Why it was said

Chris Bailey opens Hyperfocus with this line before describing the two modes of attention the book is about: hyperfocus, one thing deliberately, and scatterfocus, the deliberate wandering that produces ideas.

What it actually means

What you attend to is, in practice, what your day is made of, and a day is what a life is made of. Bailey's point is that attention is not a resource you have but a state you are in, and that the state can be chosen: what to let in, for how long, and when to let the mind roam on purpose. The sentence turns a vague wish to be more focused into a question about the present moment.

How to use it

1. 1Three times today, ask what your attention is on right now and whether you chose it.
2. 2Pick one hour to hyperfocus on a single thing and one walk to let the mind wander without a phone.