CONTENTSDedication1The Subtle FacultyPart I: The Anatomy of Attention2Basics 3Attention Top and Bottom The !alue of a "ind Adrift #Findin$ BalancePart II: Self%A&areness'The Inner (udder )Seein$ *ursel+es as *thers See ,s -A (ecipe for Self%.ontrolPart III: (eadin$ *thers /The 0oman 0ho 1ne& Too "uch 12The 3mpathy Triad 11Social Sensiti+ityPart I!: The Bi$$er .onte4t 12Patterns5 Systems5 and "esses 13System Blindness1Distant ThreatsPart !: Smart Practice1#The "yth of 125222 6ours 1'Brains on 7ames 1)Breathin$ BuddiesPart !I: The 0ell%Focused 8eader 1-6o& 8eaders Direct Attention 1/The 8eader9s Triple Focus 220hat "a:es a 8eader;Part !II: The Bi$ Picture218eadin$ for the 8on$ FutureAc:no&led$ments(esourcesrst ?oor of a department store on "anhattan9s ,pper 3ast Side is to &itness attention in action@ In a nondescript blac: suit5 &hite shirt5 and red tie5 &al:ie%tal:ie in hand5 =ohn mo+es perpetually5 his focus al&ays ri+eted on one or another shopper@ .all him the eyes of the store@ It9s a dauntin$ challen$e@ There are more than >fty shoppers onhis ?oor at any one time5 driftin$ from one Ae&elry counter to the ne4t5 perusin$ the !alentino scar+es5 sortin$ throu$h the Prada pouches@ As they bro&se the $oods5 =ohn bro&ses them@ =ohn &altBes amon$ the shoppers5 a study in Bro&nian motion@ For a fe& seconds he stands behind a purse counter5 his eyes $lued to a prospect5 then ?its to a +anta$e point by the door5only to $lide to a corner &here a perch allo&s him a circumspect loo: at a potentially suspicious trio@ 0hile customers see only the merchandise5 obli+ious to =ohn9s &atchful eye5 he scrutiniBes them all@ There9s a sayin$ in India5 C0hen a pic:poc:et meets a saint5 all he sees are the poc:ets@D In any cro&d &hat =ohn &ould see are the pic:poc:ets@ 6is $aBe roams li:e a spotli$ht@ I can ima$ine his face seemin$ to scre& up into a $iant ocular orb reminiscentof the one%eyed .yclops@ =ohn is focus embodied@ 0hat does he scan for; CIt9s a &ay their eyes mo+e5 or a motion in their bodyD that tips him oE to the intention to pilfer5 =ohn tells me@ *r those shoppers bunched to$ether5 or the one furti+ely $lancin$ around@ CI9+e been doin$ this so lon$ I Aust :no& the si$ns@D As =ohn Beroes in on one shopper amon$ the >fty5 he mana$es to i$nore the other forty%nine5 and e+erythin$ elseFa feat of concentration amid a sea of distraction@ Such panoramic a&areness5 alternatin$ &ith his constant +i$ilance for a tellin$ but rare si$nal5demands se+eral +arieties of attentionFsustained attention5 alertin$5 orientin$5 and mana$in$ all that Feach based in a distinctly uniGue &eb of brain circuitry5 andeach an essential mental tool@1 =ohn9s sustained scan for a rare e+ent represents one of the >rst facets of attention to be studied scienti>cally@ Analysis of &hat helped us stay +i$ilant started durin$ 0orld 0ar II5 spurred on by the military9s need to ha+e radar operators &ho could stay at pea: alert for hoursFand by the >ndin$ that they missed more si$nals to&ard the end of their &atch5 as attention la$$ed@ At the hei$ht of the .old 0ar5 I remember +isitin$ a researcher &ho had been commissioned by the Penta$on to study +i$ilance le+els durin$ sleep depri+ation lastin$ three to >+e daysFabout ho& lon$ it estimated the military oHcers deep in some bun:er &ould need to stay a&a:e durin$ 0orld 0ar III@ Fortunately his e4periment ne+er had to be tested a$ainst hard reality5 althou$h his encoura$in$ >ndin$ &as that e+en after three or more sleepless ni$hts people could pay :eenattention if their moti+ation &as hi$h enou$h Ibut if they didn9t care5 they &ould nod oE immediatelyJ@ In +ery recent years the science of attention has blossomed far beyond +i$ilance@ That science tells us these s:ills determine ho& &ell &e perform any tas:@ If they are stunted5 &e do poorlyK if muscular5 &e can e4cel@ *ur +ery nimbleness in life depends on this subtle faculty@ 0hile the lin: bet&een attention and e4cellence remains hidden most of the time5 it ripples throu$h almost e+erythin$ &e see: to accomplish@ This supple tool embeds &ithin countless mental operations@ A short list of some basics includes comprehension5 memory5 learnin$5 sensin$ ho& &e feel and &hy5 readin$ emotions in other people5 and interactin$ smoothly@ Surfacin$ this in+isible factor in eEecti+eness lets us better see the bene>ts of impro+in$ this mental faculty5 and better understand Aust ho& to do that@ Throu$h an optical illusion of the mind &e typically re$ister the end products of attentionFour ideas $ood and bad5 a tellin$ &in: or in+itin$ smile5 the &hiE of mornin$ coEeeF&ithout noticin$ the beam of a&areness itself@ Thou$h it matters enormously for ho& &e na+i$ate life5 attention in all its +arieties represents a little%noticed and underrated mental asset@ "y $oal here is to spotli$ht this elusi+e and underappreciated mental faculty in the mind9s operations and its role in li+in$ a ful>llin$ life@ *ur Aourney be$ins &ith e4plorin$ some basics of attentionK =ohn9s +i$ilant alertness mar:s Aust one of these@ .o$niti+e science studiesa &ide array5 includin$ concentration5 selecti+e attention5 and open a&areness5 as &ell as ho&the mind deploys attention in&ardly to o+ersee mental operations@ !ital abilities build on suchbasic mechanics of our mental life@ For one5 there9s self%a&areness5 &hich fosters self%mana$ement@ Then there9s empathy5 the basis for s:ill in relationship@ These are fundamentals of emotional intelli$ence@ As &e9ll see5 &ea:ness here can sabota$e a life or career5&hile stren$ths increase ful>llment and success@ Beyond these domains5 systems science ta:es us to &ider bands of focus as &e re$ard the &orld around us5 tunin$ us to the comple4 systems that de>ne and constrain our &orld@2 Such an outer focus confronts a hidden challen$e in attunin$ to these +ital systems: our brain &as not desi$ned for that tas:5 and so &e ?ounder@ Let systems a&areness helps us $rasp the &or:in$s of an or$aniBation5 an economy5 or the $lobal processes that support life on this planet@ All that can be boiled do&n to a threesome: inner5 other5 and outer focus@ A &ell%li+ed life demands &e be nimble in each@ The $ood ne&s on attention comes from neuroscience labs and school classrooms5 &here the >ndin$s point to &ays &e can stren$thenthis +ital muscle of the mind@ Attention &or:s much li:e a muscleFuse it poorly and it can &itherK &or: it &ell and it $ro&s@ 0e9ll see ho& smart practice can further de+elop and re>ne the muscle of our attention5 e+en rehab focus%star+ed brains@ For leaders to $et results they need all three :inds of focus@ Inner focus attunes us to our intuitions5 $uidin$ +alues5 and better decisions@ *ther focus smooths our connections to the people in our li+es@ And outer focus lets us na+i$ate in the lar$er &orld@ A leader tuned out of his internal &orld &ill be rudderlessK one blind to the &orld of others &illbe cluelessK those indiEerent to the lar$er systems &ithin &hich they operate &ill be blindsided@ And it9s not Aust leaders &ho bene>t from a balance in this triple focus@ All of us li+e in dauntin$ en+ironments5 rife &ith the tensions and competin$ $oals and lures of modernlife@ 3ach of the three +arieties of attention can help us >nd a balance &here &e can be both happy and producti+e@ Attention5 from the 8atin attendere5 to reach to&ard5 connects us &ith the &orld5 shapin$ and de>nin$ our e4perience@ CAttention5D co$niti+e neuroscientists "ichael Posner and "ary (othbart &rite5 pro+ides the mechanisms Cthat underlie our a&areness of the&orld and the +oluntary re$ulation of our thou$hts and feelin$s@D3 Anne Treisman5 a dean of this research area5 notes that ho& &e deploy our attention determines &hat &e see@ *r as Loda says5 CLour focus is your reality@DT63 3cit disorder@) 0e learn best &ith focused attention@ As &e focus on &hat &e are learnin$5 the brain maps that information on &hat &e already :no&5 ma:in$ ne& neural connections@ If you and a small toddler share attention to&ard somethin$ as you name it5 the toddler learns that nameK if her focus &anders as you say it5 she &on9t@ 0hen our mind &anders oE5 our brain acti+ates a host of brain circuits that chatter about thin$s that ha+e nothin$ to do &ith &hat &e9re tryin$ to learn@ 8ac:in$ focus5 &e store no crisp memory of &hat &e9re learnin$@P*rst century5 decryin$ the shrin:in$ of this crucial mental ability@ But they misinterpret the data@ C0or:in$ memory hasn9t shrun:5D said =ustin 6alberda5 a co$niti+e scientist at =ohns 6op:ins ,ni+ersity@ CIt9s not the case that T! has made our &or:in$ memory smallerDFthat in the 1/#2s &e all had an upper limit of se+en plus or minus t&o bits of information5 and no& &e ha+e only four@ CThe mind tries to ma:e the most of its limited resources5D 6alberda e4plained@ CSo &e use memory strate$ies that helpDFsay5 combinin$ diEerent elements5 li:e 5 15 and #5 into a sin$le chun:5 such as the area code 1#@ C0hen &e perform a memory tas:5 the result mi$ht be se+en plus or minus t&o bits@ But that brea:s do&n into a >4ed limit of four5 plus three or four more that memory strate$ies add@ So both four and se+en are ri$ht5 dependin$ on ho& you measure it@D Then there9s &hat many people thin: of as Csplittin$D attention in multitas:in$5 &hich co$niti+e science tells us is a >ction5 too@ (ather than ha+in$ a stretchable balloon of attention to deploy in tandem5 &e ha+e a narro&5 >4ed pipeline to allot@ Instead of splittin$ it5 &e actually s&itch rapidly@ .ontinual s&itchin$ saps attention from full5 concentrated en$a$ement@ CThe most precious resource in a computer system is no lon$er its processor5 memory5 dis: or net&or:5 but ratherhuman attention5D a research $roup at .arne$ie "ellon ,ni+ersity notes@1 Thesolution they propose to this human bottlenec: hin$es on minimiBin$ distractions: ProAect Aura proposes to do a&ay &ith bothersome systems $litches so &e don9t &aste time in hassles@ The $oal of a hassle%free computin$ system is laudable@ This solution5 ho&e+er5 may not $et us that far: it9s not a technolo$ical >4 &e need but a co$niti+e one@ The source of distractions is not so much in the technolo$y &e use as in the frontal assault on our focusin$ ability from the mountin$ tide of distractions@ 0hich $ets me bac: to .lay Shir:y5 particularly his research on social media@1# 0hile none of us can focus on e+erythin$ at once5 all of us to$ether create a collecti+e band&idth for attention that &e each can access as needed@ 0itness 0i:ipedia@ As Shir:y proclaims in his boo: 6ere .omes 3+erybody5 attention can be seen as a capacity distributed amon$ many people5 as can memory or any co$niti+e e4pertise@ C0hat9s trendin$ no&D inde4es ho& &e are allottin$ our collecti+e attention@ 0hile some ar$ue that our tech%facilitated learnin$ and memory dumb us do&n5 there9s also a case to be made that they create a mental prosthesis that e4pands the po&er of indi+idual attention@ *ur social capitalFand ran$e of attentionFincreases as &e up the number of socialties throu$h &hich &e $ain crucial information5 li:e tacit :no&led$e of Cho& thin$s &or: here5D &hether in an or$aniBation or a ne& nei$hborhood@ .asual acGuaintances can be e4tra sets of eyes and ears on the &orld5 :ey sources of the $uidance &e need to operate in comple4 social and information ecosystems@ "ost of us ha+e a handful of stron$ tiesFclose5 trusted friendsFbut &e can ha+e hundreds of socalled &ea: ties Ifor e4ample5 our Faceboo: CfriendsDJ@ 0ea: ties ha+e hi$h +alue as multipliers of our attention capacity5 and as a source of tips for $ood shoppin$ deals5 Aob possibilities5 and datin$ partners@1' 0hen &e coordinate &hat &e see and &hat &e :no&5 our eEorts in tandem multiply our co$niti+e &ealth@ 0hile at any $i+en moment our Guota for &or:in$ memory remains small5 the total of data &e can pull throu$h that narro& &idth becomes hu$e@ This collecti+e intelli$ence5 the sum total of &hat e+eryone in a distributed $roup can contribute5 promises ma4imal focus5 the summation of &hat multiple eyes can notice@ A research center at the "assachusetts Institute of Technolo$y on collecti+e intelli$ence sees this emer$in$ capacity as abetted by the sharin$ of attention on the Internet@ The classic e4ample: millions of &ebsites cast their spotli$ht &ithin narro& nichesFand a 0eb search selects and directs our focus so &e can har+est all that co$niti+e &or: eHciently@1) The "IT $roup9s basic Guestion: C6o& can &e connect people and computers so that collecti+ely &e act &ith more intelli$ence than any one person or $roup;D*r5 as the =apanese say5 CAll of us are smarter than any one of us@DD* L*, 8*!3 06AT L*, D*; The bi$ Guestion: 0hen you $et up in the mornin$5 are you happy about $ettin$ to &or:5 school5 or &hate+er it is that occupies your day; (esearch by 6ar+ard9s 6o&ard 7ardner5 Stanford9s 0illiam Damon5 and .laremont9s "ihaly .si:sBentmihalyi Beroed in on &hat they call C$ood &or:5D a potent mi4 of &hat people are e4cellent at5 &hat en$a$es them5 and their ethicsF&hat they belie+e matters@1- Those are more li:ely to be hi$h%absorption callin$s: people lo+e &hat they are doin$@ Full absorption in &hat &e do feels $ood5 and pleasure is the emotional mar:er for ?o&@ People are in ?o& relati+ely rarely in daily life@1/ Samplin$ people9s moods at random re+eals that most of the time people are either stressed or bored5 &ith only occasional periods of ?o&K only about 22 percent of people ha+e ?o& moments at least once a day@ Around 1# percent of people ne+er enter a ?o& state durin$ a typical day@ *ne :ey to more ?o& in life comes &hen &e ali$n &hat&e do &ith &hat &e enAoy5 as is the case &ith those fortunate fol:s &hose Aobs $i+e them $reat pleasure@ 6i$h achie+ers in any >eldFthe luc:y ones5 any&ayFha+e hit on this combination@ Apart from a career chan$e5 there are se+eral door&ays to ?o&@ *ne may open &hen &e tac:le a tas: that challen$es our abilities to the ma4imumFa CAust%mana$eableD demand on our s:ills@ Another entry&ay can come +ia doin$ &hat &e are passionate aboutK moti+ation sometimes dri+es us into ?o&@ But either &ay the >nal common path&ay is full focus: these are each &ays to ratchet up attention@ nd lar$e numbers of people are in a +ery diEerent brain state: they daydream5 &aste hours cruisin$ the 0eb or LouTube5 and do the bare minimum reGuired@ Their attention scatters@ Such disen$a$ement and indiEerence are rampant5 especially amon$ repetiti+e5 undemandin$ Aobs@ To $et the disen$a$ed &or:ers any nearer thefocused ran$e demands uppin$ their moti+ation and enthusiasm5 e+o:in$ a sense of purpose5and addin$ a dollop of pressure@*n the other hand5 another lar$e $roup are stuc: in the state neurobiolo$ists call CfraBBle5D &here constant stress o+erloads their ner+ous system &ith ?oods of cortisol and adrenaline@ Their attention >4ates on their &orries5 not their Aob@ This emotional e4haustion can lead to burnout@ Full focus $i+es us a potential door&ay into ?o&@ But &hen &e choose to focus on onethin$ and i$nore the rest5 &e surface a constant tensionFusually in+isibleFbet&een a $reat neural di+ide5 &here the top of the brain tussles &ith the bottom@ 3ATT3t or a niftyadJ@ 0hen &e choose to tune in to the beauty of a sunset5 concentrate on &hat &e9re readin$5or ha+e a deep tal: &ith someone5 it9s a top%do&n shift@ *ur mind9s eye plays out a continual dance bet&een stimulusdri+en attention capture and +oluntarily directed focus@ The bottom%up system multitas:s5 scannin$ a profusion of inputs in parallel5 includin$ features ofour surroundin$s that ha+e not yet come into full focusK it analyBes &hat9s in our perceptual >eld before lettin$ us :no& &hat it selects as rele+ant for us@ *ur top%do&n mind ta:es more time to deliberate on &hat it $ets presented &ith5 ta:in$ thin$s one at a time and applyin$ more thou$htful analysis@ Throu$h &hat amounts to an optical illusion of the mind5 &e ta:e &hat9s &ithin our a&areness to eGual the &hole of the mind9s operations@ But in fact the +ast maAority of mental operations occur in the mind9s bac:sta$e5 amid the purr of bottom%up systems@ "uch Isome say allJ of &hat the top%do&n mind belie+es it has chosen to focus on5 thin: about5 and do is actually plans dictated bottom%up@ If this &ere a mo+ie5 psycholo$ist Daniel 1ahneman &ryly notes5 the top%do&n mind &ould be a Csupportin$ character &ho belie+es herself to be the hero@D3 Datin$ bac: millions of years in e+olution5 the re?e4i+e5 Guic:%actin$ bottom%up circuitry fa+ors short%term thin:in$5 impulse5 and speedy decisions@ The top%do&n circuits at the front and top of the brain are a later addition5 their full maturation datin$ bac: mere hundreds of thousands of years@ Top%do&n &irin$ adds talents li:e self%a&areness and re?ection5 deliberation5 and plannin$ to our mind9s repertoire@ Intentional5 top%do&n focus oEers the mind a le+er to mana$e our brain@ As &e shift our attention from one tas:5 plan5 sensation or the li:e to another5 the related brain circuitry li$htsup@ Brin$ to mind a happy memory of dancin$ and the neurons for Aoy and mo+ement sprin$ to life@ (ecall the funeral of a lo+ed one and the circuitry for sadness acti+ates@ "entally rehearse a $olf stro:e and the a4ons and dendrites that orchestrate those mo+es &ire to$ether a bit more stron$ly@ The human brain counts amon$ e+olution9s $ood%enou$h5 but not perfect5 desi$ns@ The brain9s more ancient bottom%up systems apparently &or:ed &ell forbasic sur+i+al durin$ most of human prehistoryFbut their desi$n ma:es for some troubles today@ In much of life the older system holds s&ay5 usually to our ad+anta$e but sometimes toour detriment: o+erspendin$5 addictions5 and rec:lessly speedin$ dri+ers all count as si$ns of this system out of &hac:@ The sur+i+al demands of early e+olution pac:ed our brains &ith preset bottom%up pro$rams for procreation and child%rearin$5 for &hat9s pleasurable and &hat9s dis$ustin$5 for runnin$ from a threat or to&ard food5 and the li:e@ Fast%for&ard to today9s +ery diEerent &orld: &e so often need to na+i$ate life top%do&n despite the constant underto& of bottom%up &hims and dri+es@ A surprisin$ factor constantly tips the balance to&ard bottom%up: the brain economiBes on ener$y@ .o$niti+e eEorts li:e learnin$ to use your latest tech up$rade demand acti+e attention5 at an ener$y cost@ But the more &e run throu$h a once%no+el routine5 the more it morphs into rote habit and $ets ta:en o+er by bottom%up circuitry5 particularly neural net&or:s in the basal $an$lia5 a $olf%ball%siBedmass nestled at the brain9s bottom5 Aust abo+e the spinal cord@ The more &e practice a routine5 the more the basal $an$lia ta:e it o+er from other parts of the brain@ The bottomTtop systems distribute mental tas:s bet&een them so &e can ma:e minimal eEort and $et optimal results@ As familiarity ma:es a routine easier5 it $ets passed oE from the top to the bottom@ The &ay &e e4perience this neural transfer is that &e need pay less attentionFand >nally noneFas it becomes automatic@ The pea: of automaticity can be seen &hen e4pertise pays oE in eEortless attention to hi$h demand5 &hether a master%le+el chess match5 a eldD: they can read the other team9s defensi+e formations to sense the opponent9s intentions to mo+e5 and once the play starts instantly adAust to those mo+ements5 $ainin$ a priceless second or t&o to pic: out an open recei+er for a pass@ Such Cseein$D reGuires enormous practice5 so that &hat at >rst reGuires much attentionFdod$e that rusherFoccurs on automatic@ From a mental computation perspecti+e5 spottin$ a recei+er &hile under the pressure of se+eral 2#2%pound bodies hurtlin$ to&ard you from +arious an$les is no small feat: the Guarterbac: has to :eep in mind the pass routes of se+eral potential recei+ers at the same time he processes and responds to the mo+es of all ele+en opposin$ playersFa challen$e best mana$ed by &ell%practiced bottom%up circuits Iandone that &ould be o+er&helmin$ if he had to consciously thin: throu$h each mo+eJ@(3.IP3 F*( A S.