problems is shining the flashlight on other people’s behavior, the past, or the future. These are all inherently uncontrollable areas.

    Worrying about these factors can lead to a mental loop where it seems impossible to find solutions. When you start fixating on past events you can’t change, it can lead to feelings of guilt, regret, and depression. Similarly, focusing excessively on the future and constantly trying to predict and prevent every possible negative outcome can lead to anxiety.

    A powerful example

    In a 2020 study by Lucas LaFreniere and Michelle Newman, the researchers asked participants with generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) to track their worries over time through a journal. When they then looked back on those journal entries, they found that 91.4 percent of their worries never came true. What’s even more striking is that 30 percent of the worries that did come true turned out better than expected.

    The implications of this study are profound. We waste the vast majority of the mental energy we invest in worrying. That’s because the vast majority of the time, the outcomes we feared either don’t happen or aren’t as bad as we anticipate.

    This research underscores the importance—whenever possible—of redirecting the flashlight of attention. You need to shift from uncontrollable, anxiety-inducing thoughts to more practical, solution-oriented thinking.

    Attention in the world of high performance

    I recently co-authored a research paper called Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: An international multi-panel Delphi study. The study focused on identifying the cognitive elements of performance in high-pressure situations, including the military, first responders, upper echelons of business, and competitive sport.

    The study included 68 experts from the military, elite sport, high-stakes business, and performance neuroscience. Our task was to identify the cognitive drivers under pressure and rate them in order of importance.

    Across those four high-performance fields, the experts unanimously ranked attentional control as the most critical trainable skill for thriving under pressure. More than processing speed, more than working memory, more than effort, they identified attentional control as the number one driver of performance under pressure.

    That’s because attention is the brain’s gatekeeper. It dictates what we notice, how we feel and, ultimately, how we behave. If there are things hijacking your attention, whether that be notifications, headlines, or other distractions, you lose the ability to act with intention.

    Practical exercises for shifting the flashlight of attention

    Here are some quick tips to shift the flashlight of your attention.

    1. Zones of control exercise

    On a piece of paper, draw two circles. In circle 1, write down everything you can control about a problem. In circle 2, list what’s outside of your control. Focus your energy solely on circle 1, which is what you can control, and do your best to let go of circle 2.

    2. Attentional flashlight practice

    Imagine your attention as a flashlight. Throughout the day, periodically pause and ask yourself: Where am I shining my flashlight? Is it focused on something productive and within my control, or is it caught in rumination or worry about uncontrollable events?

    3. Social media detox

    Take a break from social media for a day or a week. Use this time to observe how much better you feel when you’re not comparing yourself to others. Replace your social media time with activities that enrich your life, whether that be exercise, reading, or spending time with loved ones.

    4. The news headlines challenge

    Set a timer for five minutes. Read today’s news headlines on your preferred website (don’t click through to articles). List each headline in two columns—zone 1: “Can I directly influence this?” And zone 2: “Outside my control.” Notice how the zone 2 column is likely full while the zone 1 control column is nearly empty. This isn’t about avoiding important issues—it’s about recognizing where you can spend your energy in a productive way. Focus on local actions you can take rather than global problems you have no way of solving.

    5. Mindful breathing

    Spend five to 10 minutes each day practising mindful breathing. This exercise helps redirect attention from racing thoughts and worries to the present moment. This grounds you in what you can control, which is your breath and your immediate surroundings.

    6. Attentional audit exercise

    Grab a blank page and write out a list of categories for how you spend your time. Record every purposeful activity, social media, TV or streaming, ruminating or worrying in your own head, exercise/movement, meaningful connections, and hobbies or meaningful activities.

    Estimate how much time you spent on each category in the last 24 hours. Finally, sketch this as a heat map, using circles of red or orange for activities of high attention, and blue or green circles for low-attention activities. Make sure the size of the circles reflects the time spent. Are you happy with your heat map? If you have a partner and/or kids, this activity is worthwhile doing it together, and then using your heat maps as discussion prompts for what makes a meaningful life.

    Attentional deployment is about redirecting your focus away from the unhelpful and toward the helpful. Attention is your mental currency, so spend it wisely and don’t waste it on worrying about things that are beyond your control.

    Excerpted from The Hardiness Effect: Grow From Stress, Optimise Health, Live Longer. Copyright © 2025 by Dr Paul Taylor. Available from Wiley.

    By Paul Taylor

    This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.

    Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Fast Company

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  • Why High Performers Build Smaller Networks, Backed By Organizational Science

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    A reader emailed the other day to ask for networking tips because he saw I I have over 19,000 LinkedIn connections. “How can I build such an amazing network?” he asked.

    What he didn’t know is that I initiated maybe a dozen of those connections, and of those number, only a handful are actually useful (“useful” meaning mutually beneficial.)

    I told him to focus on the quality of his connections, not the quality. According to research conducted by professor Rob Cross of the University of Virginia:

    Traditionally, self-help books on networks focus on going out and building mammoth Rolodexes.

    What we’ve found is that this isn’t what high-performers do. What seems to distinguish the top 20 percent of performers across a wide-range of organizations is not so much a big network.

    In fact, there is usually a negative statistically significant likelihood of being a top performer and knowing a lot of people. [My emphasis.]

    That doesn’t mean top performers don’t network, though. What distinguishes them is how they make connections.

    • They develop “open” networks. They build ties outside their specialty or field. Instead of limiting their network to people within their industry or area of interest, they branch out. Research shows that people who build open networks earn higher salaries and get promoted more rapidly.
    • They manage “balanced ties” across organizational lines to obtain information and influence impact. They network not just across functional lines, but also up and down hierarchical levels. They know a few CEOs. They know a few shipping clerks. As a result, they learn things others might not. They gain support others might not. Interestingly, they gain a sense of purpose and satisfaction that implicitly leads to higher performance: we all work harder when we care.
    • They nurture relationships that extend their abilities. Only connect with people like you? You’re unlikely to develop greater perspective, insight, or knowledge.
    • They exhibit behaviors that build high quality connections. Creating five meaningful connections — five mutually-beneficial connections — is more powerful than racking up 500 surface-level connections.

    Sum it all up, and two things stand out:

    1. The more open your network, the better, and
    2. The higher the quality of the relatively few connections you do make, the better.

    Focusing solely on developing relationships within your functional area or field limits your ability to learn, and grow, and make helpful connections — and just as importantly, to connect with people who can help each other.

    So how can you develop a more open network, one based on meaningful connections? 

    Be open to learning about other people, especially people who are different from you. Different industries. Different backgrounds. Different perspectives. Different experiences.

    You already know people similar to you. The key to building an open network is meeting a few people who aren’t like you.

    And then take the time to build those relationships. Give, with no expectation of ever receiving. Compliment, with no accompanying request for a favor. Introduce, without expecting an introduction in return.

    Check in simply because you thought of that person…. not because something you need made you to think of that person.

    Do those things, and you’ll build stronger connections — and you’ll be a lot more likely to succeed.

    And so will they.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Jeff Haden

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