Years ago I designed a thought experiment: what if one day was not 24 hours but 50? And we still had the same responsibilities meaning they would take us the same amount of time to take care of? Maybe we would have more time to do more stuff. But we would probably waste more.

This is exactly what happens today: overall the standard of living is higher than it ever was. If you’re not sure, just remember that 200 years ago there was no anesthesia. So, if you needed an operation, it was a nightmare. Refrigeration, running water, heating, even internet - that is all common today and we take it for granted. What most of these things do is soften our lives - making it easier and less time-consuming for us to do anything. Basically, we get the equivalent of 50-hour days in our 24 hours, even more. No king or wealth hoarder of the past could’ve thought about travelling to the other continent in a day, today it is available to most of regular people.

But what do we do with our lives? Immortality is unachievable, at least for now, so death will still equalise us all. What about daily life? Today, you don’t have to thrive to survive. Thriving is for goal-driven at least, for meaning-owning at best.

We came closer to being gods and our focused attention is what making things grow. We have more free time on our hands than ever but we give away our attention instead of turning it inward to make ourselves grow individually or giving it to people and things we love.

When you grab your smartphone, turn on the TV or PC monitor you’re making love to it with your attention. For the same reason so much work is digitised now - so you pay attention to it away from your family.

Focused attention is your only resource that you really have. You can use it responsibly or you can waste it - the choice is yours. Don’t forget that it’s valuable, so other people are out to get it the easiest way they can.

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