Reject the Mainstream Of Busyness And You Have A Happier Life
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How you can refuse the trap of the attention economy
Our attention is getting hijacked on a daily basis. It gets abused and those who abuse it look forward to the next day, when they can do it all over again.
Every day our attention is challenged. The news, colleagues, social media — they all want to steal your attention. Are you the kind of person who gives it away carelessly and willingly?
The abuse of your attention
“Never before in history have a handful of technology designers working at three tech companies influenced how a billion people spend their attention.” — Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google, founder of the Center for Humane Technology.
Every day your energy is siphoned off to where it flashes and shouts and where breaking news, crises or tempting offers eat away at your attention.
With all kinds of tricks, marketing and media departments try to help themselves to your reservoir of attention. Every day.
Refuse to reward the seducers
Refuse to reward anyone or anything for using seductive distractions to get your attention.
“Everyone gets 24 hours of fresh attention, refilled daily. But if we continue to abuse it, we won’t be able to see with fresh eyes and appreciate what’s been there all along”, writes Seth Godin.
Paying attention takes effort. Focusing your daily attention only on what’s worth it is tedious. But the effort is worth it.
Energy flows where attention goes.
Here is why you find it hard to stand up for your precious skill attention
You are too lazy
Instead of dealing with a problem, spending the time and attention to understand it and to find a solution, we defer to the opinions of others because it is quicker and easier to seek someone’s advice in a difficult or complex situation.
It is more convenient to transfer the responsibility for our own actions to someone else.
