NO compromise on your Attention Currency

We live in the world of information overload age. We are constantly bombarded with a huge flood of information, the moment we wake up till we go back to the bed. The information is bombarded from many different sources such as mobile, laptop, SMS, whatsapp, Facebook, LinkedIn etc.

Value of the information: Clearly, most of the information exchange tools such as whasapp, Facebook come free of cost. But, in return, they take our attention and make money out of our attention. The apps or platforms that trigger people to visit very often to their platforms make the most money. In other words, we are selling our attention in order to get the free apps/software platform.

Since, the platforms come at no cost; we tend to send information mindlessly. The value that we attach to the exchanged information between people diminishes. Simple examples are those forwarded messages. The information overload is due to the mindless means of transacting the message without giving due consideration to the human value of those at the receiving end.

Consider the amount of messages that you receive and the amount of knowledge /result that you have achieved on a given day. Except with few exceptions, most of the days are spent in reading or transacting the accidental messages.

Research : Consider a simple whatsapp message such as, “can you tell me your availability?”. This seemingly insignificant distraction causes you to deviate from your focussed activity and takes 23 minutes before getting you back to the same intensity of work of your focussed activity. One develops a self-interrupt habit as he is continuously bombarded with such distractions over days, weeks, months & years. Self-interrupt is a habit where one is compelled to interrupt himself in the middle of his focussed activity and do something irrelevant such as checking email, SMS before proceeding to his regular activity.

Attention: With the distractions mentioned above, we have lost our ability to focus and stay attentive with our work. We have now something called ADT (Attention Deficit Trait), a kind of disease common to the entire human mankind. Attention is our ability to focus on a particular task & it is a real currency in this given adverse situation. This currency of yours is taken by others.

So, if you feel that you are all over the place then it is good to check and see where you spent your energy throughout the day. If you are attentive on the activities that are not inline to what that really matters to you in life then it is good to make a conscious choice to train the mind to stay focussed.

Technique: A simple technique of spending 5 minutes of your day on focussing on your breath helps to train your prefrontal cortex and enhances your ability to stay attentive. Simply, observe the rise and fall of your breath and feel the natural rhythm of your breath. Discard the distractions caused by the internal/external world of yours and develop the habit to stay focussed. This simple technique helps the brain to become attentive.

Remember attention is your currency to have a clear thought process as well as your overall wellbeing & do not compromise this skill in this information overload age.