# Peak Mind - Author: - Genre: #### Kindle Highlights - [[Jha-Peak Mind]] #### Notes ##### Chapter 1 Page 4 - Attention has multiple components. The book describes them as: - The Flashlight. What you focus your attention on becomes brighter, highlighted & more salient. Things not in the "flashlights beam" get suppressed, dampened, dimmed or blocked out. - This is what is referenced as your orientation system used to select information. - The flashlight can be pointed both externally (such as our environment) or internally (such as our own thoughts). - It can shine on the present, past or future - The Floodlight. Whereas the flashlight is narrow & focused the floodlight is broad & open. This is referenced as the "alerting system". This is mode is more of an awareness, being on the lookout. - The Juggler. This directs, oversees & manages what we're doing moment to moment. - This is referenced as our "executive function" or "central executive". - This is what ensures that we're on task & accomplishing our goals. Page 36 - Consider it as such: - (flashlight) focus when we need to - (floodlight) notice when we need to - (juggled/executive function) plan & manage our behavior when we need to ##### Chapter 2 The neuroscience literature references three factors for "attentional deployment". - Familiarity. Being previously aware of something based on previous history. Thus this will grab your "flashlight" attention type. - Salience. The stimulus of whatever is distracting us or grabbing our attention, (sight, sounds, colour, motion). These are the "LOOK AT ME" direct type distractions. - Our Own Goal. Our attention can have a goal or desire bias developed by our selected goal or desire. this however can be affected or vulnerable to the previously mentioned "familiarity" & "salience" factors. Attentional pulls. Distractions that deter or attract our attention. Direct or indirect, purpose or not purposeful/unintentional. Forces of attentional degrade: - stress, the perception of feeling of overwhelm. - poor mood, how do you feel? - threat, are you safe and/or secure? Eustress, "good" stress or the optimum amount of stress to perform a task. e.g. a positive motivating driving force. Larger periods of stress, even the optimum amount will eventually become "eustress" to "distress". Stress will induce negative thoughts related to whatever we're working on. Thus limiting attention & focus. Lack of deep focus. When what you want to do and what you actually do no longer are aligned. Therefore you churn or spin your wheels. As this occurs a natural consequence is experienced negative mood or burnout/exhaustion. Poor mood. Depending on various factors , such as depression, bad news and such can affect your mood. This can lead to negative thought loops. As mood declines performance related to attention declines. Negative mood equals negative performance. Threat. Either being under threat or even feeling threatened can disrupt attention. Under threat attention re-configures in two ways: - threat vigilance increases. - attention becomes "stimulus-driven" So now anything perceived as threat related captures and holds attention. This is the natural manner that humans operate as. One must focus on surviving in order to live, must they not? Thus even a metaphorical threat can alter attention and focus just as an actual real one would/does. Furthermore even having a high IQ or "greater" intellect doesn't matter if the mind _feels_ under threat. With knowing this information, we could try to overcome these attention detractors by watching our mood, reducing stress or not feeling but it's not that simple. Humans aren't good at identifying degrading attention forces, even when actively experiencing them, (e.g. distractions). We require training to develop a greater awareness of our minds. An example is the "stereotype threat". The examples provided in the book are the "women are bad at math" & "Asians are good at math" ones. Using these examples demonstrated in test groups that these "mental threats" affected performance negatively. As these stereotypes were "perceived" as a threat to oneself can affect our attentional focus, (e.g. threat to the idea of ones gender or race/culture). Even "good" stereotypes can have a negative affect. For instance, the expectation of performing well can cause a negative distraction. Meaning that the expectation of one needing to perform well can be a distraction. "Threat to Identity", this will "preoccupy" your attention, thus in some instances this underlying cognitive burden weighs on your attention. Threat distractions to identity subconsciously takes attention & focus. Cognitive costs of high stress intervals. You don't necessarily need to "feel" stressed for attention to be compromised. For instance a mild feeling of uncertainty may degrade our attention. Stress tolerance or "distress tolerance". Being in a state of "high demand" or having an amount of tasks can be corrosive & overall diminishing to your attention. If the tasks become too much or basically demanding, this will degrade your attention. Optimizing in the face of stress. Being able to approach the situation with our awareness to be able to manage versus succumb to stress. High demand requires working at a cognitively high level. In working in this high demand state, this in itself depletes your attention That is to say, if you're trying to achieve something that is demanding, it needs a certain level of cognitive resources. Therefore learning to reframe & manage these moments in a more effective manner, will optimize our overall performance. Why? Because you're learning how to redirect stress in a manner that is more conducive towards being successful. ###### The Attention Continuum (pg. 57) This goes into a simple yet direct detail how attention or lack of it affects you in numerous ways. * I made a note that I needed to reflect on the information provided. I'll need to figure out what I was