We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. - Will Durant

We live in a world of constant distraction, surrounded by electronic devices that we seem unable to tear ourselves away from. Hobbies like reading, which require sustained focus, people are doing less of these days - 50% of Americans hadn't read a book in 2023. At the same time, book sales have increased between 2022 & 2023 but as anyone with heaving bookshelves and good intentions can tell you, reading and buying books are two different things. I’ve bought books on focus before and never read them.

I'm digressing, writing about books again. Yup, like everyone else, I'm losing my focus, getting away from the topic at hand. Of course, we consume information in different ways (audiobooks, videos, podcasts, etc) but a lot of that takes place whilst we are doing other things; our attention is scattered. I can chop vegetables and listen to an audiobook, but ask me to recall it later and I'd be surprised if I can tell you more than the surface details. I doubt I'm getting that deep immersion that comes from completely giving yourself over to a book.

I’ve tried to include a variety of books here, as many of them cover the same ground. I’ve also included lots of videos, as that’s how many of us consume information these days. And I can’t expect you to read all this text, right?

There will be overlaps between them, but I think each has something unique to contribute and I hope that you find something useful in them. Let’s see if you have enough focus to read to the bottom of this article (maybe you’ve given up already).

The book that got me interested in the subject was…..

So there you have it, a list of books on focus, concentration, discipline and productivity. If you’ve managed to read right to the bottom of the article, well done - maybe your focus isn’t as bad as you thought it was. If you have any comments or suggestions on books on the topic, please let me know below and thanks for reading.