Focus on one thing may not be a good thing

From Harvard magazine: "Scarcity steals mental capacity wherever it occurs — from the hungry, to the lonely, to the time-strapped, to the poor. That's a phenomenon well-documented by psychologists: if the mind is focused on one thing, other abilities and skills — attention, self-control, and long-term planning — often suffer. Like a computer running multiple programs … our mental processors begin to slow down. We don't lose any inherent capacities, just the ability to access the full complement ordinarily available for use. …"