referring to in this instance. #book-reflection "High conflict" moment, when you're presented with a task that causes a brief hesitation due to a cognitive deviation/variation of the task. The example provided in the book was to read the colour of the text ink & the variation was using words like black, but coloured grey. This slight deviation causes a momentary cognitive pause to process the info correctly (the colours) for the task. Challenging situations are "conflict states". A mismatch between the perception of what _is happening_ & what _should be_ happening. Types of conflict states: - Resisting Mind, to want what is being experienced to stop, e.g. fear, sadness, worry, resentment or hatred. - Doubting Mind, an increased sense of doubt from feeling distrustful of what is or should be occurring. - Restless Mind, uncertainty, agitation & restlessness about what is occurring leading to feeling dissatisfied. - Craving Mind, wanting more of what is currently being experienced leaving us with feelings craving or desiring more. These conflict state become draining due to **summoning attention repeatedly**. The continuous engagement of attention depletes it. As a result you become automatized to allow your mind to become "captured" by what is most salient. The continual carrying of "conflict states" in daily life lead to attention degradation. Therefore we're not operating at a cognitively high level which affects us in other areas of life, (financial management, health protocols, etc.). This means when our attention has no focus, it will focus on "salient" and usually unhealthy behaviors, e.g. binge eating, spending money irresponsibly, etc. Legacy strategies such as: - positive thinking - focusing on the good - relaxing - setting & visualizing goals - suppressing thoughts - concentrating on something else have been identified as ineffective & detrimental to actually improving attention. The reason being is that they (the methods) require a certain degree of focus or attention given to them. Thus attention is drained more & leads to further exhaustion. ##### Chapter 3 Push-Ups for the Mind Existential longing, an event that occurs that forces us to reflect & take self-inventory of ones life. This is why I am personally taking this venture. #book-self-reflection ###### Neuroplasticity: Train Your Brain To Change Your Brain Consistency & regular training of the mind can reorganize itself, depending upon the input received & how its processed. A study between taxi drivers & bus drivers showed a difference in areas of the brain, the hippocampus, the taxis where larger than the bus drivers. This is due to taxi drivers needing to have a more flexible understanding of the city layouts vs a bus driver using the common/standard routes. ###### Attentional Crisis (pg. 65) Meditation involves engaging a set of practices to cultivate specific mental qualities. In the example mentioned about SART, Sustained Attention to Response Task, it shows how for even simple tasks our minds wander & we may operate/execute a task mentally or cognitively unconscious. That is to say, this can lead to dangerous experiences in other areas of life. For example, a live fire experiment was performed and participants executed it poorly, shooting when they should not have. Notice, acknowledge & let it pass, negative feelings. With meditation practice you can protect your attention. Accept & allow, to acknowledge the issue present at the current moment instead of trying to resist it. Resisting keeps whatever content at the top of mind. > This is another reminder of what I am already aware of. When I did meditate, source understanding as a way to explain it to others and even to myself. I have far too much in my running memory thus affecting my attention span & focus. #book-self-reflection. - Lack of being present is a lack of attention. - "Attentional hijacking", mental time travel. - Stabilize attention with mindfulness. - Mental armor to guard attentional resources. "Inner Landscape" of attentional distraction. Meaning much of what degrades our attention is in our own minds, our "Mindscape". Learning to engage my mindscape instead of trying to think my way out of it. "Discursive thinking", judging, planing, strategizing. Logical thinking vs mindscape processing. Attention is action. Whatever you're focused on will be acted upon. Mindfulness to develop a new way of being. More receptive attentional mode, to notice, observe & be. A peak mind does not privilege thinking & doing over being. Focused & receptive, a delicate balance. ##### Chapter 4 Find Your Focus Your "focus flashlight" is a representation of your capacity to select a subset of information. It is the ability to focus the "brightness" on what's relevant while dimming out info that is irrelevant to the current goal or objective. Awareness of lack of focus becomes apparent most when we're needing to actively call to an attention or task. Demeans requiring focus can then be the distraction. That means the stress of the needing to focus on a task can thus lead to unproductive responses. ###### How steady is your flashlight? pg. 93 Even a simple experience such as taking 5 breathes with eyes closed without being disrupted by an intrusive thought is difficult at the moment. ###### The Neurosurgeon & the Mechanic pg. 95 Mind wandering, the mind just not focused on the task or objective at hand, drifting. "Cognitive Closure", the want to achieve a resolution to something that is confusing, unsettling, or ambiguous. Neuroscience concepts: - load theory - mind-wandering - vigilance decrement - mental fatigue, losing the ability to focus. ###### Load Theory pg. 98 The amount of attention remains constant. The way that it is used differs in that it may not get used on what _you_ want it to be used on. Demand is "load". This is similar to computing load upon system resources. Consider it as such, you're always using 100% of your attention. It always goes