(30,P 8olo =ones &as &innin$ the &omen9s 122%meter hurdles race5 on her &ay to a $old medal at the 222- BeiAin$ *lympics@ In the lead5 she &as clearin$ the hurdles &ith an eEortless rhythmFuntil somethin$ &ent &ron$@ At >rst it &as +ery subtle: she had a sense that the hurdles &ere comin$ at her too fast@ 0ith that5 =ones had the thou$ht "a:e sure you don9t $et sloppy in your techniGue@ @ @ @ "a:e sure your le$sare snappin$ out@ 0ith those thou$hts5 she o+ertried5 ti$htenin$ up a bit too muchFand hit the ninth hurdle of ten@ =ones >nished se+enth5 not >rst5 and collapsed on the trac: in tears@# 8oo:in$ bac: as she &as about to try a$ain at the 2212 8ondon *lympics I&here she e+entually >nished fourth in the 122%meter raceJ5 =ones could recall that earlier moment of defeat &ith crystal clarity@ And if you as:ed neuroscientists5 they could dia$nose the error &itheGual certainty: &hen she be$an to thin: about the details of her techniGue5 instead of Aust lea+in$ the Aob to the motor circuits that had practiced these mo+es to mastery5 =ones had shifted from relyin$ on her bottom%up system to interference from the top@ Brain studies >nd that ha+in$ a champion athlete start ponderin$ techniGue durin$ a performance oEers a sure recipe for a scre&up@ 0hen top soccer players raced a ball around and throu$h a line of traHcconesFand had to notice &hich side of their foot &as controllin$ the ballFthey made more errors@' The same happened &hen baseball players tried to trac: &hether their bat &as mo+in$ up or do&n durin$ a s&in$ for a pitched ball@ The motor corte45 &hich in a &ell%seasoned athlete has these mo+es deeply etched in its circuits from thousands of hours of practice5 operates best &hen left alone@ 0hen the prefrontal corte4 acti+ates and &e start thin:in$ about ho& &e9re doin$5 ho& to do &hat &e9re doin$For5 &orse5 &hat not to doFthe brain $i+es o+er some control to circuits that :no& ho& to thin: and &orry5 but not ho& to deli+er the mo+e itself@ 0hether in the hundred meters5 soccer5 or baseball5 it9s a uni+ersal recipe for trippin$ up@ That9s &hy5 as (ic: Aberman5 &ho directs pea: performance for the "innesota T&ins baseball team5 tells me5 C0hen the coach re+ie&s plays from a $ame and only focuses on &hat not to do ne4t time5 it9s a recipe for players to cho:e@D It9s not Aust in sports@ "a:in$ lo+e comes to mind as another acti+ity &here $ettin$ too analytic and self%critical $ets in the &ay@ A Aournal article on the Cironic eEects of tryin$ to rela4 under stressD su$$ests still another@) (ela4ation and ma:in$ lo+e $o best &hen &e Aust let them happenFnot try to force them@ The parasympathetic ner+ous system5 &hich :ic:s in durin$ these acti+ities5 ordinarily acts independently of our brain9s e4ecuti+e5 &hich thin:s about them@ 3d$ar Allan Poe dubbed the unfortunate mental tendency to brin$ up some sensiti+e topic youresol+ed not to mention Cthe imp of the per+erse@D An article >ttin$ly called C6o& to Thin:5 Say5 or Do Precisely the 0orst Thin$ for Any *ccasion5D by 6ar+ard psycholo$ist Daniel 0e$ner5 e4plains the co$niti+e mechanism that animates that imp@-Flubs5 0e$ner has found5 escalate to the de$ree &e are distracted5 stressed5 or other&ise mentally burdened@ In those circumstances a co$niti+e control system that ordinarily monitorserrors &e mi$ht ma:e Ili:e don9t mention that topicJ can inad+ertently act as a mental prime5 increasin$ the li:elihood of that +ery mista:e Ili:e mentionin$ that topicJ@ 0hen 0e$ner has had e4perimental +olunteers try not to thin: of a particular &ord5 &hen they then are pressured to respond Guic:ly to a &ord association tas:5 ironically they often oEer up that same forbidden &ord@ *+erloadin$ attention shrin:s mental control@ It9s in the moments &e feel most stressed that &e for$et the names of people &e :no& &ell5 not to mention their birthdays5 our anni+ersaries5 and other socially crucial data@/ Another e4ample: obesity@ (esearchers >nd that the pre+alence of obesity in the ,nited States o+er the last thirty years trac:s the e4plosion of computers and tech $ad$ets in people9s li+esFand suspect this is no accidental correlation@ 8ife immersed in di$ital distractions creates a near%constant co$niti+e o+erload@ And that o+erload &ears out self%control@ For$et that resol+e to diet@ 8ost in the di$ital &orld &e mindlessly reach for the Prin$les@T63 B*TT*"%,P S130 A sur+ey of psycholo$ists as:ed them if there mi$ht be Cone na$$in$ thin$D that they did not understand about themsel+es@12 *ne said that for t&o decades he had studied ho& $loomy &eather ma:es one9s &hole life loo: blea:5 unless you become a&areof ho& the $loom &orsens your moodFbut that e+en thou$h he understood all that5 $loomy s:ies still made him feel bad@ Another &as puBBled by his compulsion to &rite papers that sho& ho& some research is badly mis$uided5 and ho& he continues to do so e+en thou$h none of the rele+ant researchers has paid much attention@ And a third said that thou$h he hadstudied Cmale se4ual o+erperception biasDFthe misinterpretation of a &oman9s friendliness asromantic interestFhe still succumbs to the bias@ The bottom%up circuitry learns +oraciouslyFand GuietlyFta:in$ in lessons continually as &e $o throu$h the day@ Such implicit learnin$ need ne+er enter our a&areness5 thou$h it acts as a rudder in life nonetheless5 for better or for &orse@ The automatic system &or:s &ell most of the time: &e :no& &hat9s $oin$ on and &hat to do and can meander throu$h the demands of the day &ell enou$h &hile &e thin: about other thin$s@ But thissystem has &ea:nesses5 too: our emotions and our moti+es create s:e&s and biases in our attention that &e typically don9t notice5 and don9t notice that &e don9t notice@ Ta:e social an4iety@ In $eneral5 an4ious people >4ate on anythin$ e+en +a$uely threatenin$K those &ith social an4iety compulsi+ely spot the least si$n of reAection5 such as a ?eetin$ e4pression of dis$ust on someone9s faceFa re?ection of their habitual assumption that they &ill be social ?ops@ "ost of this emotional transaction $oes on out of a&areness5 leadin$ people to a+oid situations &here they mi$ht $et an4ious@ An in$enious method for remedyin$ this bottom%up s:e& is so subtle that people ha+e no idea that their attention patterns are bein$ re&ired IAustas they had no idea that &irin$ &as $oin$ on as they acGuired it in the >rst placeJ@ .alled Cco$niti+e bias modi>cation5D or .B"5 this in+isible therapy has those suEerin$ from se+ere social an4iety loo: at photos of an audience &hile they are as:ed to trac: &hen ?ashin$ patterns of li$hts appear and press a button as Guic:ly as they can@11 Flashes ne+er appear inthe area of the pictures that are threatenin$5 li:e fro&nin$ faces@ Thou$h this inter+ention stays beneath their a&areness5 o+er the course of se+eral sessions the bottom%up circuitry learns to direct attention to nonthreatenin$ cues@ Thou$h people ha+en9t a clue about the subtle repatternin$ of attention5 their an4iety in social situations dials do&n@12 That9s a beni$n use of this circuitry@ Then there9s ad+ertisin$@ The old%school tactics for $ettin$ attention in a cro&ded mar:etplaceF&hat9s ne&5 impro+ed5 surprisin$Fstill &or:@ But a miniindustry of brain studies in the ser+ice of mar:etin$ has led to tactics based on manipulatin$ our unconscious mind@ *ne such study found5 for e4ample5 that if you sho& people lu4ury items or Aust ha+e them thin: about lu4ury $oods5 they become more self%centered in their decisions@13 *ne of the most acti+e areas of research on unconscious choicecenters on &hat $ets us to reach for some product &hen &e shop@ "ar:eters &ant to :no& ho& to mobiliBe our bottom%up brain@ "ar:etin$ research >nds5 for instance5 that &hen peopleare sho&n a drin: alon$ &ith happy faces that ?it across a screen too rapidly to be re$istered consciouslyFbut nonetheless are noticed by the bottom%up systemsFthey drin: more than &hen those ?eetin$ ima$es are an$ry faces@ A re+ie& of such research concludes that people are Cmassi+ely una&areD of these subtle mar:etin$ forces5 e+en as they shape ho& &e shop@1 Bottom%up a&areness ma:es us suc:ers for subconscious primes@ 8ife today seems ruled to a troublin$ de$ree by impulseK a ?ood of ads dri+es us5 bottom%up5 to desire a sea of $oods and spend today &ithout re$ard to ho& &e &ill pay tomorro&@ The rei$n of impulse for many $oes beyond o+erspendin$ and o+erborro&in$ to o+ereatin$ and other addicti+e habits5from bin$ein$ on T&iBBlers to spendin$ countless hours starin$ at one or another +ariety ofdi$ital screen@rst thin$ you notice; That9s a clue to &hat9s dri+in$ your bottom%up focus in that moment@ If you9re set on a >nancial $oal5 you mi$ht immediately ta:e in an earnin$s $raph on the computer screen@ If you ha+e arachnophobia5 you9ll >4ate on that dusty &eb in the corner of the &indo&@ These are subconscious choices in attention@ Such attention capture occurs &hen the amy$dala circuitry5the brain9s sentinel for emotional meanin$5 spots somethin$ it >nds si$ni>cantK an o+ersiBe insect5 &rathful loo:5 or cute toddler $i+es you an idea of the brain9s settin$s for such instinctual interest@1# This midbrain >4ture of the bottom%up system reacts far more Guic:ly inneural time than does the top%do&n prefrontal areaK it sends si$nals up&ard to acti+ate hi$hercortical path&ays that alert the Irelati+elyJ slu$$ish e4ecuti+e centers to &a:e up and pay attention@ *ur brain9s attention mechanisms e+ol+ed o+er hundreds of thousands of years to sur+i+e in a fan$%and%cla& Aun$le &here threats approached our ancestors &ithin a speci>c +isual ran$e and set of ratesFsome&here around the lun$e of a sna:e and the speed of a leapin$ ti$er@ Those of our ancestors &hose amy$dala &as Guic: enou$h to help us dod$e thatsna:e and e+ade that ti$er passed on their neural desi$n to us@ Sna:es and spiders5 t&o animals that the human brain seems primed to notice &ith alarm5 capture attention e+en &hen their ima$es are ?ashed so fast &e ha+e no conscious a&areness of ha+in$ seen them@ The bottom%up circuits spot them more Guic:ly than neutral obAects5 and send an alarm I?ash those ima$es by an e4pert on sna:es or spiders and she &ill still ha+e attention captureFbut no alarm si$nalJ@1' The brain >nds it impossible to i$nore emotional faces5 particularly furiousones@1) An$ry faces ha+e super%salience: scan a cro&d and someone &ith an an$ry face &ill pop out@ The bottom brain &ill e+en spot a cartoon &ith !