Book Summary

Leaders are Learners

Rapt
Your life is the sum of what you focus on The Summary In Brief
What you focus on can literally change your brain, and thus your behavior. Taking charge of your attention is the key to personal power and freedom - and the hallmark of the successful and satised.

Three Things You Need To Know

1. Bottom Up vs. Top Down Attention Bottom Up - Not driven by you, but whatever thing in your environment is most salient, or obviously compelling. Top Down - What do you want to concentrate on? To enjoy the kind of experience you want rather than enduring the kind that you feel stuck with, you have to take charge of your attention. Example: Riding public transportation to work. Bottom Up attention will concentrate on the hacking, sneezing seatmate whos spraying you with a viral mist. Top Down puts your nose back in the newspaper or allows you to concentrate on your music. 1. Feelings Frame Focus - The brain is made up of three major parts The reactive component handles biologically determined responses, such as dizzying heights and sweet tastes. The behavioral attends to well-learned skills like typing and riding a bike. The reective deals with cognition. Example: I need a new car. The reective handles research and analysis, the the reactive notices the snazzy red sports car and the behavioral helps you drive it home. Understand that all three effect your and your decisions on what to focus on. 2. The Productivity Work Zone This state kicks in when youre completely focused on doing something thats both enjoyable and challenging enough to be just manageable. Flow happens when you are so focused on your work that time ies, your ego drops away, and you act intuitively. You think along the lines of I was born for this or this is what it is all about. You know youre in the right business if you feel that youd work for the sheer pleasure: an intrinsic reward thats far more satisfying than extrinsic ones.

Application Control your focus by practicing Top Down attention. Recognize the elements that must be in place for you to be your productive best. Plan your day/week/month Recognize the power of focus by how the client reacts to the first words out of your mouth after you have listened to them.

Rapt - By Winifred Gallagher

Stories Pearls before Breakfast - Would you recognize a world-class musician playing in a subway? p. 67 Why families eat together only 17% of the time. p. 44 Why being an extrovert will help you notice the over 15,000 surveillance cameras in Manhattan. p. 55 Why does your spouse think you are better then you are, and how you subtly change to become as they see you? p. 91 The new normal is getting rich and enjoying the climb. The story of Tracey Burke. p. 100 Children: Quality Time and Quantity Time, count over the long run. p. 110

Quotes If all the worlds a stage, where do you shine the spotlight of your attention? Winifred Gallagher p. 13 Good feelings widen the lens through which you see the world. Barbara Fredrickson p. 37 Wisdom is the art of knowing what to overlook. William James p. 50 Technique is what you fall back on when you run out of inspiration. Rudolf Nureyev p. 63 They all report that its not enough to be good at your job. If you want to be really effective you also have to enjoy your work. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi p. 104 99 percent of the stuff of life - relationships, work, home, recreation - is the same no matter where you are. Daniel Kahneman p.121 Good enough is almost always good enough. If you have that attitude, many problems about decision and much paralysis melt away. Barry Schwartz p. 131 Life is relatively short, so dont labor under the delusion that you can keep switching your focus from goal to goal and get anywhere. Angela Duckworth p.181 The Clock hands move, but its always now. Eckhart Tolle p.210

Ideas Treat your mind like a private garden and be as careful as possible about what you introduce and allow to grow there. p.53 Your attention system is like a magician providing stimulus that holds your attention and allows the tricks steps to be undertaken unseen. Step back and look at the whole picture. p. 23 Following every detail of your nancial situations big downfall. How to help clients see the need for a nancial advisor. p. 117 Provide clients with a choice, but limit this to 2-3. Clients make no decision with numerous choices. p. 126 Multi-Tasking doesnt work - Give yourself a break and focus on single items for short periods of time. Turn your email off. p. 151 Practice mindful eating by focusing on your foods smell, taste and feel. You will average 67 less calories at dinner and drop 7 pounds a year. If you could just stay focused on the right things, your life would stop feeling like a reaction to stuff that happens to you and become something that you create: not a series of accidents, but a work of art.