As an innovation leader staying ahead of the pack, you need to focus on your own performance and the goals you have set for yourself. Inward focus means thinking clearly, coming up with your own solutions, and taking action without distracting interruptions or outside influence. Trusting in your own decisions creates a sense of confidence that shows through to others, giving them a reason to have faith in your leadership. Being able to focus on yourself, and within yourself, will give you a sense of tranquility in every other area of life as well.

In our age of rapid change and massive disruption, it’s getting more difficult to stay focused. According to a 2015 study from Microsoft, the average human has an eight-second attention span—shorter than that of a goldfish, which averages a whopping nine seconds. Attention span was defined as “the amount of concentrated time on a task without becoming distracted.” Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (or about when the era of mobile communications began) the average attention span fell from 12 seconds to eight seconds. That number has declined over the years due to our digital connectedness and the fact that the brain is always looking for what’s new.

“Heavy multi-screeners find it difficult to filter out irrelevant stimuli—they’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of media,” the report read.

“The true scarce commodity” of the near future, added Satya Nadella, the chief executive officer of Microsoft, will be “human attention.”

It’s Not Just in Your Mind

Historically, we’ve thought of being focused as simply reducing distractions and mentally concentrating on a problem. Recent neuroscience research demonstrates it is more than simply keeping your mind on the problem. It involves your entire body, from your heart rate to the hormones that flood into your bloodstream during moments of stress. We admire the image of the cool sheriff in Western movies who stares down the bad guys and stays focused on his job while a bunch of guns are pointed at him, or the pro football quarterback who calmly surveys the field and throws a long pass while a group of huge defensive players are trying to flatten him. For these leaders, maintaining personal focus is a job for the entire body, not just the brain.

To stay focused during times of rapid innovation and massive disruption, consciously monitor what you’re thinking about. Be aware of your thoughts and physical responses without being judgmental. Strive to stay cool and calm even when events—external or internal—conspire to rattle you. And if you get into a hormone-surging “fight or flight” mode, take time to slow down and let your body return to its baseline level of relaxation.

And you may also want to introduce deliberate distractions—not to destroy your train of thought but to allow your brain to hit the reset button. There’s increasing evidence to suggest that due to natural variations in our cycle of alertness, we can concentrate for no longer than 90 minutes before needing a 15-minute break. Other studies have found that even a micro-break of a few seconds will work, provided it is a total distraction—in the studies, people did a few seconds of mental arithmetic, so you may have to do something more engaging than staring out of the window.

Sequential Multitasking

And guess what? Having a short attention span can benefit people who lead dynamic organizations because they’re required to be adept at sequential multitasking. This does not mean trying to do several things at once, but rather doing unrelated things or making decisions one after the other, in succession. The typical leader will spend anywhere from a few seconds to an hour focusing on a particular problem and making a decision before moving on to the next problem. Rendering one decision after another in quick succession requires sharp focus and the ability to quickly analyze a package of information, ask pertinent questions, and make the call. This is in contrast to, for example, someone working on an assembly line or a phone bank who spends eight hours a day doing the same task over and over again.

No matter how you do it, your ability to focus inwardly, keep your mind free of distractions, and deftly handle the succession of problems thrown your way is key to maintaining innovation leadership.