%shaped eyebro&s Ili:e the :ids in South Par:J more Guic:ly than it ta:es in a happy face@ 0e are &ired to pay re?e4i+e attentionto Csuper%normal stimuli5D &hether for safety5 nutrition5 or se4Fli:e a cat that can9t help chasin$ a fa:e mouse on a strin$@ In today9s &orld5 ads that play on those same pre%&ired inclinations tu$ at us bottom%up5 too5 $ettin$ our re?e4i+e attention@ =ust tie se4 or presti$e to a product to acti+ate these same circuits to prime us to buy for reasons &e don9t e+en notice@ *ur particular procli+ities ma:e us all the more +ulnerable@ That9s &hy alcoholics are ri+eted by+od:a ads5 randy fol:s by the se4y people in a spot for a +acation $eta&ay@ This is bottom%up preselected attentionK such capture from belo& is automatic5 an in+oluntary choice@ 0e9re most prone to emotions dri+in$ focus this &ay &hen our minds are &anderin$5 &hen &e are distracted5 or &hen &e9re o+er&helmed by informationFor all three@ Then there are emotions $one &ild@ I &as &ritin$ this +ery section yesterday5 sittin$ at my des:top5 &hen out of the blue I had a cripplin$ attac: of lo&er bac: pain@ "aybe not out of no&here: it had been buildin$ Guietly since mornin$@ But then as I sat at my des: it suddenly ripped throu$h my body5 from my lo&er spine strai$ht up to the pain centers in my brain@ 0hen I tried to stand5 the bolt of pain &as so se+ere I crumpled bac: into my chair@ 0hat9s &orse5 my mind started racin$ about the &orst that mi$ht happen: I9ll be crippled by this for life5 I9ll ha+e to $et re$ular steroid inAections @ @ @ and that train of thou$ht brou$ht my panic:ed mind to recall that a fun$us in a poorly run dru$%compoundin$ facility had led to the death from menin$itis of t&enty%se+en patients &ho had $otten Aust those +ery inAections@ As it happens5 I had Aust deleted a bloc: of te4t on a related point5 &hich I intended to mo+e to about here in this boo:@But &ith my attention in the $rip of pain and &orry5 I completely for$ot about itFand so it has +anished into a blac: hole@ Such emotional hiAac:s are tri$$ered by the amy$dala5 the brain9s radar for threat5 &hich constantly scans our surroundin$s for dan$ers@ 0hen these circuits spot a threat Ior &hat &e interpret as oneFthey are often mista:enJ5 a superhi$h&ay of neuronal circuitry runnin$ up&ard to the prefrontal areas sends a barra$e of si$nals that let the lo&er brain dri+e the upper: our attention narro&s5 $lued to &hat9s upsettin$ usK our memory reshuUes5 ma:in$ it easier to recall anythin$ rele+ant to the threat at handK our body$oes into o+erdri+e as a ?ood of stress hormones prepares our limbs to >$ht or run@ 0e >4ate on &hat9s so disturbin$ and for$et the rest@ The stron$er the emotion5 the $reater our >4ation@6iAac:s are the super$lue of attention@ But the Guestion is5 6o& lon$ does our focus stay captured; That depends5 it turns out5 on the po&er of the left prefrontal area to calm the aroused amy$dala Ithere are t&o amy$dalae5 one in each brain hemisphereJ@ That amy$dala%prefrontal neuronal superhi$h&ay has branches to the left and ri$ht prefrontal sides@ 0hen &eare hiAac:ed the amy$dala circuitry captures the ri$ht side and ta:es o+er@ But the left side can send si$nals do&n&ard that calm the hiAac:@ 3motional resilience comes do&n to ho& Guic:ly &e reco+er from upsets@ People &ho are hi$hly resilientF&ho bounce bac: ri$ht a&ayFcan ha+e as much as thirty times more acti+ation in the left prefrontal area than those &ho are less resilient@1- The $ood ne&s: as &e9ll see in part #5 &e canincrease the stren$th of the amy$dala%calmin$ left prefrontal circuitry@8IF3 *< A,T*"ATI. "y friend and I are rapt in con+ersation in a busy restaurant5 to&ard the end of our lunch@ 6e9s immersed in his narrati+e5 tellin$ me about a particularly intense moment he9s had recently@ 6e9s been so lost in tellin$ me about it that he9s not done &ith his food@ "y plate &as cleared a &hile a$o@ At that point the ser+er comes to our table and as:s him5 CAre you enAoyin$ your lunch;D 6e barely notices her5 mutters a dismissi+e5 Crm hishypothesis ris:s i$norin$ >ndin$s that don9t>t his e4pectationsFdismissin$ them as noise or error5 not a door&ay to ne& disco+eriesFand so misses &hat mi$ht become more fruitful theories@ And the naysayer in the brainstormin$ session5 the $uy &ho al&ays shoots do&n any ne& idea5 throttles inno+ati+e insi$ht in its infancy@ *pen a&areness creates a mental platform for creati+e brea:throu$hs and une4pected insi$hts@ In open a&areness &e ha+e no de+il9s ad+ocate5 no cynicism or Aud$mentFAust utter recepti+ity to &hate+er ?oats into the mind@ But once &e9+e hit upon a $reat creati+e insi$ht5 &e need to capture the priBe by s&itchin$ to a :een focus on ho& to apply it@ Serendipity comes &ith openness to possibility5 then homin$ in on puttin$ it to use@ 8ife9s creati+e challen$es rarely come in the form of &ell%formulated puBBles@ Instead &e oftenha+e to reco$niBe the +ery need to >nd a creati+e solution in the >rst place@ .hance5 as 8ouis Pasteur put it5 fa+ors a prepared mind@ Daydreamin$ incubates creati+e disco+ery@ A classic model of the sta$es of creati+ity rou$hly translates to three modes of focus: orientin$5 &here &e search out and immerse oursel+es in all :inds of inputsK selecti+e attention on the speci>c creati+e challen$eK and open a&areness5 &here &e associate freely to let the solution emer$eFthen home in on the solution@ The brain systems in+ol+ed in mind &anderin$ ha+e been found acti+e Aust before people hit upon a creati+e insi$htFand5 intri$uin$ly5 are unusually acti+e in those &ith attention de>cit disorder5 or ADD@ Adults &ith ADD5 relati+e to those &ithout5 also sho& hi$her le+els of ori$inal creati+e thin:in$ and more actual creati+e achie+ements@- The entrepreneur (ichard Branson5 founder of the corporate empire built on !ir$in Air and other companies5 has oEered himself as a poster boy for success &ith ADD@ The .enters for Disease .ontrol and Pre+ention says almost 12 percent of children ha+e the disorder in a form mi4ed &ith hyperacti+ity@ In adults5 the hyperacti+ity fades5 lea+in$ ADDK aroundpercent of adults seem to ha+e the problem@/ 0hen challen$ed by a creati+e tas:5 for e4ample5 >ndin$ no+el uses for a bric:5 those &ith ADD do better5 despite their Bonin$ outFor perhaps because of it@ 0e all mi$ht learn somethin$ here@ In an e4periment &here +olunteers &ere challen$ed &ith the no+el%uses tas:5 those &hose minds had been &anderin$Fcompared &ith those &hose attention had been fully concentratedFcame up &ith 2 percent more ori$inal ans&ers@ And &hen people &ho had creati+e accomplishments li:e a no+el5 patent5 or art sho& to their credit &ere tested for screenin$ out irrele+ant information to focus on a tas:5 their minds &andered more freGuently than did others9F indicatin$ an open a&areness that may ha+e ser+ed them &ell in their creati+e &or:@12 In our less frenetic creati+e moments5 Aust before an insi$ht the brain typically rests in a rela4ed5open focus5 mar:ed by an alpha rhythm@ This si$nals a state of daydreamy re+erie@ Since the brain stores diEerent :inds of information in &ide%reachin$ circuitry5 a freely roamin$ a&areness ups the odds of serendipitous associations and no+el combinations@ (appers immersed in Cfreestylin$5D &here they impro+ise lyrics in the moment5 sho& hei$htened acti+ity in the mind%&anderin$ circuitry5 amon$ other parts of the brainFallo&in$ fresh connections bet&een far%ran$in$ neural net&or:s@11 In this spacious mental ecolo$y &e are more li:ely to ha+e no+el associations5 the aha sense that mar:s a creati+e insi$htFor a $oodrhyme@ In a comple4 &orld &here almost e+eryone has access to the same information5 ne& +alue arises from the ori$inal synthesis5 from puttin$ ideas to$ether in no+el &ays5 and from smart Guestions that open up untapped potential@ .reati+e insi$hts entail Aoinin$ elements in a useful5 fresh &ay@ Ima$ine for a moment bitin$ into a crisp apple: the patina of colors on its s:in5 the sounds of the crunch as you bite into it5 the &ash of tastes5 smells5 and te4tures@ Ta:e a moment to e4perience that +irtual apple@ As that ima$ined moment came to life in yourmind your brain almost certainly $enerated a $amma spi:e@ Such $amma spi:es are familiar to co$niti+e neuroscientistsK they occur routinely durin$ mental operations li:e the +irtual apple biteFand Aust before creati+e insi$hts@ It &ould be ma:in$ too much of this to see $amma &a+es as some secret of creati+ity@ But the site of the $amma spi:e durin$ a creati+e insi$ht seems tellin$: an area associated &ith dreams5 metaphors5 the lo$ic of art5 myth5 and poetry@ These operate in the lan$ua$e of the unconscious5 a realm &here anythin$ is possible@Freud9s method of free association5 &here you spea: &hate+er comes into your mind &ithout censorin$5 opens one door to this open%a&areness mode@ *ur mind holds endless ideas5 memories5 and potential associations &aitin$ to be made@ But the li:elihood of the ri$ht idea connectin$ &ith the ri$ht memory &ithin the ri$ht conte4tFand all that comin$ into the spotli$ht of attentionFdiminishes drastically &hen &e are either hyperfocused or too $ripped by an o+erload of distractions to notice the insi$ht@ Then there9s &hat9s stored in other people9s brains@ For about a year the astronomers Arno PenBias and (obert 0ilson searched the uni+erse &ith po&erful ne& eGuipment5 much stron$er than any that had yet been used for scannin$ the +astness of the s:ies@ They &ere o+er&helmed by a sea of fresh data5 and tried to simplify their &or: by i$norin$ some meanin$less static they assumed &as due to faulty eGuipment@ *ne day a chance encounter &ith a nuclear physicist $a+e them an insi$ht Iand e+entually5 a eld of e+aluatin$ crypto$raphy5 encrypted codes that loo: li:e nonsense to the unschooled eye but protect the secrecy of e+erythin$ from $o+ernment records to your credit card@13 Sch&eitBer9s specialty: brea:in$ codes in a friendly test of encryption that tells you if some ad+ersary li:e a ro$ue hac:er can crac: your system and steal your secrets@ This dauntin$ challen$e reGuires you to $enerate a lar$e array of no+el potential solutions to an e4traordinarily complicated problem5 and then test each one by &or:in$ it throu$h a methodical number of steps@ Sch&eitBer9s laboratory for this intense tas: &as not some sound%insulated5 &indo&less oHce@ Typically he9d mull an encrypted code &hile on a lon$ &al: or simply soa:in$ up some sun5 eyes closed@ CIt loo:ed li:e someone ta:in$ a nap5 but he &as doin$ hi$her math in his head5D as a collea$ue put it@ C6e9d lie around sunbathin$5 and mean&hile his mind &ould be $oin$ a Billion miles an hour@D The import of such cocoons in time and space emer$ed from a 6ar+ard Business School study of the inner &or: li+es of 23- members of creati+e proAect teams tas:ed &ith inno+ati+e challen$es from sol+in$ comple4 information technolo$y problems to in+entin$ :itchen $ad$ets@1 Pro$ress in such &or: demands a steady stream of small creati+e insi$hts@ 7ood days for insi$hts had nothin$ to do &ith stunnin$ brea:throu$hs or $rand +ictories@ The :ey turned out to be ha+in$small &insFminor inno+ations and troublin$ problems sol+edFon concrete steps to&ard a lar$er $oal@ .reati+e insi$hts ?o&ed best &hen people had clear $oals but also freedom in ho& they reached them@ And5 most crucial5 they had protected timeFenou$h to really thin:freely@ A creati+e cocoon@ #FIttin$ random bits of life into a cohesi+e narrati+e@ This it9s%all%about%me story line fabricates a feelin$ of permanence behind our e+er%shiftin$ moment%to%moment e4perience@ C"eD re?ects the acti+ity of the default Bone5 that $enerator of the restless mind5 lost in a meanderin$ stream of thou$ht that has little or nothin$ to do &ith the present situation and e+erythin$ to do &ith5 &ell5 me@ This mental habit ta:es o+er &hene+er &e $i+e the mind a rest from some focused acti+ity@ .reati+e associations aside5 mind &anderin$ tends to center on our self and our preoccupations:all the many thin$s I ha+e to do todayK the &ron$ thin$ I said to that personK &hat I should ha+e said instead@ 0hile the mind sometimes &anders to pleasant thou$hts or fantasy5 it more often seems to $ra+itate to rumination and &orry@ The medial prefrontal corte4 >res a&ay as our self%tal: and ruminations $enerate a bac:$round of lo&%le+el an4iety@ But durin$ full concentration a nearby area5 the lateral prefrontal corte45 inhibits this medial area@ *ur selecti+e attention deselects these circuits for emotional preoccupations5 the most po&erful type of distraction@ (espondin$ to &hat9s $oin$ on5 or acti+e focus of any :ind5 shuts oE the Cme5D &hile passi+e focus returns us to this comfy mire of rumination@2 It9s not the chatter of people around us that is the most po&erful distractor5 but rather the chatter of our o&n minds@ ,tter concentration demands these inner +oices be stilled@ Start to subtract se+ens successi+ely from 122 and5 if you :eep your focus on the tas:5 your chatter Bone $oes Guiet@T63 8A0L3( Aery force5 stayin$ up lon$ into the ni$ht researchin$ and preparin$@ *ften he9d lie a&a:e much of the ni$ht fumin$ as he re+ie&ed his clients9 predicament o+er and o+er and plotted le$al strate$y@ Then5 on a +acation5 he met a &oman &ho tau$ht meditation and as:ed her for instruction@ To his surprise5 she started by handin$ him a fe& raisins@ She then led him throu$h the steps in eatin$ one of the raisins slo&ly and &ith full focus5 sa+orin$ the richness of e+ery moment in that process: the sensations as he lifted it into his mouth and che&ed5 the burst of ?a+ors as he bit into it5 the sounds of eatin$@ 6e immersed himself in the fullness of his senses@ Then5 as she instructed him5 he brou$ht that same full in%the%moment focus to the natural ?o& of his breath5 lettin$ $o of any and all thou$hts that ?oated throu$h his mind@ 0ith her $uidance he continued that meditation on his breath for the ne4t >fteen minutes@ As he did so5 the +oices in his mind &entGuiet@ CIt &as li:e ?ippin$ a s&itch into a Pen%li:e state5D he said@ 6e li:ed it so much that he has made it a daily habit: CAfter I9m done5 I feel really calmFI li:e that a lot@D 0hen &e turn such full attention to our senses5 the brain Guiets its default chatter@ Brain scans durin$ mindfulnessFthe form of meditation the la&yer &as tryin$Fre+eal it Guiets the brain circuits for me%focused mental chatter@3 That in itself can be an immense relief@ CTo the e4tent absorption means droppin$ this mind&anderin$ state and $ettin$ a total focus on an acti+ity5 &e9re li:ely to be deacti+atin$ the defaultcircuits5D neuroscientist (ichard Da+idson says@ CLou can9t ruminate about yourself &hile you9re absorbed in a challen$in$ tas:@D CThis is one reason people lo+e dan$erous sports li:e mountain climbin$5 a situation &here you ha+e to be totally focused5D Da+idson adds@ Po&erful focus brin$s a sense of peace5 and &ith it5 Aoy@ CBut &hen you come do&n the mountain5 the self%referencin$ net&or: brin$s your &orries and cares ri$ht bac:@D In Aldous 6u4ley9s utopian no+el Island5 trained parrots ?y o+er to people at random and chirp5 C6ere and no&5 boys5 here and no&VD That reminder helps the deniBens of this idyllic island pop their daydreams and refocus on &hat9s happenin$ in this +ery place and moment@ A parrot seems an apt choice as messen$er: animals li+e only in the here%and%no&@ A cat hoppin$ intoa lap to be stro:ed5 a do$ ea$erly &aitin$ for you at the door5 a horse coc:in$ its head to readyour intentions as you approach: all share the same focus on the present@ This capacity to thin: in &ays that are independent of an immediate stimulusFabout &hat9s happened and &hat mi$ht happen in all its possibilitiesFsets the human mind apart from that of almost e+ery other animal@ 0hile many spiritual traditions5 li:e 6u4ley9s parrots5 see mind &anderin$ as a source of &oe5 e+olutionary psycholo$ists see this as a $reat co$niti+e leap@ Both +ie&s ha+e some truth@ In 6u4ley9s +ision the eternal no& harbors e+erythin$ &e need for ful>llment@ Let the human ability to thin: about thin$s not happenin$ in that eternal present represents a prereGuisite for all the achie+ements of our species that reGuired plannin$5 ima$ination5 or lo$istic s:ill@ And that9s Aust about e+erythin$ that9s a uniGuely human accomplishment@ "ullin$ thin$s not $oin$ on here and no&FCsituation%independent thou$htD as co$niti+e scientists call itFdemands &e decouple the contents of our mind from &hat our senses percei+e at the moment@ So far as &e :no&5 no other species can ma:e this radical shift from an e4ternal focus to an in&ard one &ith anythin$ near the po&er of the human mind5 or nearly so often@ The more our mind &anders5 the less &e can re$ister &hat9s $oin$ on ri$ht no&5 ri$ht here@ Ta:e comprehendin$ &hat &e9re readin$@ 0hen +olunteers had their $aBe monitored &hile they read the entirety of =ane Austen9s Sense and Sensibility5 erratic eyemo+ements si$naled that a $reat deal of mindless readin$ &ent on@# 0anderin$ eyes indicatea brea:do&n in the connection bet&een understandin$ and +isual contact &ith the te4t5 as the mind meanders else&here Ithere mi$ht ha+e been far less meanderin$ if the +olunteers had been free to choose &hat they readFsay Blin: or Fifty Shades of 7rey5 dependin$ on theirtasteJ@,sin$ tools such as ?uctuations in eye $aBe or Crandom e4perience samplin$D Iin other &ords5Aust as:in$ someone &hat9s happenin$J &hile people are ha+in$ their brains scanned5 neuroscientists obser+e that maAor neural dynamic: &hile the mind &anders5 our sensory systems shut do&n5 and5 con+ersely5 &hile &e focus on the here and no&5 the neural circuits for mind &anderin$ $o dim@ At the neural le+el mind &anderin$ and perceptual a&areness tend to inhibit each other: internal focus on our train of thou$ht tunes out the senses5 &hile bein$ rapt in the beauty of a sunset Guiets the mind@' This tune%out can be total5 as &hen &e $et utterly lost in &hat &e9re doin$@ *ur usual neural settin$s allo& a bit of &anderin$ &hile &e en$a$e the &orldFor Aust enou$h en$a$ement &hile &e are adrift5 as &hen &e daydream &hile &e dri+e@ *f course5 such partial tunin$ out bears ris:s: one study of a thousand dri+ers inAured in accidents found that about half said their mind &as &anderin$ Aust before the accidentK the more intense the disrupti+e thou$hts5 the more li:ely it &as that the dri+er caused the accident@) Situations that do not demand constant tas:%focusFparticularly borin$ or routine onesFfree the mind to &ander@ As the mind drifts oE and the default net&or: acti+ates more stron$ly5 our neural circuits for tas:%focus $o GuietFanother +ariety of neural decouplin$ a:in to that bet&een the senses and daydreamin$@ Since daydreamin$ competes for neural ener$y &ith tas:%focus and sensory perception5 there9s small &onder that as &e daydream &e ma:e more errors in anythin$ that reGuires us to pay focused attention@T63 0Acit may re?ect a natural +ariation in focusin$ styles that had ad+anta$es in e+olutionFand so continues to be dispersed in our $ene pool@ 0hen facin$ a focus%demandin$ mental tas: li:e tou$h math problems5 as &e9+e seen5 those &ith ADD sho& both more mind &anderin$ and increased acti+ity in the medial circuitry@12 But &hen conditions are ri$ht5 those &ith ADD can ha+e :een focus5 fully absorbedin the acti+ity at hand@ Such conditions mi$ht arise more often in an art studio5 bas:etball court5 or stoc: e4chan$e ?oorFAust not in the classroom@A< 3!3< 1338 *n 12T12T125 the +ery day a Guir: in the "ayan calendar supposedly foretold as the end of the &orld Iaccordin$ to clearly unfounded rumorsJ5 my &ife and I happened to ta:e one of our $randdau$hters to the "useum of "odern Art@ A buddin$ artist5 she &as :een to see the oEerin$s of that famous rst displays to $reet us on enterin$ the >rst $allery at "o"A &ere t&o industrialsiBed +acuum cleaners5 spotless &hite three%&heeled cylinders &ith neat pin%stripin$@ They &ere stac:ed one atop the other encased in Ple4i$las cubes5 the neon li$hts beneath each ma:in$ them $leam@ *ur $randdau$hter &as not impressedK she &as ea$er to see !an 7o$h9s Starry n$ the 0eb5 playin$ +ideo $ames5 or ans&erin$ email does not@ 0e do &ell to unplu$ re$ularlyK Guiet time restores our focus and composure@ But that disen$a$ement is Aust the >rst step@ 0hat &e do ne4t matters5 too@ Ta:in$ a &al: do&n a city street5 1aplan points out5 still puts demands on attentionF&e9+e $ot to na+i$ate throu$h cro&ds5 dod$e cars5 and i$nore hon:in$ horns and the hum of street noise@ In contrast5 a &al: throu$h a par: or in the &oods puts little such demand on attention@ 0e can restore by spendin$ time in natureFe+en a fe& minutes strollin$ in a par: or any settin$ rich in fascinations li:e the muted reds of clouds at sunset or a butter?y9s ?utter@ This tri$$ers bottom%upattention Cmodestly5D as 1aplan9s $roup put it5 allo&in$ circuits for top%do&n eEorts to replenish their ener$y5 restorin$ attenti+eness and memory5 and impro+in$ co$nition@1' A &al: throu$h an arboretum led to better focus on return to concentrated tas:s than a stroll thou$h do&nto&n@1) 3+en sittin$ by a mural of a nature sceneFparticularly one &ith &ater initFis better than the corner coEee shop@1- But I &onder@ These moments seem >ne for s&itchin$ oE intense concentration5 but open the &ay for the still%busy &anderin$ mind%set of the default circuitry@ There9s another step &e can ta:e in s&itchin$ oE the busy mind: full focus on somethin$ rela4in$@ The :ey is an immersi+e e4perience5 one &here attention can betotal but lar$ely passi+e@ This starts to happen &hen &e $ently arouse the sensory systems5 &hich Guiet do&n those for eEortful focus@ Anythin$ &e can $et enAoyably lost in &ill do it@ (emember5 in that sur+ey of people9s moods the sin$le most focusin$ acti+ity in anyone9s day5 and the most pleasant5 is lo+ema:in$@ Total5 positi+e absorption shuts oE the inner +oice5that runnin$ dialo$ue &ith oursel+es that $oes on e+en durin$ our Guiet moments@ That9s a main eEect of +irtually e+ery contemplati+e practice that :eeps your mind focused on a neutral tar$et5 li:e your breath or a mantra@ Traditional ad+ice for ideal settin$s for a CretreatD seems to include all the in$redients needed for co$niti+e restoration@ "onasteries desi$ned for meditation are typically in restful5 Guiet natural en+ironments@ rm that mana$es in+estments for +ery &ealthy people $a+e Daniel 1ahneman a treasure tro+e: ei$ht years of in+estment