# ✅ Checkpoint: Attention Foundations

By Better Wise



## Quiz

1. Which statement best describes attention residue?
   - The slow warm-up at the start of a focus session.
   - The physical tiredness you feel after a long focus session.
   - The ability to hold two tasks in parallel without losing quality.
   - The carryover of attention onto a previous task while you are supposedly working on a new one.
2. You get a one-minute message while writing a report. Based on the lesson, what is a realistic return cost?
   - No cost, as long as you reply quickly.
   - About one minute, the same as the interruption.
   - A few seconds, because the message was short.
   - About 10 to 20 minutes to fully return to depth.
3. The shortcut that says a distraction taking more than about ____ seconds to reach is often skipped is called the 20-second rule.
4. Which change best follows the two levers of environment design?
   - Put the phone in another room and keep the working document open in front of you.
   - Redesign your whole workspace in one weekend.
   - Rely on willpower to ignore the phone when it buzzes.
   - Keep the phone face down on the desk during focus blocks.
5. Which notification source belongs in Tier 1 (live)?
   - An on-call page where a 30-minute delay would cause real harm.
   - A product update newsletter.
   - A social media activity digest.
   - A routine work message from a teammate.
6. A complete notification rule states the trigger, the channel, and the committed ____ time.
7. What is the escape hatch when you get genuinely stuck during an AI-free thinking period?
   - End the block and check your messages.
   - Search for an answer summary and continue.
   - Write the question down and leave it for later.
   - Open a chat window briefly to unblock yourself.
8. Draft your one-page notification policy and one daily AI-free thinking block. Then evaluate your draft against the criteria below.


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## Contents

Part of [🎯 Deep Work: Build Focus in a World Full of Distractions](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions.md)

- **🧠 Attention Foundations and a Distraction-Resistant Setup**
  - [🔍 Sustained Attention and Attention Residue](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/sustained-attention-and-attention-residue.md)
  - [🏠 Designing a Distraction-Resistant Environment](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/designing-a-distraction-resistant-environment.md) (sign-in required)
  - [🔕 Notification Rules and AI-Free Thinking Periods](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/notification-rules-and-ai-free-thinking-periods.md)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Attention Foundations](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/checkpoint-attention-foundations.md) — this lesson
- **⏱️ Deep Work Routines, Focus Sessions, and Measurable Experiments**
  - [🗓️ Time Blocking and Focus Session Design](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/time-blocking-and-focus-session-design.md)
  - [🌿 Breaks, Recovery, and Attention Hygiene](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/breaks-recovery-and-attention-hygiene.md)
  - [📓 Focus Journal and Attention Experiments](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/focus-journal-and-attention-experiments.md)
  - [🚀 Project: Build Your Two-Week Deep Work Routine](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/project-two-week-deep-work-routine.md) (premium content)
  - [✅ Checkpoint: Deep Work Routines and Experiments](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/checkpoint-deep-work-routines-and-experiments.md) (premium content)
- [Course cheatsheet](https://everwise.study/courses/deep-work-build-focus-in-a-world-full-of-distractions/cheatsheet.md) (premium content)