Book Recommendation: Stolen Focus

I’m a productivity nut. As a work-from-home, self-employed designer and publisher, I need to work as efficiently and productively as possible. My livelihood depends on it.

Therefore, when I heard a glowing recommendation for the new book, Stolen Focus by Johann Hari, I leapt into action. Going into the book, I thought it was “just” going to be a rant railing against social media and smartphones. (As an old fuddy-duddy of a certain age, such a rant would have been right up my street). It is so much more. While social media and smartphones do pop up in the book (how could they not) Johann conducts a much wider exploration of our ability to focus and the many ways modern society erodes this most crucial ability. The book roved over a much wider area than I had expected, and I cracked through it.

Focus is a critical ability for everyone. However, for designers and the self-employed, it is particularly critical. As a designer, when I can focus I design better material, and I do it faster. Focus is good!

If you are interested in improving your focus, or at least understanding why you fail to focus, I highly recommend Stolen Focus. For me, it’s a five-star book, and I’ll be reading it again in the near future.

No Affiliate Links

As always, there are no affiliate links in this post, and I get nothing for recommending the book (except the warm, satisfying glow of passing on a good book).

Creighton Broadhurst is the Publisher of Useful Items at Raging Swan Press. He lives on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity. He is not planning to voyage far.