results for t&enty%>+e of its >nancial ad+isers@ AnalyBin$ the data5 1ahneman found that there &ere no relationships bet&een any $i+en ad+iser9s results from year to yearFin other &ords5 none of the ad+isers &as consistently any better than the others at mana$in$ the clients9 money@ The results &ere no better than chance@ Let e+eryone beha+ed as thou$h there &ere a special s:illin+ol+edFand the top performers each year $ot bi$ bonuses@ 6is results in hand5 1ahneman had dinner &ith the top brass at the >rm and informed them that they &ere Cre&ardin$ luc: as if it &ere s:ill@D That should ha+e been shoc:in$ ne&s@ But the e4ecuti+es calmly &ent on &ith their dinner and5 1ahneman says5 CI ha+e no doubt that the implications &ere Guic:ly s&ept under the ru$ and that life in the >rm &ent on Aust as before@D# The illusion of s:ill5 deeply embedded in the culture of that industry5 &as under attac:@ But Cfacts that challen$e such basic assumptionsFand thereby threaten people9s li+elihood and self%esteemF are simply not absorbed5D he adds@ Bac: in the 1/'2s5 as the ci+il ri$hts mo+ement &as boilin$ in the South5 I Aoined a pic:et line at alocal $rocery store in my .alifornia hometo&n that did not then hire African%Americans@ But it &as not until years later5 &hen I heard about the &or: of =ohn *$bu5 a fth%century mon:s as they contemplated the body9s CloathsomeDparts@ A tale from those days has it that one of these mon:s is &al:in$ alon$ &hen a $or$eous&oman comes runnin$ by@1/ That mornin$ she had a heated Guarrel &ith her husband and she9s no& ?eein$ to her parents9 house@ A fe& minutes later5 her husband5 in pursuit5 sho&s up and as:s the mon:5 C!enerable sir5 did you by any chance see a &oman $o by;D And the mon: ans&ers5 C"an or &oman5 I cannot say@ But a ba$ of bones passed this &ay@DPART IIIREADING OTHERS /T63 0*"A< 06* 1lms o+er and o+er of the pitchers they &ould facein their ne4t $ame5 to spot tellin$ cues that re+ealed &hich pitch &ould come ne4t@ =ustine .assell5 director of the 6uman%.omputer Interaction Institute at .arne$ie "ellon ,ni+ersity5 applies a similar &ell%trained empathy in the ser+ice of science@ C*bser+in$ people &as a $ame &e played in our family5D .assell told me@ That childhood propensity &as re>ned &hen as a $raduate student she spent hundreds of hours studyin$ hand mo+ements in +ideos of people describin$ a cartoon they had Aust seen@ 0or:in$ &ith thirty%frames%per%second slices of the +ideo5 she9d annotate a hand9s shape as it chan$ed5 as &ell as the stream of shifts in itsorientation5 placement in space5 and traAectory of mo+ement@ And to chec: her accuracy5 she9d then &or: bac: from her notes to see if she could precisely reproduce the mo+ement of the hand@ .assell more recently has done similar &or: &ith tiny mo+ements of the facial muscles5 &ith eye $aBe5 eyebro& raises5 and head nods5 all scored second by second and chec:ed@ She9s done that for hundreds of hoursFand does it to this day &ith $rad students in her lab at .arne$ie "ellon@ C7estures al&ays occur Aust before the most emphasiBed part of &hat you9re sayin$5D .assell tells me@ C*ne reason &hy some politicians may loo: insincere is that they ha+e been tau$ht to ma:e particular $estures5 but ha+e not been tau$ht the correct timin$5 and so &hen they produce those$estures after the &ord5 they $i+e us the sense that somethin$ fa:e is $oin$ on@D The timin$ of the $esture interprets its meanin$@ If your timin$ is oE5 a positi+e statement can ha+e ne$ati+e impact@ .assell $i+es this e4ample: CIf you say5 XShe9s a $reat candidate for the Aob9 and raise your eyebro&s5 nod5 and emphasiBe the &ord $reat all at the same time5 you send a+ery positi+e emotional messa$e@ But if as you say the same sentence your head nod and eyebro& raise come in the short silence after $reat5 then it shifts the emotional meanin$ to sarcasmFyou9re really sayin$ she9s not all that $reat@D Such readin$s of meta%messa$es in non+erbal channels occur to us instantly5 unconsciously5 and automatically@ C0e cannot not ma:e meanin$ of &hat someone tells us5D says .assell5 &hether in &ords or Aust $estures5 or both to$ether@ 3+erythin$ &e attend to in another person $enerates meanin$ at an unconscious le+el5 and our bottom%up circuitry constantly reads it@ In one study5 listeners remembered ha+in$ CheardD information they only sa& in $esture@ For e4ample5 somebody &ho heard C6e comes out the bottom of the pipeD but sa& the spea:er9s hand formed into a >st and bouncin$ up and do&n said that he had heard Cand then $oes do&n stairs@D1 .assell9s&or: ma:es +isible &hat typically &hiBBes by us in microseconds@ *ur automatic circuitry $ets the messa$e5 but our top%do&n a&areness misses almost all of it@ These hidden messa$es ha+e po&erful impacts@ "arital researchers ha+e lon$ :no&n5 for instance5 that if one of the partners repeatedly ma:es ?eetin$ facial e4pressions for dis$ust or contempt durin$ con?icts5the odds are $reat a$ainst that couple stayin$ to$ether@2 In psychotherapy5 if the therapist and client mo+e in synch &ith one another5 there are li:ely to be better therapeutic outcomes@3 0hile .assell &as a professor at "IT9s "edia 8ab5 one &ay she deployed this e4tremely precise analysis of ho& &e e4press oursel+es &as in de+elopin$ a system that $uides professional animators in the art of non+erbal beha+ior@ The systemFcalled B3ATFallo&s animators to type in a se$ment of dialo$ue and $et bac: an automatically animated cartoon person &ith the ri$ht $estures5 head and eye mo+ement5 and posture5 &hich they canthen t&ea: for artistic +alue@ 7ettin$ the CfeelD Aust ri$ht of a +irtual actor9s remar:s5 tone of +oice5 and $estures seems to demand a top%do&n $rasp of bottom%up processes@ These days .assell is buildin$ similarly animated cartoons &here5 she says5 ima$es of children Cact as +irtual peers to elementary school students5 usin$ social s:ills to build rapport5 and then usin$that rapport to facilitate learnin$@D 0hen &e met o+er coEee &hile on a brea: at a conference5.assell e4plained ho& those hundreds of hours of parsin$ non+erbal messa$es ha+e >ne%tuned her sensiti+ity@ Crst blooms around the years bet&een t&o and >+e and continues to de+elop ri$ht throu$h the teen years@3"PAT6L (,< A"*1 A muscle%bound inmate in a es an unsuccessful oneJ@ Sociopaths5 li:e theirclose cousins C"achia+ellian personalities5D are able to read others9 emotions but re$ister facial e4pressions in a diEerent part of their brain than the rest of us do@ Instead of re$isterin$emotion in their brain9s limbic centers5 sociopaths sho& acti+ity in the frontal areas5 particularly the lan$ua$e centers@ They tell themsel+es about emotions5 but do not feel them directly as other people doK instead of a normal bottom%up emotional reaction5 sociopaths CfeelD top%do&n@) This is stri:in$ly true for fearFsociopaths seem to ha+e no apprehension &hate+er about the punishment their crimes &ill brin$@ *ne theory: they suEer a particular lac: in co$niti+e control for impulse5 &hat amounts to an attention de>cit that lea+es them focusin$ on the thrill at hand and blinds them to the conseGuences of &hat they do@-3"*TI*ndin$s from a study led by =ean Decety5 professor of psycholo$y and psychiatry at the ,ni+ersity of .hica$o@2# This attentional anesthetic seems to deploy the temporal%parietal Aunction Ior TP=J and re$ions of the prefrontal corte45 a circuit that boosts concentration by tunin$ out emotions@ The TP= protects focus by &allin$ oE emotions alon$ &ith other distractions5 and helps :eep a distance bet&een oneself and others@ This same neuronal net&or: :ic:s into action in any of us &hen &e see a problem and loo: for a solution@ So if you9re tal:in$ &ith someone &ho is upset5 this system helps you understand the person9s perspecti+e intellectually by shiftin$ from heart%to%heart emotional rapport to the head%toheart connection of co$niti+e empathy@ The TP= maneu+er insulates the brain from e4periencin$ the &ash of emotionFit9s the brain basis for the stereotype of someone &ith cool rationality amid emotional turmoil@ A shift into the TP= mode creates a boundary so you9re immune to emotional conta$ion5 freein$ your brain from bein$ aEected bythe other person9s emotions &hile you9re focusin$@Sometimes that9s a crucial ad+anta$e: you can stay calm and concentrated &hen those around you are fallin$ apart@ Sometimes it9s not: it also means you may tune out of emotional cues and so lose the thread of empathy@ This dampin$ do&n of emotional entrainment has ob+ious bene>ts for someone &ho has to :eep focused amid ?inch%inducin$ procedures: inAections into eyeballs5 suturin$ bloody &ounds5 scalpels rendin$ open ?esh@ CI &as on the team of the >rst doctors to respond to the earthGua:e in 6aitiF&e &ere there &ithin the >rst fe& days5D Dr@ "ar: 6yman tells me@ C0hen &e $ot to the one hospital in Port%au%Prince5 &hich miraculously &as lar$ely intact5 there &as no food5 no &ater5 no po&er5 almost no supplies5 and Aust one or t&o hospital staE@ There &ere hundreds of dead bodies rottin$ in the sun5 stac:ed in the hospital mor$ue5 and bein$ loaded onto truc:s to $o to a mass $ra+e@ There &ere about >fteen hundred people in the courtyard desperately needin$ helpFle$s han$in$ by a thread5 bodies cut nearly in half@ It &as traumatic@ Let &e immediately $ot to &or: and focused on &hat &e could do@D 0hen I spo:e to Dr@ 6yman5 he had Aust returned from se+eral &ee:s in India and Bhutan5 &here he a$ain +olunteered his medical help to needy patients@ CThe act of ser+ice $i+es you the ability to transcend the pain all around you5DDr@ 6yman said@ CIn 6aiti5 it &as hyperreal5 totally in the moment@ It9s &eird to say5 but there &as a le+el of eGuanimity and calmFe+en peace and clarityFin the midst of all that chaos@ 3+erythin$ else but &hat &e &ere doin$ fell a&ay@D The TP= response seems to be acGuired rather than innate@ "edical students learn this reaction durin$ their socialiBation into the profession5 as they encounter patients under duress@ The cost of bein$ too empathic is ha+in$ upsettin$5 intrusi+e thou$hts that compete for attention &ith medical imperati+es@ CIf you can9t do anythin$ in a situation li:e that5D said Dr@ 6yman about 6aiti5 Cyou9re paralyBed@ Sometimes the hurt and pain all around you &ould brea: throu$h in moments of fati$ue5 heat e4haustion5 and hun$er@ But mostly my mind put me in a state &here I could function despite the horror@D As 0illiam *sler5 the father of medical residency trainin$5 &rote in 1/25 a doctor should be so detached that Chis blood +essels don9t constrict