it is an endless task perhaps.
It is. I eventually gave up. It's impressive how many can be added, and there is always the next one, the one that's counting, the one that's thinking about counting... Quite endless. That's why focusing is so hard maybe, because one has to align all those possible thoughts on to one topic.
Perhaps the difference is how far we can push our thoughts into the future to predict events, or hold at one time to spur action in the moment?
Probably, yes. Maybe it's also being aware of that we're thinking?