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Talent and motivation matter less than where you actually point your attention, because misallocated focus quietly drains performance even when you're busy. Adam Williams calls this the attention tax, and it's at the centre of his debut book, Mega Focus.
Adam is an award-winning innovator and keynote speaker with 30 years' experience in creative innovation and product development, having worked with brands including Toyota, Ikea, McDonald's, Mazda and Lego. He won the 2022 ACRA and B&T Best of the Best Award and studied at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Kellogg and the London Business School.
Adam explains the difference between the brain's architect and builder modes, why cognitive outsourcing to AI doesn't make us smarter, and how leaders unknowingly train their teams' attention through their own behaviour. He shares his own story of rebuilding his life around what actually matters, and offers a practical way to audit and retrain where your attention goes.
Takeaways
- Attention sits upstream of thought, decisions and strategy execution.
- The attention tax is the hidden cost of misallocated focus.
- Declining IQ scores may reflect attention, not intelligence, decline.
- Cognitive outsourcing to AI doesn't make you better at thinking.
- The brain's builder favours comfort, ease and immediate reward.
- Leaders' own attention habits silently set team-wide group norms.
- Being busy is often mistaken for being important or productive.
- Mega focus means aligning who you are with what you do.
Follow Adam Willams
https://theattentionarchitect.au/
Adam’s book
Mega Focus: Take Back Control. Join the Attention Revolution. https://link.amazon/B05xHKYUE
Books recommended
Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention by Johann Hari https://link.amazon/B0eG5pzpI
Atomic Habits by James Clear https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0735211299/
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/1784704008/
Attention Span: Finding Focus for a Fulfilling Life by Gloria Mark https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0008526001/
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