A lot is being said about the global ‘focus crisis’ and whether people are losing the ability to pay attention, but ultra-endurance swimmer Neil Agius argued that the issue should be reframed.
“Your nervous system isn’t broken; we’re just all optimised for meaning,” he said. The question isn’t ‘How do I fix my attention?’ It’s ‘Where does my attention come alive?’.”
Mr Agius said he discovered he meets the criteria for ADHD while preparing for his record-breaking seven-day, 271km swim around Gozo last summer.
The ‘Gozo 7’ challenge was intentionally designed as a live scientific experiment into how the human mind and body perform under extreme stress.
Working alongside the MOVE team, he underwent cognitive testing both before and after the swim.
Although the results indicated that he meets the criteria for ADHD, the study also found that his ability to focus actually improves significantly in purposeful and meaningful contexts, such as long-distance swimming.
“In the water I held perfect focus for 15 hours straight,” he said. “Tracking currents, monitoring my body, reading the environment around me.”
"The study’s conclusion was simple: in purposeful environments, the neurodivergent traits became an advantage. In the water, I entered flow and felt aligned with my purpose.”
