In this engaging discussion, Amishi Jha, a renowned Professor of Psychology and Director of Contemplative Neuroscience at the University of Miami, reveals how attention is both powerful and trainable. She shares fascinating insights about working memory, likening it to a computer's RAM, and highlights how mindfulness can enhance focus and decision-making. Amishi discusses the cognitive benefits of forgetting and offers practical tips on improving attention for better leadership outcomes, all drawn from her extensive research and personal experiences.
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insights INSIGHT
Attention: The Brain's Boss
Attention is the brain's boss, directing information processing.
It prioritizes specific information over other available information.
insights INSIGHT
The Fragility of Attention
Attention is powerful, but fragile, being easily compromised by stress and negative mood.
Leaders face these challenges, making attention management crucial.
insights INSIGHT
Working Memory: The Mind's Whiteboard
Working memory, like a whiteboard with disappearing ink, holds immediate information.
Attention writes on this whiteboard, while stress and distractions clutter it.
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Peak Mind by Amishi Jha provides a comprehensive overview of the science of attention, debunking common assumptions and offering new insights into how attention works. The book introduces three subsystems of attention: the flashlight, floodlight, and juggler. It offers practical, flexible 12-minute-a-day exercises to lift mental fog, declutter the mind, and strengthen focus. Drawing from research and personal experiences, including work with soldiers, firefighters, athletes, and professionals, Dr. Jha guides readers on how to train their brains to pay attention more effectively, helping them to function at their peak in all aspects of life.
Amishi Jha: Peak Mind
Amishi Jha is Director of Contemplative Neuroscience and Professor of Psychology at the University of Miami. With grants from the Department of Defense and several private foundations, she leads research on the neural bases of attention and the effects of mindfulness-based training programs on cognition, emotion, resilience, and performance in education, corporate, elite sports, first-responder, and military contexts.
She launched the first-ever study to offer mindfulness training to active duty military service members as they prepared for deployment. Her work has been featured in many outlets including TED, NPR, and Mindful Magazine. In addition, she has been invited to present her work to NATO, the UK Parliament, the Pentagon, and at the World Economic Forum. She is the author of Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day*.
In this conversation, Amishi and I explore the importance of our attention and why harnessing it is essential for leaders. We dive into the neuroscience and how our brain is similar to a computer in how much we can hold at one time. Plus, Amishi provides us several practical starting points if we wish to do a better job of placing our attention in the most useful places.
Key Points
Attention is powerful, fragile, and trainable.
Our working memory is like the RAM inside a computer — there’s only so much we can hold at a time.
You experience what’s in your working memory, even if that doesn’t correlate to what’s right in front of you.
If your working memory is full, it blocks the ability to encode or whatever you are trying to learn.
A key tactic is to be aware of what’s in your working memory — and what you choose not to rewrite.
Mindfulness practice can provide the white space for the space in our working memory that we need.
Resources Mentioned
Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes a Day* by Amishi Jha
Interview Notes
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Related Episodes
How to Know What You Don’t Know, with Art Markman (episode 437)
How to Be Present, with Dave Crenshaw (episode 511)
Help Your Brain Learn, with Lisa Feldman Barrett (episode 513)
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