closely gaurded count

[monkeyking]

I came back last year from being gone for about 4 years. The rule that took my eyes off the other players was the closely gaurded count. I would see other officials doing it and would ask them "Can you see the other players in your area while you count?" Half of them would say "Kinda" and others would say "not really". I would like to know if I should use periferal vision to watch the closely gaurded and still see the other players, and also how long before I start the closely gaurded count?(If you could add up all the time that you are counting through an entire game it would probably equal around 2000+!)