Ideas
When a television is playing in my vicinity, I am basically useless.
Even if I’m not actually paying attention to the television, my brain is drawn towards whatever is playing — making me have to try very hard to ignore the television. Having a television playing is less of an issue when I’m in a relaxed setting, but much more of an issue when I’m trying to have a deep conversation with a friend or study challenging material.
Although I’ve used television as an example, there are many examples of situations that challenge our “Sensing and Focusing” — and tactics to improve our body and brain.
Physical State
The baseline for “Sensing and Focusing” is our physical state.
How much have we slept in the previous night and a few nights in a row?
What, when, and how much did we eat in the last 24 to 48 hours?
What, when, and how much did we drink in the last 24 to 48 hours?
Have we consumed any substances that change our senses?
If we are not nailing the basics for sleep, eating, and drinking, our senses become dulled. We are much more prone to misunderstanding the world around us, then making mistakes in the situation. In addition, substances can change our senses — which changes our ability to sense and focus.
On the positive side, combining great sleep with the right food and drink means that our sensing and focusing will work as intended. We can use our body and brain to correctly understand the world around us, then make the correct move in a situation.
Emotional State
Another part of “Sensing and Focusing” is our emotional state.
What are my feelings in this moment?
What is my stress level?
How much does what I’m doing mean to me?
We’ve all been in highly emotional situations, which can change the way our body and brain use sensing and focusing. When these situations get too emotional — either negative or positive — we start to narrow our focus too much on one part of the situation. This causes us to lose perspective on the entire situation, which can cause issues for sensing and focusing (and the rest of the Model for Learning) as the situation unfolds.
However, maintaining emotional awareness during the situation helps keep your full use of sensing and focusing. By keeping full use, you can continue to receive information — then use this information in the rest of the Model for Learning process.
Ideas to Teach Your Students and Players
All of us — including myself! — can continue to work on sensing and focusing, though I want to give a few ideas for those you teach and coach.
Students
Physical and emotional state: Use the thought above; how are your students doing in these areas?
Reduce physical and digital distractions: Both inside and outside of the classroom, we want students to keep their sensing and focusing. Students of every age are still learning to reduce distractions from inside themselves, so adding external physical and digital distractions hurts them more. Especially for schools that allow digital devices, challenge your students about their habits inside and outside of the classroom.
Focusing techniques: Discuss various techniques, including time-blocking, expectations for how much can be accomplished, and the Pomodoro technique. Building new connections through learning takes time and effort, both of which can affect sensing and focusing.
Athletes
Simulate the game environment: Change the intensity of practice sessions, using part of the time to have challenging situations. Going extremely hard for a few minutes — then slowing down and discussing — helps acclimate players to the demands of the game environment.
Meditation and visualization: Outside of the game or practice times, players can use meditation and visualization techniques to think through what may happen during the game. By preparing your emotional (and spiritual) state before the intense game, your body and brain are more likely to channel the high intensity into positive outcomes.
Train the highest-value parts: Every sport has parts that are the most important, so we want players to execute these well in the most intense situations. Have you identified the most important parts of your sport? Do you discuss these with your players?
[I could not figure out how to put this paper into the flow of the ideas, so I’m linking here: The Unbearable Slowness of Being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s? by Jieyu Zheng and Markus Meister. The paper argues that humans live at basically 10 bit/s, which has fascinating implications for “Sensing and Focusing.” Enjoy!]
Stories
We all have stories for “Sensing and Focusing;” here are a few of mine.
Story 1: My wife and I recently completed The Anxious Generation by Jonathon Haidt, which is an eye-opening book. We are both high school educators and have seen many parts of his research, but the book helped us understand the massive problem that is happening. Though technological tools can be useful, there are many challenges for schools that allow digital devices; I highly recommend reading the book to understand why. I’m also very interested in seeing what happens to schools in states that are now banning cell phones — South Carolina has just enacted a ban — because I think this is the correct move for everyone in the school.
Story 2: I’ve thinking about athletes right now because of the football playoffs in both the NFL and college, plus all the other high-level sport happening around the world. One part that I find fascinating now are body language and emotions from the coaches and players. If a call goes against them, how do they react? If they make a great play, how do they react? The cliché is to “keep an even keel,” but how many of them actually do this? The next time you play, coach, or watch a game, keep an eye out for the reactions of the players and coaches — I would love to know what you see.
Story 3: I was playing golf with a couple of guys one day. The day was beautifully sunny, though the guys had on both music and a football game (shoutout to West Virginia University!). This was fine for most of the round, but then we had a really challenging shot: In some tall grass on a side-hill lie, with trouble lurking in a bunch of places. I was giving the shot my full concentration, but I kept getting distracted by the music and game. I remarked to the guys that “there was a bunch happening during the shot,” eventually hitting the shot (with a pretty good outcome). A very good golfer went next, not expecting to have the same issue — but even he was challenged by the shot, music, and football game. This was a good reminder that sensing and focusing is hard!
Questions
How do you protect your physical state?
How do you protect your mental state?
When is the last time your sensing and focusing were challenged? Did you have a negative or positive outcome?
What would you add as important points for students?
What would you add as important points for athletes?
How will you discuss this with your children, peers, students, and athletes?
Learning happens when we share what we are thinking, so I would love to hear your answers! Also, you can use these questions as conversations starters with friends and family — hearing their answers would be great!
Have comments or questions about any part of this essay? Please reply and let me know — I respond to every comment!
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