In a new book project, titled Focus, I argue that people do the best they can given the quality of their attention at the time. Not sometime. Always. Attention is that signifcant. It trumps many other dispositional and circumstantial influences on how we think, act and interact at work and in our life.
Inattention is the mother of a million things mistaken and neglected. We miss details and deadlines. We miss the subtle but real cues that with attention would make us otherwise far more proactive than reactive. We walk and scroll past new possibilities. We leave important resources less than fully engaged. We leave money on the table and inspiration at the door.
Doing better and helping others do better is a matter of expanding the scope of our everyday attention. It is noticing more. We notice more when we show up with what I like calling simple focus. This is noticing how change is intrinsic to the nature of life. The more we notice how things change, the larger our scope of attention and the better we do. All success metrics move forward and work is transformed at the interactions of meaning and pleasure.