Lindsey Komson

Featured Image: cottonbro studio

When I was in elementary school, I loved recess. Not to say I hated school, because everyone knows I loved school. But as a kid, I could stand on the blacktop and play handball with my friends for hours. The thrill of moving up to “the A box” and staying there while defeating my opponents was the highlight of the school day. Even in the freezing cold (if we were allowed to go outside), I’d run around on the playground with my friends for as long as my teachers would let me.

So when I read in Stolen Focus that only 73% of elementary schools have any form of recess, I felt disappointed.

Author Johann Hari later defines intrinsic & extrinsic motivation. He defines an intrinsic motive as, “You’re not doing it to get some other reward farther down the line; you’re doing it because you love it.” On the other hand, Hari defines an extrinsic motive as “You’re not doing it because the act itself gives you a sense of pleasure or fulfillment – you are doing it because you have been forced to, or to get something out of it at a later point.”

After reading about the decline in schools offering recess time and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, my mind went back to flow states, which I wrote about in my first-ever blog.

The reason I could play handball for hours was because I loved it. This activity fulfilled all the criteria of being in a flow state, and I continued playing due to an intrinsic motivation. Most younger students would say they are at school due to an extrinsic motivation. Yes, school is essential for learning, but I don’t think any younger kids would say they chose to attend school if their parents didn’t enroll them.

Chapter Fourteen of Stolen Focus discusses early education and the very rigid structure that a young student’s life has.

A high school student’s schedule is basically wake up, school, activities, homework, sleep. In high school, I would do exactly that. I’d go to school, then go straight to activities like softball or community service, then go home to do homework, and eventually go to bed. It was hard to focus on my homework by that time in the day because these things had extrinsic motivation.

At this point in my life, my schedule is much different. I build my class schedule with times I choose, and purposely leave breaks in between to relax. If I was constantly in class and doing homework, I’d never be able to focus on anything. Leaving myself time to work out, spend time with friends, and do things I enjoy allows me to focus on my work when it’s that time.

All in all, this chapter of Stolen Focus further reinforced the notion that in order to focus, you need to leave yourself time to play and enjoy life too. Now that I finished this blog post, I’m off to watch baseball until the next time I need to focus 🙂

Hari, Johann. Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–and How to Think Deeply Again. Crown, 2023.