As a guy who has done zazen (zen meditation) daily for the past 20 years, I think we have less control than you might think.
As said, I used to think we had more control, but I assume we have almost none these days. I think that we are also differently equipped naturally to handle these kinds of things, so what might work for some, will not work for all.
I also think that similarly, our ability to "pay attention" is going to be largely determined by things outside of our control. What if for example, the people who can successfully meditate, can only do so because there is a switch in them that allows it, whilst others are missing the switch? How to ever know?