Fast Company Daily How to stop wasting mental energy and train your focus like a high performer
Nov 3, 2025
Paul Taylor, a writer and researcher focused on attention and high performance, shares insights on optimizing mental energy. He explains how fixating on uncontrollable past or future events can drain focus and lead to anxiety. Highlighting a study, he notes most worries never materialize. Taylor emphasizes attentional control as a critical skill and offers practical strategies like mindful breathing and attention audits. He also discusses the importance of redirecting focus to meaningful actions, treating attention like mental currency.
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Attention Is A Flashlight
- Attention works like a flashlight that directs focus and energy to whatever you shine it on.
- Shining attention on uncontrollable thoughts or others' behavior wastes mental energy and worsens mood.
Worry Journals Reveal Most Fears Don’t Happen
- A 2020 study asked people with GAD to journal worries and found 91.4% never came true.
- The study also found 30% of worries that did occur turned out better than expected.
Attentional Control Drives Performance
- Experts across military, sport, and business ranked attentional control as the top trainable skill for performance under pressure.
- Attention shapes what we notice, how we feel, and how we act, making it the brain's gatekeeper.