What if attention isn’t something to ‘fix’?
Rachel Botsman
Leading expert on trust in the modern world. Author of WHAT’S MINE IS YOURS, WHO CAN YOU TRUST? And HOW TO TRUST & BE TRUSTED, writer and curator of the popular newsletter RETHINK.
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How often do you toggle between browser tabs, emails, or half-finished thoughts? We talk a lot about attention as something to fix—something to discipline or optimize. But lately, I’ve been wondering…
What if we stopped forcing focus, and started designing for it?
The reframe came after I stumbled on the 16th-century invention of the bookwheel: a beautifully designed rotating shelf that let scholars view multiple open books at once. Not to be faster. Not to multitask. But to hold ideas in relation - to compare, contrast, and loop through knowledge without losing their train of thought.
It made me rethink how we approach focus, and why so many modern productivity tools might be working against the very thing they promise to protect.
Most of these tools treat attention as a straight line. But real thinking, especially creative thinking, is rarely linear. It loops. It pauses. It returns. The bookwheel reminds us that focus doesn’t have to mean moving forward. Sometimes it means circling back. Re-seeing. Turning an idea until it becomes something else. That’s the essence of rethinking.
Want to go deeper? In this week’s Rethink newsletter, I explore how the design of our tools shapes the way we focus and think.
Discussion question:
What’s your bookwheel? Is there a system, space, or habit that helps you hold multiple ideas at once, without losing the thread?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below —I’d love to know what helps you loop, return, and rethink. I’m collecting modern bookwheels :)
Warmly,
Arts & culture / Events / Placemaking
1moWriting them down in a notebook always helps! I find it easier to make connections and discover new directions of thought.
Board Director | CMO | Founder
1moMy notes app. I jot ideas down as they come - often mid-workout, mid-task, mid-scroll, mid-conversation - and revisit them over time. Some threads build quickly, others connect with other ideas in unexpected ways weeks (or even months) later. However informal, it is one of my core systems for creativity and innovation. For me, focus means having a space where I can continue to reframe and pull insight forward based on new learnings.
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1moLove this! I’ve definitely felt that tug-of-war between trying to focus and juggling too many tabs (literal and mental 😅).
Programme Director, Executive & Leadership Development creator & Executive coach at Oxford Said Business School
1moI really like this perspective - thank you Rachel - I find many of the articles and tools far too linear and ‘efficiency’ obsessed. In a world where AI can do the efficient and creativity is important, I will go and ponder how to create a compelling book wheel For myself I often find myself revisiting connections with people - who can give me different perspectives and keep the thoughts and conversations alive.
Motivational Writer, Speaker and Trainer
1moAs a visual learner, I’m very appreciative of tangible items to help me compare and contrast ideas my brain is trying to process. As a writer, I still use a form of index cards (although in today’s world it sometimes becomes a portable white board and post it notes). As a retired teacher, most of my learning centers offered my students a “book wheel” system, but I did not have the historical reference back then to understand why they were more successful than a “linear type” of activity. So grateful for this article to help me better understand the way I tap into my combo pack preferred learning style (Vusual kinesthetic) to communicate and express myself.