Attention!

Going into the New Year I, along with everyone else, am considering some of the ways I will improve myself going forward. But rather than soundboard some of the many ways we might improve — better diet, better sleep, less impulse shopping, that new exercise routine we’ve been putting off — I’ve decided to narrow down on a particular resource that is probably one of the most valuable resources we are already neglecting.

What if I told you that you are using this resource already? It is easier to modify an existing entity than it is to build one from scratch. This is one of the reasons Elon Musk bought Twitter and is in the process of transforming it into X, his long-running dream of an “everything app” he has had ever since his days at Paypal.

The main components determining the value of a resource are scarcity, quality, utility and impact. In the information age, attention is our most valuable resource.

What makes attention such a valuable resource is those four components.

Attention — in an active sense of the word — is probably more scarce than ever. In its place, passive attention runs rampant. Consider a hypothetical scenario where the average time spent on social media is 2.5 hours per day per person. According to global population estimates (around 8.1 billion), the collective daily attention spent on social media would be 19.75 billion hours or 2.25 million years. You are always paying attention, whether or not you are aware of it.

Information consumes attention. In the information age, attention is being exploited. Focused and targeted attention from you and me is a scarce commodity. This is because the majority of people are having their attention drawn by behavioural economic principles and social media algorithms. They ride your negative emotional responses with outrageous content and fix you with cheap dopamine hits through targeted advertising and impulse one-click buying online shopping.

“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”

Herbert A. Simon

The quality of our attention improves the more we assert active control over it. The reason for this is that with such an abundance of information, most data is not connected. But all of it is vying for our attention. As a result, if you don’t actively give or restrict your attention, paying it to any information crossing your path, the resulting information is essentially random noise.

Focused attention builds. Unfocused attention swamps. This is why when you restrict your attention to learning it is hard, but you develop. Whereas when you allow your attention to be taken by any undisciplined medium, you end up experiencing brain fog and a sense of discontent. Think about your latest doom-scroll session and how it left you feeling.

Things that are good for us are typically harder in the short term — diet, exercise, investing. Paying wilful attention improves the quality of attention because it builds up knowledge. Developing a mechanism for paying attention to specific information — e.g. health and nutrition — builds up specific knowledge.

Ordered information builds specific knowledge and Ordered information is gained through ordered attention

In both cases, you are “paying” attention. But in one case you are disciplined in your information diet and in the other case you are not.

This notion of attention discipline is a fundamental principle of success in more ways than one. It’s a formula you can apply to many arenas. Use as you wish.

Your attention has utility insofar as you can direct it and develop specific knowledge. Everyone pays attention, but not everyone directs it to building something. When you build, others watch with their attention. In the field of media and social media, attention may be thought of as a zero-sum game. There is a total number of users on any given platform. They can be divided into creators and consumers. creators compete for the attention of the consumers. Consumer attention is limited by the constraints of time and engagement. The user is on social media for a specific period during which they engage with content displayed to them. The engagement with content A subtracts from the engagement with content B. Welcome to the attention economy.

The notion of utility of attention is less a matter of “Is my attention useful?”, and more a matter of “Is my attention useful to me or someone else?”

I urge you to ask yourself this question. And listen to the answer.

The goal is to make your attention work for you and not someone else.

The more you use your attention consciously, and in a disciplined way, the better you will be able to direct your thinking. The more you direct your thinking, the more impact you will have on the world. Disciplined attention compounds.

Your attention is valuable. Make it more valuable for YOU.