Spring Vision: What Peripheral Awareness Teaches Us About Focus

Spring has officially arrived. The solstice has passed, the days are getting longer, and although there is still a chill in the air, it carries that unmistakable early taste of the summertime we look forward to. The sun lingers just a little longer in the sky, and there is a natural invitation to ease our focus, to widen it, even.

It got me thinking about how we see, and how we focus.

Peripheral Vision

I was working out with my personal trainer recently, and she brought up peripheral vision. Not in the abstract sense, but in the real, physical one: how our eyes work, how they track, and how we train them. She reminded me that we have muscles in our eyes, and they need attention just like the rest of our body. That got me curious.

Peripheral vision, in physical terms, means taking in what is happening beyond our central gaze. Not turning our heads but widening our field of view while still moving forward. It struck me how this physical idea mirrors the way we operate in our lives and work.

For most of us, especially for high-performing executives and leaders, our days are built around productivity and deep focus. I have taught productivity to executives for years. The playbook encourages eliminating distractions, narrowing your to-do list, and managing your energy. And that works… for a while.

Practice a Wider View

But something shifted during the pandemic. Isolation demanded a different kind of focus. For me, it narrowed my life significantly. As a naturally social person, I had to find creative ways to meet those social needs from within the confines of my own home. Like many of you, I turned to Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, tools that, while not ideal, kept us connected.

Now, post-pandemic and entering this new season, it is time to start practicing a wider view again. Not just of our work, but of our lives.

We have grown dependent on tools that tell us what is coming, alerts, proximity sensors, strategic plans. And while those help, they can make us lazy, too. We lose the practice of simply noticing. Seeing the side streets. Picking up on the signals. Taking in the whole picture.

So, here is my spring invitation to you:

What does it look like to widen your view, right now? Not to change direction, but to expand awareness.

Maybe it’s reconnecting with people you haven’t spoken to in a while. Maybe it’s revisiting an idea or goal that’s been sitting at the edge of your vision. Maybe its simply spending time looking at what is around you, without needing it to be productive.

Peripheral vision isn’t just a physical habit, it’s a mindset. And spring is the perfect time to practice both.