somewhere. Thus __where__? ###### The Vigilance Decrement: You're Going To Get Worse at What You're Doing This is the reality of when performing _any_ given task over time, performance declines & mind wandering increases. Thus sustained focus for performing anything is needing development in order to increase performance & reduce mind-wandering. To reiterate this can affect any task type, simple or complex, "interesting" or "boring". Personal story: This reminds me of when I got locked inside of the REI gated area. The guards had been so lost in their thoughts that they didn't notice me despite having walked past me a few times. This mind-wandering is what yields unhealthy & unproductive results. Foster focus. This wandering of the mind is not a fatigue of cognitive resources but the lack of direction, guidance or focus. The more you wander the further you get from your goal. That isn't to say we should not allow for the type of mental exercise, no, it is the desire & need to harness it on __command__ or moreso when it is of the essence to be __functionally focused__. ###### Mind-Wandering: The Dark Matter of Information Processing Self-note: Go in hoping to be correct but expect to be incorrect. That is in reference to the learning process, where to fully engage with the content, one must actually answer and _then_ question in some instances. This primes the minds cognitive facilities and prepares it to engage, consume & process information. We are constantly mind-wandering but mostly unaware of that. Thus this takes time away from us using our attention for what we need vs our sub-conscious wants. A want does not need to be a "good" thing. It can merely be something the mind wants to process & if you refuse to do so, it will eventually win. "Spontaneous Thought": unconstrained thinking, that allows for thoughts or ideas to manifest without conscious voluntary control or choice. "Conscious internal reflection": Simply put daydreaming. This is good for recharging attention capacity, enhancing mood & relieving stress. Creative, energizing, generative. Mind-wandering & daydreaming are similar but differ in that while it is spontaneous, it occurs when you're wanting or needing to be doing something, (mind-wandering). Yet despite this mind-wandering is keeping you from focusing on the task or able to execute upon it. "TUT", task unrelated thought: Mind-wandering thru thoughts not related to the task at hand. Constant mind-wandering will reduce the ability to accomplish or even start a task. This will lead to further mind-wandering created problems such as: #task-unrelated-thought - "Perceptual Decoupling": You're "zoned out" and become completely engrossed in the thoughts that you lose awareness of self & environment. Mind-wandering is causing you to be a mental time traveler, (e.g. fast-forward to the future or peering past to past experiences). - Encouraged Errors, as a result of not being present & aware, mistakes are made more frequently. As if you're not paying attention then this will accumulate to more errors being encountered. - Increased Stress, "TUT" can affect mental/psychological health & mood negatively. The moment that you return to being aware or "reentry" has a cost on your mind & stress levels. This negative dip further enhances the mind-wandering which leads to the poor mood & increased mentioned previously. A vicious cycle of mind-wandering is encountered. ###### Why We Wander pg. 103 There is a theory that mind-wandering may have been helpful in our evolutionary path. That is to say consider the example provided of an earlier ancestor seeking food, having their focus be a biased flashlight, (has a specific task in mind and that's all). Now the creature has identified & is consuming food only to be consumed themselves by a tiger they hadn't noticed. Thus its hypothesized that mind-wandering may have allowed for the flashlight unbiased "aware" mind to "focus" on the surroundings & thus be more aware of predators. Those that survived passed on "distractive" genes. In lab tests (heck writing this damn sentence) it has been observed that human brains will _actively resist_ staying focused on task. Meaning that despite its apparent destructive & problematic nature (our perception of mind-wandering) it can be seen as beneficial. Voluntary Attention, when your attention is captured & pulled toward something without your active choice. Automatic Attention, when your attention is captured & pulled toward something without your active choice. "Attention Grabbing". Example: Using a flashlight in the dark to illuminate the pathway ahead; voluntary attention. Then you hear a noise and instinctively point the flashlight in that direction; automatic attention. External Distractions: environment. Internal Distraction: self-mind/within. In the example given they increased the delay of the visual primer was slightly increased before showing the "x" & testers performed worse on the task. Why? Because the mind, once it did not see the "x" identifier as expected, returned focus back to the other area of the screen. Thus this phenomenon is described as "inhibition of return". Attention is quite literally __inhibited__ from returning to that location originally being looked at. To expand on this, your flashlight automatically disadvantages or disregards on area/space if nothing appears or occurs in that space. It becomes eliminated as an area of interest or use. Back to our ancestors, one again this evolutionary trait to continue to "scan" the surroundings not only for prey but predators as well. Mind-wandering may have developed as a way to maximize "opportunity costs", where the brain prioritizes what it feels to be a longer potential gain, (e.g. survival, safety or identifying what else out there) over the immediate object/space (focus & follow thru for current objective being worked on). Overly focusing on the wrong thing causes us to lose track on what we're currently