and his heart rate remains steady &hen he sees terrible si$hts@D2' *sler recommended doctors ha+e the attitude of a Cdetached concern@D This could mean simply dampin$ do&n emotional empathyFbut in practice it can sometimes lead to bloc:adin$ empathy entirely@ The challen$e for a physician in a daily medical practice is to maintain cool focus &hile stayin$ open to the patient9s feelin$s and e4perienceFand to let her patient :no& she understands and cares@"edical care can fail &hen patients do not follo& &hat their physician tells themK about half ofall the medicines doctors prescribe for patients are ne+er ta:en@ The stron$est predictor of patients follo&in$ such instruction is &hether they feel their doctor is $enuinely concerned about them@2) 0ithin the same &ee: recently5 t&o deans of maAor medical schools independently told me they face a dilemma in admittin$ students: ho& to spot those &ho &ill ha+e empathic concern for their patients@ ed the roles of top%le+el mana$ers and their subordinates Aust by ho& lon$ it too: them to ans&er a $i+en person9s emails@ Intelli$ence a$encies ha+e been applyin$ the same metric to suspected terrorist $an$s5 piecin$ to$ether the chain of in?uence to spot the central >$ures@ Po&er and status are hi$hly relati+e5 +aryin$ from one encounter to another@ Tellin$ly5 &hen students from &ealthy families ima$ined themsel+es tal:in$ &ith someone of still hi$her status than themsel+es5 they impro+ed on their ability to read emotions in faces@ 0here &e see oursel+es on the social ladder seems to determine ho& much attention &e pay: more +i$ilant &hen &e feel subordinate5 less so &hen superior@ The corollary: The more you care about someone5 the more attention you payFand the more attention you pay5 the more you care@ Attention inter&ea+es &ith lo+e@ PART IVTHE BIGGER CONTEXT 12PATT3(ned to bed for &ee:s to heal a bac: inAury@ To &hile a&ay the hours in that isolated hamlet5 he as:ed his &ife5 7iriAa5 to see if the local library had any boo:s on Indian coinsFhe had been an a+id coin collector as a :id@ That9s around &hen I >rst met Dr@ 8arry5 as his friends call him@ An "@D@5 he had Aoined the 0orld 6ealth *r$aniBation initiati+e to +accinate the &orld a$ainst smallpo4@ I remember him tellin$ me at the time ho&5 by immersin$ himself in readin$ about the coins of ancient India5 he had started to $rasp the history of the tradin$ net&or:s in that part of the &orld@ 0ith his appetite for coin collectin$ rene&ed5 once he $ot bac: on his feet5 durin$ his tra+els across India Dr@ 8arry started to +isit local $oldsmiths5 &ho often sold $old and sil+er coins by &ei$ht@ Some &ere ancient@ These included coins datin$ from the 1ushans5 a nation that in the second century .@3@ adminstered from 1abul an empire e4tendin$ from the Aral Sea to Benares@ 1ushan coins adopted a format borro&ed from a conGuered $roup5 the Bactrians5 descendants of 7ree: soldiers left behind to man outposts after Ale4ander the 7reat9s foray into Asia@ Those coins told an intri$uin$ story@ *n one side of 1ushan coins &as the ima$e of their :in$ of a $i+en periodK the ?ip side portrayed the ima$e of a $od@ 1ushans &ere Poroastrian5 follo&ers of a Persian reli$ion at the time amon$ the &orld9s lar$est@ But +arious 1ushan coins depicted not Aust their Persian deity5but also a &ide +ariety of di+inities5 li:e Shi+a or Buddha5 borro&ed from Persian5 3$yptian5 7ree:5 6indu5 and (oman pantheonsFe+en from nations far distant from 1ushan territory@ 6o&5 in the second century5 could an empire centered in Af$hanistan learn so much about reli$ionsFand pay tribute to their deitiesFran$in$ far beyond its borders; The ans&er lay in theeconomic systems of the day@ The 1ushan 3mpire allo&ed5 for the >rst time in history5 a protected lin:a$e bet&een the already +ibrant trade routes of the Indian *cean and the Sil: (oad@ 1ushans &ere in re$ular contact &ith merchants and holy men &hose roots stretched from the "editerranean basin to the 7an$es5 from the Arabian Peninsula to the deserts of north&estern .hina@ There &ere other such re+elations@ CI9d >nd an abundance of (oman coins in the south of India5 and try to >$ure out ho& it $ot there5D Dr@ 8arry told me@ CIt turns out the (omans5 &hose empire touched the (ed Sea in 3$ypt5 came around Arabia by boat to 7oa to trade@ Lou could re+erseen$ineer &here these ancient coins &ere turnin$ up and deduce the trade routes of the period@D At the time Dr@ 8arry had Aust >nished &or:in$ throu$hout South Asia on the historically successful &orld&ide smallpo4 eradication pro$ram for 06*5 and he &as about to embar: for the ,ni+ersity of "ichi$an to $et a master9s de$ree in public health@ There &as a surprisin$ resonance bet&een his e4ploration of trade routes and&hat he &as to learn at "ichi$an@ CI had ta:en courses in system analysis and &as studyin$ epidemiolo$y@ This >tted my &ay of thin:in$@ I realiBed trac:in$ an epidemic &as much li:e trac:in$ the spread of an ancient ci+iliBation li:e the 1ushans &ith all the archaeolo$ical5 lin$uistic5 and cultural clues alon$ the &ay@D The 1/1- ?u pandemic5 for instance5 :illed an estimated #2 million people &orld&ide@ CIt probably be$an in 1ansas and &as >rst spread by American troops tra+elin$ abroad durin$ 0orld 0ar I5D Dr@ 8arry says@ CThat ?u marched around the &orld at the speed of steamships and the *rient 34press@ Today pandemics can spread at the speed of a ))@D *r ta:e the case of polio5 a disease :no&n in the ancient &orld5but only sporadically@ C0hat made polio become an epidemic &as urbaniBationK in cities people shared a sin$le5 polluted &ater system rather than $ettin$ &ater from their o&n indi+idual &ells@ CAn epidemic e4empli>es system dynamics@ The more you can thin: systemically5 the more you can follo& the path of coins5 art5 reli$ion5 or disease@ ,nderstandin$ ho& coins tra+el alon$ trade routes parallels analyBin$ the spread of a +irus@D That :ind of pattern detection si$nals the systems mind at &or:@ This sometimes uncanny ability lets us spot &ith ease the tellin$ detail in a +ast +isual array Ithin: C0here9s 0aldoDJ@ If you ?ash a photo of lots of dots and tell people to $uess ho& many there are5 the better estimators should be better systems thin:ers@ The $ift sho&s up in those best at5 say5 desi$nin$ soft&are or >ndin$ inter+entions to sa+e failin$ ecosystems@ A CsystemD boils do&n to a cohesi+e set of la&ful5 re$ular patterns@ Pattern reco$nition operates in circuitry &ithin the parietal corte45 thou$h the speci>c sites of a more e4tensi+e Csystems brainDF if anyFha+e yet to be identi>ed@ As it stands5 there seems to be no dedicated net&or: or circuitry inthe brain that $i+es us a natural inclination to&ard systems understandin$@ 0e learn ho& to read and na+i$ate systems throu$h the remar:able $eneral learnin$ talents of the neocorte4@ Such cortical talentsFas in math or en$ineerin$Fcan be duplicated by computers@ That sets the systems mind apart from self%a&areness and empathy5 &hich operate on dedicated5 lar$ely bottom%up5 circuitry@ It ta:es a bit of eEort to learn about systems5 but to na+i$ate life successfully &e need stren$ths in this +ariety of focus as &ell as the t&o that come more naturally@"3SS3S And the hot spots5 the points &here trouble mi$ht start@ Ta:e &ater scarcity and the stru$$le amon$ three nuclear%armed nationsFPa:istan5 India5 and .hina@ About ninety%>+e percent of &ater in Pa:istan is used for a$riculture5 and India is upstream of most of its main ri+ers@ Pa:istanis thin: that India manipulates ?ood$ates in India and controls &hen and ho& much &ater Pa:istan $ets@ And upstream from India5 Indians belie+e that .hina is controllin$ the &ater ?o&in$ out of the Third Pole5 the ice and sno& of the 6imalayan plateau@D But no one :no&s ho& much &ater ?o&s throu$h these ri+er systems and at &hat season5 or ho& many $ates control that ?o&5 or &here5 or for &hat purpose@ CThis data is shrouded as a political tool by the three $o+ernments5D Dr@ 8arry says@ CSo &e support the $atherin$ of that data by a trusted third party5 and ma:in$ it transparent@ That &ill allo& the ne4t step: analysis of the :ey nodes and the Xouch9 points@D A rapid response &ill be essential for combatin$ any future $lobal ?u pandemics caused by mutatin$ strains for &hich no one has immunity@ Let that response &ill ha+e no chance to be pretestedK the situation &ill be uniGue in history Ithere &ere5 for e4ample5 no ))s durin$ the last pandemic in 1/1-JK and the sta:es are so hi$h there is no room for error@ These are amon$ the Guali>cations that ran: pandemics as a C&ic:edD problemFnot in the sense of Ce+il5D but rather meanin$ e4tremely hard to sol+e@ .ombatin$ $lobal &armin$5 on the other hand5 poses a Csuper%&ic:edD problem: there is no sin$le authority in char$e of its solution5 time is runnin$ out5 the people &ho see: to sol+e theproblem are amon$ those Iall of usJ &ho cause it5 and oHcial policies dismiss its importance for our future@1 0hat9s more5 both pandemics and $lobal &armin$ are &hat are technically called Cmesses5D&here a troublin$ predicament interacts in a system of other interrelated problems@2 So5 as Dr@ 8arry points out5 these are incredibly complicated dilemmas5 and lots of the data &e need to sol+e them are missin$@ Systems are +irtually in+isible to the na:ed eye5 but their &or:in$s can be rendered +isible by $atherin$ data from enou$h points that the outlines of their dynamics come into focus@ The more data5 the clearer the map becomes@ 3nter the era of bi$ data@ Lears after his coin%collectin$ days in India5 Dr@ 8arry became the foundin$ e4ecuti+e director of 7oo$le@or$5 7oo$le9s nonpro>t arm@ 0hile there he brou$ht about one of the >rst &idely hailed applications for bi$ data: ?u%spottin$@ A +olunteer 7oo$le team of en$ineers5 &or:in$ &ith epidemiolo$ists from the .enters for Disease .ontrol and Pre+ention5 analyBed an enormous number of search Gueries for &ords5 such as fe+er or ache5 connected &ith ?u symptoms@3 C0e used tens of thousands of simultaneous computers to search e+ery :eystro:e on 7oo$le o+er >+e years to create an al$orithm to predict ?u outbrea:s5D Dr@ 8arry recalls@ The resultin$ al$orithm identi>es ?u outbrea:s &ithin a day5 compared &ith the t&o &ee:s it typically ta:es the .D. to notice hot spots for the disease based on reports from physicians@ Bi$ data soft&are analyBes +oluminous amounts of informationK usin$ 7oo$le datato spot ?u outbrea:s &as one of the early applications of bi$ data to a mobF&hat9s become :no&n as Ccollecti+e intelli$ence@D Bi$ data lets us :no& &here the