I recently volunteered at a Farmer’s market during a Juneteenth event. It felt fulfilling to contribute in a small but meaningful way. However, I was struck by the hundreds of people that showed up. Well, I realized that it wasn’t their presence that was impressive. (Try New York city pre-covid for a large crowd). Rather, it was the attention of many people that attracted vendors to this event. Attention is a terribly scarce and valuable resource! We pay attention to conversations with friends we care about. Good leaders listen to their people. Entrepreneurs give their businesses all the attention they can. Yet, we seem to be less attentive these days. Why?
Paying attention has gotten more expensive
In 2011, Americans took in five times as much information every day as they did in 1986, according to research by Information Scientists
We haven’t suddenly lost our capacity to pay attention: we are still drawn into a thrilling movie or enlightening conversation. Rather there are many more things asking for our attention these days. We have the same attention budget, but more things to consider buying. At every turn, something ‘needs’ our attention. It could be the notification that popped up while you were reading this. Or the microwave is done and beeping. Or it could be an ad on Instagram. It’s even likely that these are happening simultaneously. Our attention is fragmented so discreetly that few of us can remember working uninterrupted for more than an hour without checking our phones. Controlling what gets or deserves our attention is so critical. Before we get into how we control our attention, here are two reasons why it is critical to do so.
What gets attention gets traction
A slide on an Instagram post from @foundr
What I find most annoying about ads is paying attention to them when they don’t align with my goals. There is a lot in that sentence to break down. What do I mean by ‘align with my goals’? I have a momentary goal and a long-term goal. My momentary goal might be to watch a TV show with friends or catch up on my favorite youtube channel. My goal is not to view an ad for a daily journal (what Instagram thinks I’m into now). Long-term, my goal is to minimize expenses, and even then, only purchase ‘necessary’ things. Just because I looked up an Oculus Quest 2 headset once does not mean I want to buy one.
You might think: ‘Well you don’t have to buy it just because you get an ad for it’. I think this thinking is flawed and naive. Why? What gets attention gets traction! I read a quote along the lines of:
“We do not pay attention to what is important, but we assign importance to what we pay attention to”
So if I am in any way compelled to pay attention to an ad or idea, it appears more important than it is. This effect is squarely out of our control. We can control what gets our attention but once something has our attention we can’t control the increase in importance. Think about this: The only way an idea can truly die is through a lack of attention. Here’s yet another quote I can’t accurately verify the source: “A person dies two deaths. One when they physically die, and the other the last time their name is ever spoken.” In other words, ideas and people become irrelevant when no one pays attention to them.
We are what we pay attention to
This second reason might sound extreme, but attention truly influences our identity. Regarding who we are, there is extensive debate among contemporary psychology experts on Nature vs Nurture. Like many questions in this discipline, the answer is that it's complicated and a mix of both. Part of who we are depends on things predetermined at birth such as our genes (Nature). However, part of who we are also depends on the experiences we have (Nurture). In fact, I think it is not just the experiences we have that influences who we are, but more specifically the experiences we pay attention to.
I will buttress this point by explaining the Baader-Meinhof effect which we have all experienced. If you haven’t heard of it, like I hadn’t, relax in your chair and enjoy this fascinating idea:
“It is when your awareness of something increases. This leads you to believe it’s actually happening more, even if that’s not the case.”
You buy a cool green case for your phone, and all of a sudden, you notice green phone cases everywhere. You read a book about design and then you can’t stop seeing good and bad designs here and there. Even while I compiled this post, I began finding content on Attention seemingly everywhere. Giving an idea more attention can evoke this effect of noticing the idea more frequently, so you think more about it. From there it’s clear that what you think influences who you are.
So we know that many things clamor for our attention and that the Baader-Meinhof effect will accelerate the perceived importance of what we give attention to. This turns out to influence who we are. How do we, therefore, control our attention and who we become?
Prioritize and focus
I have heard the dictum that time is our most valuable asset, too many times to count. Even so, I think attention is more valuable. Attention involves not just time, but how that time is spent, along with limited brainpower. How many people do you think paid attention from the first word of this post to this last word? Did you catch all the words and letters in between? You’re not supposed to.
Image credit: Science alert
See, we don’t have infinite attention, so our brain subconsciously filters information and chooses what we pay attention to. We just need to do this more consciously too!
This is so important that this article claims “Successful people—or those who can afford it—employ layers of other people whose job it is to narrow their own attentional filters.” You need to define what things are important to you and pay attention to them. Prioritization is a critical key in this age of information overload. So I am resolving to pay more attention to ideas, work, people, and topics that I care about. I choose to focus on my writing. I choose to say no to invites to places I don’t want to go or with people I dislike. That’s the thing: we can all choose, and we need to choose. What do you choose to get more of your attention going forward and what will get less of your attention?