trying to accomplish. We lose sense if what we're currently doing _aligns_ with what we're trying to accomplish. Losing sight & touch of what we're trying to accomplish thus leads us to the inability to identify when to course correct or when we need to take into account surprise obstacles. - 18 pages of 42 completed ###### Let's Recap! pg. 109 We use 100% of our attention (load theory) & it always goes somewhere, if not on the task at hand then mind-wandering my be occurring (TUT) & thus mentally unaware of environment or surroundings, (perceptual decoupling). #task-unrelated-thought Mind-wandering is a human predisposition for a multitude of reasons: - Identifying threats (inhibition of return). - This may drive "vigilance decrement" which causes you to perform worse the more you do it. Mind-wandering benefits, "opportunity costs", "attentional cycling" but these are bad for executing on tasks at hand or current objectives & this affects our mood. ###### Learn To Recognize You're Mind-Wandering pg. 109 - __TODO__: Exercise, document/note when you're mind-wandering or check-in where your mind is to identify if you're mind-wandering. - Note the time, task & where your flashlight or direct focus is. - This is to gather data on what is keeping you from being present & how often it occurs. - Ref. examples on pg. 112 ###### Our Crisis of Attention: Is It Digital pg. 112 We are constantly engaged, we don't allow our minds to "rest" vs being present & aware in the moment. __Hypertasking__. We must utilize the mindfulness method to assist with guiding our focus in a highly distract-able world. That is to say, you as the human must learn to navigate this world as it is We can't always just "turn off" or control the environment to make it less distracting. ###### Finding Your Flashlight pg. 114 Focus exercises: orient attention to a target object, notice when it wanders off target & then reorient it back to the target. Supportive, yet firm in the approach to the mindfulness exercise. Don't justify, chastise or ruminate. Focus on the exercise and guiding your flashlight of focus to the specified object. As you develop the skill to identify when you're mind-wandering & refocus your attention, you will develop the ability to actually know when you should truly allow yourself to mind-wander, e.g. like allowing a dog off lease at a park, free to wander. Then we return to focusing as a dog being led by leash. Breathe. Awareness, focus your attention on your breath & when the mind-wanders, return to it. Multitasking is not an effective method for performing adequately. Meaning that is has been proven that attempting to perform more than one task at a time will lead to a worse performance/output. Task switching. Think of it as shining your attentional flashlight back & forth between 2 objects of focus, in doing so neither is adequately illuminated. Biasing, remember attention will automatically calibrate to whatever task is being performed. Thus performing 2 tasks can disrupt the "calibration of information processing" related to each task. You have __one__ attention resource, one flashlight & thus trying to multitask will not yield any benefits for mastery/performance. Task interleaving is trying to perform multiple objectives at once but failing to do so adequately due to your attention needing to re-calibrate information processing. - mental lag - time & energy when re-calibrating - cognitive living space Imagine that cognitive living space is similar to living in a studio apartment. When you want to perform a task or use the area, you must rearrange it. For instance, want to cook, put away living room setup. Want to host put away sleeping setup, etc. This is to say your attention on a task is similar & thus switching tasks means rearranging the room. More task switching, even between just two increases delay or slowness in response. Mono-task, perform one task, focus on that task & develop the skill to perform it better as you learn to hone your attention. Once again, multitasking is inadequate, problematic & stressful. The notion of performing multiple tasks & in today's world, increasingly more complex one, is a farce. "Pivot leadership", being able to completely or fully dedicate your attention to the _next_ task at hand without any _residue_ from the _previous_ task at hand. Allow yourself the opportunity to disengage from the previous task at hand & then fully shift our attention to the new task at hand. Developing awareness of whats happening in the current moment requires diligent practice. Despite the practice & increased awareness, **You will still not achieve perfect, unflinching focus**, pg. 123 Mental stamina requires mental training. Understand that "automatic attention" is built to wind-wander & we will be pulled from the task at hand. Even without external distractions our minds will periodically go mind-wandering. The goal is to develop a greater sense of awareness when we mind-wander so that we can redirect it to the task at hand. Example pg. 124 - You're dribbling a basketball, the ball drops away from your hand & bounces right back. Your focus shifts away from the task at hand & then comes back. To dribble is to reengage in the task, continuing from where you are or a vulnerability if you lose the ball. Thus expending cognitive energy getting it back. Consider & understand that you will need to practice mindfulness meditation in order to get better at "cognitive dribbling" or being able to focus on the task at hand. The point of mindfulness meditation isn't to become un-distractable, it is to become aware of those distractions & work on focusing back to your breath. To be able to refocus on the task at hand & still be aware of the distraction but not feed into it. Working memory, the dynamic mental workspace for temporary information used for your task at hand. Distractions can fill working memory & thus affect productivity & mood. ###### Stay In Play pg. 127