They create an environment that undermines focus.
Some critics a little way removed from Murray's circumstances suggested fatherhood might undermine his focus.
Introducing democracy now, they feel, would undermine the focus of the Coalition Authority and the Governing Council, whose members would naturally be consumed by elections and constitutional deliberations.
In recounting her adventures, she provides a steady narrative of her thoughts, making it plain just how easy it is for someone with her experience to let doubts, fears and gathering impatience undermine her focus.
They will have to do this over a sustained period of time and will have to ensure that their actions elsewhere or on different policy agendas do not undermine this focus and Olympic legacy objectives.
"His connections to the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries threaten to undermine the focus we need to see on renewables and energy efficiency," said Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
Sleep deprivation undermines focus, creativity, motivation and judgment, and leads to a wide range of emotional disturbances including volatility, impulsivity and depression.
Thereafter, as special adviser, she had to contend with the churn of education secretaries which undermined departmental focus amid competing demands.
There has been a history of tinkering with the Asian Network that has undermined its focus and led to a lack of morale, but just at the point where it has the strongest daytime line-up it has ever had – and is looking forward to re-engaging with, and increasing, its audience by providing a unique service – yet again the corporation seems to want to move the goalposts.
"What matters is the question of educational benefit, yet it appears that this report is undermining that focus and I have no doubt this will be a matter of great concern to parents and teachers across Scotland".
For one thing, the references to elucidations deferred, as in "As we'll see" and "what I'll soon call," which we encounter dozens of times in The Poem, blur our focus, undermine our confidence, and dampen our spirit.
