One way to boost our will power and focus is to manage our distractions instead of letting them manage us.

Motivation aside, if people get better at these life skills, everyone benefits: The brain doesn't distinguish between being a more empathic manager and a more empathic father.

In a high-IQ job pool, soft skills like discipline, drive and empathy mark those who emerge as outstanding.

However, I began meditating at about that time and have continued on and off over the years.

Making choices that improve things for all of us on the planet is an act of compassion, a simple act we can do any time we go shopping.

I don't think focus is in itself ever a bad thing. But focus of the wrong kind, or managed poorly, can be.

When the darkness is seen as a necessary prelude to the creative light, one is less likely to ascribe frustration to personal inadequacy or label it as bad.