Want to be successful in the 21st century? Remember this then: the spoils end up in the minds of the people. At this moment, have I lost your attention? Not surprising, because there are so many things that distract your attention. Have you ever heard of the torture of "five horses" in ancient times, that is, prisoners would be tied to different horses, beat the horses back in different directions, and then the criminals would be torn to pieces. Now, the same thing is happening to you, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, your spouse, partner, Grubhub, Fortnite, and this article may be the horse that ties you, and your attention is equivalent to the middle Man, is being torn to shreds. So what would you do? How can you stay focused? How do you figure out how to get your own loot? Before answering these telemarketing list questions, let's first consider another question: what do I mean by focus? cocktail party effect Much of what we know about the fragility of focus comes from the Battle of Britain. In preparation for my book A Deadly Wandering, I once interviewed some cognitive neuroscientists. In interviews I learned that after World War II, British scientists were trying to figure out why RAF pilots and radar operators were occasionally distracted while defending airspace from Nazi bombardment. It sounds absurd that these dedicated men and women should be distracted in a life-or-death battle. But they do get distracted—pilots staring out the window, radar operators staring at screens—and eventually make mistakes and even telemarketing list die. In the decades after the war, researchers conducted a series of experiments to explain the nature of attention and focus and the differences between them. One of the cognitive scientists, Colin Cherry, eventually came up with the concept of the "cocktail party effect." Concentration is inherently dualistic, it either exists or it doesn't, and importantly, it cannot be divided. You can test it yourself, but it's up to you whether you need a real cocktail: In a crowded setting, start a conversation and focus on the person you're talking to. Face the person, look at him, and try to hear what the person behind you is saying.