Unfocused Attention Quotes

Our minds have a tendency to wander. To duck and feint and keep us at a slight remove from the moment at hand.

I'm one of those people who doesn't understand how it was that I went to bed at 3 o'clock in the morning or what I was doing. Like, I looked at 'Bon Appetit' magazine for three hours for things I'm never going to cook. Or I'm just on Pinterest for no logical reason.

There's a look people get in their eyes when you're talking to them and they're not seeing you, and you know it's because they have a movie running through their head.

My books were always full of ink blots, always stained and covered with smeared sketches and pictures, which one draws idly when his attention wanders from his task.

My real thinking and planning gets done when I'm doing something else like driving or walking or taking the shower.

During the shooting of a scene the director’s eye has to catch even the minutest detail. But this does not mean glaring concentratedly at the set. While the cameras are rolling, I rarely look directly at the actors, but focus my gaze somewhere else. By doing this I sense instantly when something isn’t right. Watching something does not mean fixing your gaze on it, but being aware of it in a natural way. I believe this is what the medieval Noh playwright and theorist Zeami meant by ‘watching with a detached gaze.’

Cinema, radio, television, magazines are a school of inattention: people look without seeing, listen in without hearing.

I think he’s incredibly dangerous. He’s a very smart guy whose electrons aren’t connected, so he arc lights all the time. He can’t organize anything.

Mostly, I just waste my time.

Having that music around us all the time, it was so inspiring. But at the same time, I was a kid. I didn't pay attention to any of it. I'd get on the drums and hit them a few times, and then go outside and play.

A lot of problems get solved in those sort of in-between moments when your subconscious has been working on some problem. If you keep it spinning, you can fix ideas sometimes better than if you focus on them directly.

I was a good kid, but I was just very chatty. Teachers were rarely entertained, but occasionally a child was, which was enough for me. Everything was so urgent. I needed to say it immediately.

This happens to me all the time: I think I'm working on one thing, but this other thing, whether I want it to or not, keeps coming through.

The television set's on while the family's sitting around having dinner or talking. Nobody's watching TV; it's there; they're aware of it, but they're not participating. That's passive.