Have you ever sat down to do something that really needed your attention and a few minutes later realized your mind was everywhere except where you wanted it to be?

I do it too. And all those little moments add up to something bigger. Because attention isn’t only about getting our work done; we need it to read, learn, think something through, notice what’s happening around us, and really listen to another person.

So what happens when we live in an environment that is constantly pulling our attention somewhere else? And can we learn to take it back?

Our guest is cognitive psychologist and bestselling author Mark Tigchelaar, named by The Times as “the world’s leading expert in focus.” He has spent more than two decades studying attention, focus and sustainable performance.

But Mark doesn't only study how our brains perform. He's climbed Mont Blanc, completed a 72-hour Hell Week with the Dutch Navy SEALs, and learned to skydive, putting his knowledge of focus to some pretty extreme tests.

We talk about why we get distracted even when we've put our phones away; what happens in our brains every time we're interrupted; why scrolling isn't actually giving us a break; and why Mark believes we need to create more “islands of attention in a world full of noise.”

And we take the conversation beyond individual habits. What happens when our workplaces make it almost impossible to focus? What does sustainable high performance actually require? And what should we be teaching children about attention and learning in a world of AI?

This conversation made me think differently about something most of us give away hundreds of times a day without really noticing: our attention.

Chapters

00:14 — Can we learn to take our attention back?
02:11 — What jumping out of a plane taught Mark about attention
07:09 — Create islands of attention in a world full of noise
14:57 — The hidden cost of every interruption
24:06 — Your mind may be more distracting than your phone
35:05 — Scrolling isn’t relaxation. It’s sedation.
40:51 — What does sustainable high performance really require?
50:17 — What are we teaching children about attention?
56:08 — What do we need to protect in ourselves?

About Mark Tigchelaar

Mark Tigchelaar is a cognitive psychologist and bestselling author named by The Times as “the world’s leading expert in focus.” His six books on focus and attention have been translated into more than 20 languages. He has trained over 100,000 people across 1,600+ keynotes on how to work with — instead of against — a distracted brain. Diagnosed with severe dyslexia only after secondary school, he turned his own struggle with attention into his life's work. His mission is simple: help people stop scrolling their lives away.

Links & resources

Mark Tigchelaar: https://marktigchelaar.com/
Focus On/Off: https://marktigchelaar.com/author/
Mark Tigchelaar on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tigchelaar-focus/

Credits

Hosted by Janine Mathó. Produced by Janine Mathó and Richard Lewis.