collecti+e attention focuses@ The uses are endless@ For instance5 analyBin$ &ho connects to &homF+ia calls5 t&eets5 te4ts5 and the li:eFsurfaces the human ner+e system of an or$aniBation5 mappin$ connecti+ity@ 6yperconnected fol:s are typically the most in?uential: an or$aniBation9s social connectors5 :no&led$e holders5 or po&er bro:ers@ Amon$ the multiplyin$ commercial applications for bi$ data: A mobile phone company used the methodolo$y to analyBe the calls its customers made@ This identi>ed Ctribal leaders5D indi+iduals &ho $ot and made the lar$est number of connections to a small aHnity $roup@ The company found that if such a leader adopted a ne& phone ser+ice the company oEered5 those in the tribe &ere hi$hly li:ely to do so5 too@ *n the other hand5 if the leader dropped the phone ser+ice for another5 the tribe &ould be li:ely to follo&@ CThe focus of or$aniBational attention has been on internal information5D Thomas Da+enport5 &ho trac:s the uses of bi$ data5 told me@ C0e9+e sGueeBed about as much Auice from that fruit as &e can@ So &e9+e turned to e4ternal informationFthe Internet5 customer sentiment5 supply chain ris:5 and the li:e@D Da+enport5 formerly director of the Accenture Institute for Strate$ic .han$e5 &as on the faculty at6ar+ard Business School &hen &e spo:e@ 6e added5 C0hat &e need is an ecolo$ical model5 &here you sur+ey the e4ternal information en+ironmentFe+erythin$ happenin$ in a company9s surround that mi$ht impact it@D The information an or$aniBation $ets from its computer systems5 Da+enport ar$ues5 can be far less useful than &hat comes in from other sources in the o+erall ecolo$y of information5 as processed by people@ And a search en$ine may $i+e you massi+e data5 but no conte4t for understandin$5 let alone &isdom about that information@ 0hat ma:es data more useful is the person curatin$ it@# Ideally5 the person &ho curates information &ill Bero in on &hat matters5 prune a&ay the rest5 establish a conte4t for &hat the data means5 and do all that in a &ay that sho&s &hy it is +italFand so captures people9s attention@ The best curators don9t Aust put the data in a meanin$ful conte4tFthey :no& &hat Guestions to as:@ 0hen I inter+ie&ed Da+enport5 he &as &ritin$ a boo: that encoura$es those &ho mana$e bi$ data proAects to as: Guestions li:e these: Are &e de>nin$ the ri$ht problem; Do &e ha+e the ri$ht data; 0hat are the assumptions behind the al$orithm the data $ets fed into; Does the model $uidin$ those assumptions map on reality;'At an "IT conference on bi$ data5 one spea:er pointed out that the >nancial crisis of 222- on&ard &as a failure of the method5 as hed$e funds around the &orld collapsed@ The dilemma is that the mathematical models embodied in bi$ data are simpli>cations@ Despite the crisp numbers they yield5 the math behind those numbers hin$es on models and assumptions5 &hich can fool those &ho use them into placin$ too much con>dence in their results@ At that same conference5 (achel Schutt5 a senior statistician at 7oo$le (esearch5 obser+ed that data science reGuires more than math s:ills: it also ta:es people &ho ha+e a &ide%ran$in$ curiosity5 and &hose inno+ation is $uided by their o&n e4perienceFnot Aust data@ After all5 thebest intuition ta:es hu$e amounts of data5 har+estin$ our entire life e4perience5 and >lters it throu$h the human brain@) 13SLST3" B8Ic routinely5 in t&o%&ay traHc from distant island to distant island@ Buto+er the half century durin$ &hich "au preser+ed this re>ned a&areness of natural systems5 Polynesians had turned to the na+i$ational aids of the modern &orld@ 6is &as a dyin$ lore@ "au9s epic canoe +oya$e stirred a re+i+al in the study of the art of &ay>ndin$ amon$ the nati+e peoples of the South Paci>c5 a rene&ed interest that continues to this day@ Fifty years after his o&n initiation as a &ay>nder5 "au held the same ceremony once a$ain for the >rst time5 for a handful of students he had trained@ Such lore5 handed do&n for $enerations from elders to the youn$5 e4empli>es the local :no&led$e that nati+e peoples e+ery&here ha+e relied on to sur+i+e in their particular ecolo$ical niche5 lettin$them $et basics li:e food5 safety5 clothin$5 and shelter@ Throu$h human history5 systems a&arenessFdetectin$ and mappin$ the patterns and order that lie hidden &ithin the chaos of the natural &orldFhas been propelled by this ur$ent sur+i+al imperati+e for nati+e peoples to understand their local ecosystem@ They must :no& &hat plants are to4ic5 &hich nourish or healK &here to $et drin:in$ &ater and &here to $ather herbs and >nd foodK ho& to read the si$ns of seasonal chan$e@ 6ere9s the catch@ 0e are prepared by our biolo$y to eat and sleep5 mate and nurture5 >$ht%or%?ee5 and e4hibit all the other built%in sur+i+al responses in the human repertoire@ But as &e9+e seen5 there are no neural systems dedicated to understandin$the lar$er systems &ithin &hich all this occurs@ Systems are5 at >rst $lance5 in+isible to our brainF&e ha+e no direct perception of any of the multitude of systems that dictate the realities of our li+es@ 0e understand them indirectly5 throu$h mental models Ithe meanin$s of &a+e s&ells5 constellations5 and the ?i$ht of seabirds are each such modelsJ and ta:e action based on those models@ The more $rounded in data those models are5 the more eEecti+e our inter+entions Ifor e4ample5 a roc:et to an asteroidJ@ The less $rounded in data5 the less eEecti+e they &ill be Imuch education policyJ@ This lore stems from hard%learned lessons that become distributed :no&led$e5 shared amon$ a people5 such as the healin$ property of speci>c herbs@ And older $enerations pass on this accumulated lore to the youn$er@ *ne of "au9s students5 3liBabeth 1apu9u&ailani 8indsey5 a 6a&aii%born anthropolo$ist &ho specialiBed in ethnona+i$ation5 has become an e4plorer and fello& at the shin$K he9d ride the seas5 listenin$ to their tales of sailin$Fand the na+i$ational tips embedded in themFinto the ni$ht as they dran: in the canoe house@ All in all he studied &ith a half doBen e4pert na+i$ators@ Such nati+e lore represents the root sciences5 the needs%to%:no& that ha+e o+er centuries $ro&n into today9s bur$eonin$ multitude of scienti>c specialties@ This $ro&th has been self%or$aniBin$5 perhaps ful>llin$ an innate sur+i+al dri+e to understand the &orld around us@ The in+ention of culture &as a hu$e inno+ation for 6omo sapiens: creatin$ lan$ua$e and a shared co$niti+e &eb of understandin$ that transcends any indi+idual9s :no&led$e and life spanFand that can be dra&n on as needed and passed on to ne& $enerations@ .ultures di+ide up e4pertise: there are mid&i+es and healers5 &arriors and builders5 farmers and &ea+ers@ 3ach of these domains of e4pertise can be shared5 and those &ho hold the deepest reser+oir of understandin$ in each are the $uides and teachers for others@ rst calendars came into bein$@ But as modernity has pro+ided machines to ta:e the place of such loreFcompasses5 na+i$ational $uides5 and5 e+entually5 online mapsFnati+e people ha+e Aoined e+eryone else in relyin$ on them5 for$ettin$ their local lore5 li:e &ay>ndin$@ And so it has $one &ith almost e+ery traditional form of e4pertise for attunin$ to nature9s systems@ The >rstcontact of a nati+e people &ith the outside &orld typically mar:s the start of a $radual for$ettin$ of their lore@ 0hen I spo:e &ith 8indsey5 she &as preparin$ to lea+e for Southeast Asia to see the "o:en5 &ho are sea nomads@ =ust before the 222 tsunami s&ept throu$h the islands they inhabited in the Indian *cean5 the "o:en CrealiBed the birds had stopped sin$in$ and the dolphins &ere s&immin$ farther out to sea5D she told me@ CSo they all climbed in theirboats and tra+eled to deep ocean5 &here the tsunami crest &as minimal as it passed them@ cant amountFand sa+e households around se+enty dollars a year in utility bills@12 6ouses that $et the blan:ets &ill share part of their fuel sa+in$s &ith the school5 &hich can use that cash to ma:e impro+ements at the school and still ha+e plenty left o+er to buy &ater blan:ets to $i+e a&ay to t&o other schools@11 Those t&o schools &ill repeat the process5 each $i+in$ blan:ets to t&o other schools5 in an e+ere4pandin$ seGuence@ The math of such a $eometric pro$ression au$urs a ripple eEect throu$hout the re$ion and5 potentially5 far beyond@ In the >rst round5 e+ery participatin$ school $ets credited in its handprint &ith a reduction of some 132 tons of .*2 emissions per year5 for an e4pected blan:et life of at least ten years@ But 6andprinter also $i+es it successi+e credits for e+ery other school in the chainK in Aust si4 rounds that should include 12- schools5 a carbon reduction of around 1'5222 tons of.*2@ Assumin$ ne& CroundsD e+ery three months5 that &ould be '25222 tons by the start of the third year5 and 1 million by the fourth@ CThe 8.A calculation for one house9s heater &rap starts oE ne$ati+e5 &hen you assess the &rap9s supply chain and life cycle5D says rst to try to simulate a li+in$ system on a computer@ 0hile there are reasonable concerns about the social impacts of $ames on :ids5 a little%reco$niBed bene>t of $ames is acGuirin$ the :nac: for learnin$ the $round rules of an un:no&n reality@ 7ames teach :ids ho& to e4periment &ith comple4 systems@ 0innin$ demands acGuirin$ an intuiti+e sense of the al$orithms built into the $ame and >$urin$ out ho& to na+i$ate throu$h them5 as 0ri$ht points out@1 CTrial and error5 re+erse%en$ineerin$ stuE in your mindFall the &ays :ids interact &ith $amesF that9s the :ind of thin:in$ schools should be teachin$@ As the &orld becomes more comple45D 0ri$ht adds5 C$ames are better at preparin$ you@D C1ids are natural systems thin:ers5D says Peter Sen$e5 &ho brou$ht systems thin:in$ to or$aniBational learnin$5 and has more recently been teachin$ this perspecti+e in schools@ CLou9ll $et three si4%year%olds loo:in$ at &hy they ha+e so many >$hts on the play$round5 and they9ll realiBe they ha+e a feedbac: loop &here callin$ names leads to hurt feelin$s5 &hich leads to callin$ names5 &ith more hurt feelin$sFand it all builds to a >$ht@D 0hy not embed this understandin$ in the $eneral education our culture passes on to our children5 li:e "au9s tutorial in celestial na+i$ation; .all it systems literacy@ 7re$ory ed@3 Smart practice al&ays includes a feedbac: loop that lets you reco$niBe errors and correct themF &hich is &hy dancers use mirrors@ Ideally that feedbac: comes from someone &ith an e4pert eyeF and so e+ery &orld%class sports champion has a coach@ If you practice &ithout such feedbac:5 you don9t $et to thetop ran:s@ The feedbac: matter