take back control of your attention
Because attention is scarce, it is valuable. Every media organization — big or small, reputable or untrustworthy — is using every tactic at hand to engage us.
They need our attention to sell ads and subscriptions, to create value for their brands so we will become loyal consumers of their products.
They need our attention to sell ads and subscriptions, to create value for their brands so we will become loyal consumers of their products.
We’ve been given no shortage of digital tools that should, in theory, help us work better, with more focus and efficiency, and connect us more easily with our colleagues. Instead, email, instant messaging, remote-meeting apps, work-flow and project-management software and so on can feel like so many buckets with holes in the bottom, maddeningly in
... See moreCal Newport • The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down - The New York Times
Epictetus’ father says that to be great, we first have to focus on “the empire between our ears.” He’s referring to our thoughts, our emotions, our urges, our desires, our fears...our own choices.
Rule The Empire Between Your Ears
The act of focusing our attention on a single thing (or at least attempting to do so) reveals to us how distracted we’ve been all along.
Allison Fallon • The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life
A few years ago, drowning in email, I successfully implemented the system known as Inbox Zero, but I soon discovered that when you get tremendously efficient at answering email, all that happens is that you get much more email. Oliver Burkeman
Your attention is valuable and helps to create your experience of life.
Dr Julie Smith • Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?: The Sunday Times bestseller, with over 1 million copies sold
People who experience flow describe it as “a state of effortless concentration so deep that they lose their sense of time, of themselves, of their problems,” and their descriptions of the joy of that state are so compelling that Csikszentmihalyi has called it an “optimal experience.” Many activities can induce a sense of flow, from painting to raci
... See moreDaniel Kahneman • Thinking, Fast and Slow
When we are grieving record stores, mixtapes, old-school romance, and friends goofing around in ‘90s high schools, what are we actually grieving? Delayed gratification. Deeper connection. Play and fun. Risk and thrill. Life with less obsessive self-scrutiny. These are things we can reclaim—if we remember what they are worth and roll back the phone-... See more