#YouAreFocusable, and it Shows
It's been over a week now since a little gathering called ISTE Live convened, and we had a blast getting to finally meet many of you in person and having the opportunity to share Focusable’s story and vision. But that is something we anticipated. What we didn’t expect were scores of educators looking to talk about a problem we all have, and eager to try new technology to help them work on it.
Today’s edition of The Optimalist aims to celebrate the learnings we took from introducing Focusable at ISTE, and spotlight a growing audience we see emerging for this kind of tool - parents and caregivers.
Here are our top 6 reflections:
The struggle is real.
Facing personal struggles & problems with distraction is imperative - especially when it comes to finding motivation to do meaningful work. How can we face this problem & not escape behind engagement?
Focus is a human problem.
We have the ability to focus. To an extent, we've lost our internal motivator to go beyond what we need to get by. It's easy to blame this on external situations & man-made distractions. It’s time to reawaken our natural neurochemical response.
We've let our attention become a commodity.
It's no surprise that we've been giving it away. The cost is our inability to find focus, deal with stress, & find flow and motivation. Let's commit to making our attention operate for us.
We aren’t great to our brains.
We've normalized sitting through hours of attention-heavy tasks, when all we are really meant to do is sustain about 45 mins. That’s it. Why do we feel pushing that to hours is the way to indicate success or hard work? Let's change this.
We each have an optimal learning experience.
Each of us has the ability to find the sequence of events that will lead us from feeling distracted & struggling, to focused, & then beyond, to a flow state. Our biology is ready to reward us if we discover the right pattern. Finding flow is the way we ensure students (and ourselves) will be willing to look for an opportunity to take on a challenge again. Flow ensures there is a definite reward in committing to the process - that pleasure can come from something that begins in struggle.
You want students to become more self-reliant.
This shouldn’t mean only following the interests they’ve developed at the time. Enjoyment in learning isn’t about the subject. It’s about the process, and we have more natural control than we think.
One thing we didn’t expect: many people were looking at Focusable from their perspective as a parent. We heard things like:
“I think we need this at home.”
“Can I use this with my granddaughter?”
Our goal all along has been for Focusable to become a tool for everyone, not only for the classroom. But should parents take on the role of “attentional coach” at home?
In our newest blog, we take a look at the influence parents and teachers can have together to set children up for lifelong success and flourishing.
And when you’re done reading, we’d love for you to click here to share what you’re thinking in our Twitter Community, as well as connect with other optimalists. 🐠
💭 Thought of the Week
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🧠 Try Focusable This Fall
Over 300 educators at ISTE agreed that focus is a human problem that we are all capable of addressing — and they were eager for a chance to try the software we have been building to help. Now it’s your chance to join the list too and get access for the back-to-school season. Cohorts are filling up, so don’t wait long!
💬 #Optimalist Chat:
Join our first guest host duo, David Hennel and Nicole Biscotti, on Thurs, 7/21, 8:30pm ET, for a conversation called Educators With ADHD: A Unique & Powerful Perspective for Kids. David is the self-proclaimed “Mayor” of the popular #CrazyPLN Twitter chat, and Nicole is an educator and author of I Can Learn When I’m Moving: Going to School with ADHD.
To follow along or participate, just search the tag #Optimalist on Twitter!
📚 Book Study
We can’t wait to continue to the next stage of learning with Book Study #2! This week, we’re beginning Flow: the Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Registration open to all, and includes a copy of the book. Learn more and register here. And check out Don Sturm’s reflective questions already coming from this reading below. ⬇️
📰 The Optimalist Recommends…
This week we discovered that Rolling Stone has been dabbling in the focus game.
“When focusing on a particular task for some time, you lose sight of everything else around you. You become “in the zone,” dealing only with the task at hand. In this state, your mind can think two or three steps ahead, meaning you can see a clear path to the final goal.”
Even though their approach is not an exhaustive examination, it’s worth noting when pop culture begins talking about the most important skill of the future: focus. Check it out: Why Staying Focused Is Key to Success
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