Why the most valuable currency in business isn’t time or capital, but controlled attention, and how author Josh Adler trains his own.
In a digital-first age where on average a person checks their phone over 150 times a day and attempts to context-switch every few minutes, the meaning of maintaining focus has shifted. For many, true focus without distracting notifications has become an act of rebellion.
Entrepreneur and author Josh Adler, known for his work on the benefits of neurodivergent talent and performance psychology, believes the next great business advantage won’t just come from more capital, faster technology, or even better hiring. It will also come from mastering one’s own attention.
“Attention has become a gateway and also a gatekeeper for the things in life that matter,” Adler says. “It’s like this if you can’t control what you focus on, you probably can’t predict or influence the outcome.”
Distractions continue to escalate for most of us, both at work and in our personal lives. Adler seeks to rewrite what “attention” means in the workplace, particularly with the feeling of mental overload.
Rethinking Productivity
For decades, working professionals have focused mainly on time management as the means to efficiency. But according to Adler, that way of thinking is outdated. Time, he argues, is a fixed resource but the concept of attention is elastic and thus, far more powerful.
“You can’t make a day longer than 24 hours,” Adler says. “But you can expand the value of an hour through depth, clarity, and controlled awareness.”
This perspective of seeing value in attention is supported by findings in neuroscience and the results of practical leadership in action. Time management experts tend to treat lack of productivity as a scheduling problem. Fix your calendar and suddenly your productivity will sky rocket. However, attention management shifts the focus to one’s mental state, taking into account cognitive load, emotional regulation, and the working environment.
Many studies are showing that the attempt to multitask can actually reduce performance by up to 40%. Jumping from topic to topic can also train the brain to stay in the shallower zones of focus. This has its uses, but it also has its detriments.
The Science of Controlled Focus
Attention is not an abstract idea to Adler. It’s a system to him that he actively trains. He and many others are in good company when it comes to controlled focus. Psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Anders Ericsson are known for their commitment to flow and energetic abundance. Their teachings support the idea that there is a positive loop among focus, flow, and mastery. Adler’s approach puts this into an entrepreneurial framework where one welcomes intensity of focus rather than just focusing on its duration.
He likens controlled attention to compound interest. “A single hour of true focus,” he says, “is worth more than ten hours of distracted effort. The yield compounds when you do it daily.”
Josh Adler’s messaging has resonated with a wide array of people, including founders, executives, and creators who want to reclaim their focus. He challenges people to ask themselves: What would my role/company look like if my attention was what I valued the most?
From Overload to Intentional Design
The “age of overload,” as Adler and others call it, is characterized not by scarcity of information but by excess.
Every leader now faces what cognitive scientists term decision fatigue a depletion of mental energy caused by too many micro-choices, urgent messages, and notifications. The result could be more akin to reactive leadership than active, focused leadership.
Josh Adler believes the way out of mental overload involves more than a BandAid or quick fix. Through a sustainable, careful redesign of one’s schedule, habits, and working environment, anyone can become the attention architect of their mind. This redesign makes reclaiming your cognitive bandwidth attainable for anyone.
Here are a few steps to start to walk out of mental overload:
- Put friction in place to protect against distractions. Turn off instant notifications, mute low-value apps, and look away from time-wasting distractions.
- Focus your time wisely. Identify and group your most cognitively demanding work into protected “attention zones.”
- Schedule recovery time. The brain isn’t evolved to thrive in eight straight hours of intense output. Allow time for flow: work, rest, reflect, repeat.
- Prioritize goals that matter most. Instead of perusing your task list, ask “What deserves my full attention today?”
Training Brains Like Athletes Train the Body
Adler’s approach has crossover from sports psychology, where athletes learn to narrow focus as needed, especially under pressure.
He believes founders, investors, and creative professionals should treat their attention with the same type of discipline.
He often compares cognitive control to interval training: short, deliberate bursts of focus followed by recovery. The aim is not to maintain perfect attention but to improve recovery speed when the mind wanders.
“People trying to learn deep focus often think distraction is failure,” Adler says. “It’s not. The real skill is noticing you’ve drifted and returning faster each time.”
Neuroscientists say this skill is part of the brain’s executive control. You can train your brain to focus for longer and deeper, strengthening this skill.
Adler’s Advice: “Protect Your Focus Like Equity”
Adler knows how important equity in a company is. Equity is something to value and protect.
He argues that protecting one’s mental focus should be viewed in similar ways. “Every time you split your attention,” he says, “you’re paying an invisible tax. Most people never audit that cost.”
Adler encourages leaders to measure attention ROI: the quality and impact of focus invested in high-value work.
Backed by Psychology and Business Outcomes
This approach is not just esoteric. It’s evidence-based.
Research supports that improving one’s cognitive control, namely our attention, can lead to long term benefits including mental resilience, easier adaptability, and even a stronger creative output. Attention restoration theory, the idea that we can reset our attention and focus spans, posits that skills like mindfulness, meditation, and even time spent outside in nature help to reset our brain.
Some companies are bringing this approach into their workflow and scheduling processes to assess measurable benefits. Google’s “Deep Work” process and Atlassian’s “Focus Fridays” are reporting increased innovation and more satisfied employees.
Adler’s own ventures apply these same principles. His framework helps his teams audit where their attention goes meetings, messaging, multitasking and redesign their systems for optimal flow.
Managing Teams in the Attention Economy
Where one puts their attention can be contagious. The way a CEO or manager handles their own ability to focus tends to set the tone and expectations for everyone else. This is because attention reveals what matters.
“If your team sees you checking your phone in a meeting,” he says, “you’ve already set the tone that distraction, not focus, is the norm.”
It might feel like a heavy lift to build a work culture of deep focus in a world of distraction, but it is possible. Switching the focus from instant response to prioritizing time blocks of focus, or normalizing async timelines to emails or messages can free up mental space to focus on projects that need a one-track mind.
Overcoming Overload with Attention
Adler’s mission is not about escaping technology or shirking professional duties. Intentionality is the goal. He knows that we can’t turn off the onslaught of workplace noise, but we can decide what gets through and when.
In a workplace obsessed with speed and noise, Adler’s message is simple: focus is freedom.
It is the single differentiator that can transform leadership, elevate creativity, and restore meaning in a distracted age.
His challenge is simple but profound:
“If you want to build something that lasts,” Adler says, “learn to hold your attention. Because everything else follows it.”
