This is a shorter sequel to the first article on attention. Read it first. It is better written and has more practical ideas. This sequel is shorter and inspired by my friends, Rebecca and Rish, who read the article, discussed it with me, and built on the ideas. Since you’ve now read the first article, you can enjoy these brief nuggets.
Attention is Caring
Attention and caring are tightly coupled. Paying a lot of attention can be costly. We tend to get tired of giving a singular thing our attention for too long. For instance, as youtube increases the length of ads on videos, it feels more painful to sit through. Why? We don’t care about the ads. But in a movie theatre, we care about the storyline, so we are captivated.
We pay money to GIVE movies our attention
My previous article painted attention as a scarce commodity that is hard to obtain. So why would we pay to give it away? Well, sometimes, it’s worth it. I think the full definition of art and quality includes ‘worthy of attention’. When a story is told in a compelling way, as in movies, or when a product is designed so alluringly, we will even pay not just our attention to it, but our money as well.
We PAY Attention
In case you need to hear it one more time, attention is a valuable resource. If I am in debt, there are ways to settle the debt by paying attention. This sounds a lot like ads. You get this show, video, or platform, without paying money but you can settle the debt by paying attention to ads. I wonder if realizing the value of our attention will lead to the emergence of social platforms where we pay with money because our attention is too precious.
Distractions are not just side attractions
A long time ago, I wrote about distractions being attractions that are less important than your most important goals. So they are secondary or side attractions. If you are trying to study or work and you spend half an hour on Instagram, the problem is not that social media is bad. The problem is that a secondary priority is getting your attention, instead of your main priority.
Distractions are bad/unprofitable allocations of attention.
Relationships are special because of how much attention we give
Remember that attention is caring. There is something endearing about implicitly forgoing other possible connections and relationships with others in order to pay attention to a relationship with a friend or partner. For instance, instead of spending your time on any number of other interests, you choose to think about and purchase a gift for a friend.
What Attention tells us about becoming a master/expert
The central bone of contention: understanding how masters at a skill or experts in a field utilize/spend attention. I think the key here is not just paying more attention, but paying attention to the right aspects of the skill. According to principles from Design of Everyday Things, experts are experts because they have learned to automate a lot of their processes. So they spend time thinking about the most important aspects.
Experts pay attention to the right details.
Experts also pay more attention to their field
I discussed this idea further with my two friends. Our conversation from having a limited attention capacity led to questioning the net benefit of having very few priorities. Albert Einstein was our example of someone with laser focus in one field with impressive results. But choosing Einstein is irrelevant as long as you can choose and define a metric of success. It always seems that experts are ruthless at pouring their limited attention into their subjects of expertise. True polymaths, people who achieve highly in multiple fields, seem to be rarer to find recently.
In other news, Sir Richard Branson goes to space
I obviously do not know as much as billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, otherwise, I would also make some big money. Even so, this is my understanding of Richard Branson announcing to fly to space, 9 days before Bezos’ Blue Origin. It seems like unnecessary petty one-upping between billionaires.
One-upping? Yes. Petty? Arguable. I have mentioned the quote “A person dies two deaths. One when they physically die, and the other the last time their name is ever spoken.” I think the second death is the death of legacy. Since we all try to perpetuate our existence, Branson also wants to extend his legacy. Who do you think is likely to be remembered as a pioneer of mass space tourism especially if Virgin Galactic is even a bit successful?
Reading helps give attention to the right ideas
It feels apt to end this with the only practical idea. Read more. Read what you are interested in. There are a lot of words in most books. Reading all of those words means your brain pays more attention to the subject matter. In a fiction book, you become more immersed in the story than in a 1-minute Instagram story. In a non-fiction book, you retain and apply the ideas better. This concept is not truly limited to reading. Universities, courses, and immersion in a foreign language by living in a relevant country, can all help give attention to the right ideas.
PS: I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing and content. Don't hesitate to comment or contact me.