Paying Attention to Your Attention

Merlin Mann tells us, while writing about the pause button sadly unavailable to us during this beta phase of the internets,

You are busy. You have many demands on your time and attention. Never, under any conditions, hesitate to ignore anyone or anything that’s not making good use of your attention. Ever.

This is a good reminder of course, and Merlin’s writing these words within the context of his site, a site about personal productivity and life hacks. So his emphasis would naturally be on the busy, attention sucking aspects of your life. You’re a busy person, be selective and judicious with your attention, and don’t make apologies if placing a high value on your time results in particular people, places and things getting the ax from your daily set list.

Seeing as how the context on this site is all of the above, or something, I would modify Merlin’s helpful advice to the following, not in replace of, but as an appenduim to.

You are not particularly busy. You have few, if any, meaningful demands on your time and attention. Never, under any conditions, hesitate to ignore anyone or anything that’s not making good use of your attention. Ever.

Whether you’re locked in an unholy battle with a seventy hour work week, or sipping effete cocktails on a Caribbean beach, be mindful of where your attention wanders. This is easier to do if you seek to reduce the mind chatter constantly raging inside your thought temple, and, while I’m no expert, I’ve found the best way to focus my attention is by meditating regularly.

But this is me. If jumping naked on a trampoline whacked on red star acid helps ease the burden of a chaotic world, and results in a lightly starched focus, then that is what you should do. Ultimately — busy, lazy, indifferent, or hyper-productive — making adjustments to how you perceive and play with the world around you is easier than mud wrestling fluid and ill-tempered external circumstances into a begrudging tie.

August 27 2008 09:47:16 AM EDT