Daniel Goleman: Three Kinds of Focus

There are three kinds of focus. One is inner focus, being aware of our thoughts, our feelings. This is the basis for being able to manage our inner world. For a child, this is extremely important. It's called cognitive control. Cognitive control means that you can see when you're about to do something that maybe you shouldn't and stop before you do it, not after. In a landmark study of more than 1,000 children who have followed from age 4 into their 30s, cognitive control was a better predictor of a child's financial success and health in their 30s than was either their IQ or the wealth of the family they grew up in. The second kind of focus is empathy. It's an other focus. It's focusing on that other person and understanding their inner world, their thoughts, their feelings. The third is an outer focus, being able to sense and understand the larger systems that impact and shape our lives. Whether it's the dynamics in an organization, whether it's a school or a business, or larger systems like the global systems that support life, and how human activity, how our choices of what we buy and do can help or harm those larger systems.