How to Know When It's Time to Broaden Your Focus

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For me, in setting the goal, I knew that I needed to be narrow and not so wide. Multitasking is a thing that plagues all of us,. For almost all of us, it does a disservice for our ability to get the best out of what we're putting in. When we might want to use that narrowed focus, is when we need an extra push of energy to cross over that finish line. And if you have accurately assessed your progress, and that is the right conclusion to draw, that's when we need to free ourselves from that fixation on this one course of action.

Emily Balcetis is an Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University. She is the author of more than 70 scientific publications and her work has been covered in Forbes, Newsweek, Time, National Public Radio, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and many others. She has also received numerous awards for her work.

Eric and Emily discuss her book, Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World

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Emily Balcetis and I Discuss How to Focus and Accomplish Goals and…

Her book, Clearer, Closer, Better: How Successful People See the World
Her decision to tackle learning to play drums
The four tools of accomplishing a goal
What it means to materialize a goal
How our brains can’t be trusted to accurately assess our progress toward our goal
The importance of writing down and tracking progress
Figuring out what we want to accomplish AND creating a plan of action
Foreshadowing obstacles that might get in our way and how you’ll deal with them increases your chances of success
The value of narrowing your focus of attention
How time is a big determinant of what goals we set and whether we reach those goals
Finding ways to connect your current self with your future self can make it easier to make tougher choices that lead to better outcomes later
How it sometimes makes sense to have a “wide bracket” or broader perspective
The power of framing and how what we see predicts what we do

Emily Balcetis Links:

Emily Balcetis

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If you enjoyed this conversation with Emily Balcetis, you might also enjoy these other episodes:

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Behavior Change with John Norcross

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