Focus & Attention
Anything and everything related to focus and attention while living in an era characterized by the shortest attention spans
Focus & Attention
“Clarity isn’t about knowing what you want to do with your life, it’s about knowing what you want to do this week.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step.”
You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step.”
James Clear • 3-2-1: How to be great, the power of cold emails, and the dangers of working late
Clarity
Perhaps that is why so many of us have half-done tasks on our to-do lists and half-read books on our bedside tables, scroll through Instagram while simultaneously semi-watching Netflix, and swipe between apps and tabs endlessly, from when we first open our eyes until we finally fall asleep. One uncomfortable explanation for why so many aspects of
... See moreCasey Cep • What Monks Can Teach Us About Paying Attention
The fastest growing sector of the culture economy is distraction . Or call it scrolling or swiping or wasting time or whatever you want. But it’s not art or entertainment, just ceaseless activity.
The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.
The key is that each stimulus only lasts a few seconds, and must be repeated.
Ted Gioia • The State of the Culture, 2024
Chamath on the importance of slow compounding:
“The faster you build it, that is the half life: it will get destroyed in the same amount of time.”
Things tend to come and go, tip to one side and then the other, tide out and back in, grow and then rot, get created and destroyed, at the same speed.
We’ve all heard the saying about an idle mind, but its true meaning often eludes us. An idle mind is not necessarily indicative of an empty calendar or a lack of to-dos. An idle mind is one that is unaware of its attention’s whereabouts and is incapable of redirecting it
Jen Hitze • Attention, Distraction, and Your Responsibility
Idle mind
Our entire existence is shaped by the orientation of our attention. Each day unfolds as a culmination of the things we choose to focus on from when we wake up until we fall asleep.
Jen Hitze • Attention, Distraction, and Your Responsibility
What we choose to focus on
Philosophers have been worrying about distraction at least since the time of the ancient Greeks, who saw it less as a matter of external interruptions and more as a question of character—a systematic inner failure to use one’s time on what one claimed to value the most. Their reason for treating distraction so seriously was straightforward, and... See more