Advance Your Attention
Our attention spans are disappearing. I’m not sure it’s much of a span anymore, actually — it’s more of a temporary flash. As a culture, most of us have given away our ability to focus and be present for the ever-demanding needs of our own lives. We’ve chosen the urgent instead of the priorities. Our lives are an accumulation of urgencies, not of focus.
There’s a host of wrongs when it comes to analyzing our lack of presence in the world. We are less loving, less patient, less hardworking, and ultimately less human. We have all likely experienced the loving feeling of having someone being fully present with us, where their thoughts, emotions, and attention is in the moment. It’s incredibly beautiful. But when we allow our attention spans to decrease, we cannot achieve that. We cannot experience that beauty.
Perhaps one of the most daunting antagonists in the search for our attention is the use of technology. All technology, really, but most specifically the digital age. Our attention is being hacked away by the phones, devices, and media that so often controls the very time we spend each day. In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer says, “Your phone doesn’t actually work for you…You’re not the customer; you’re the product. It’s your attention for sale, along with your peace of mind.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of being someone’s product. Yet that is what most of us are willingly giving our lives away to when our attention becomes focused on a screen.
There’s plenty of well-researched books and articles on the effect of the digital age. It’s clearly working against in many ways, just as it has advanced many other aspects of our society. You can take the liberty to read into it. There’s no doubt that technology is always a two-sided coin. What is unfortunate is that most of the focus is on the good of it all, while we should always take the time to evaluate who (or what) is taking control of our time.
Just think about how you spend your time. Are you hurried, rushed, and end chunks of your day wondering where the time went? Now, think about your life years ago. Before technology was as invasive in your life, if there ever was a time. I remember being able to read — uninterrupted -for hours at a time. I remember being able to focus on a three-hour movie because my attention was solely enwrapped in it. I remember being able to be around people and do nothing else but talk, instead of having to get up and move like I do now. Let your past be a window to your future. I don’t mean to romanticize your history, but to think of the ways you might have let your attention fall by the wayside, and to dream of the attention you can so capably advance.
You are able to improve your attention, not just because you will feel more alive, but because you will be more alive to other people. Think about how when your attention is compromised, you cannot observe or listen as deeply. Then think of a time you were fully in the moment, and how you were able to observe what was around you, listen to people, and feel the emotions of a room or environment. That’s what your attention can do. It’s what your presence can experience and influence.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider a few small steps:
1. Put your phone on silent in the other room. Do this for an hour, an evening, or even an entire day. Notice what you can focus on when you remove the distraction of technology and do something that does not require a screen.
2. Reduce your to-do list. Find some margin in your life where you are not doing and just being. You probably have too much on your list, especially if you are an achiever, and doing so will help reduce the amount of urgency in your life. Start finding more time to rest and be, not do.
3. Find a singular hobby. Choose a task and be fully present while you do it. Put away all distractions and simply experience what it’s like to do that without anything else. You can read, quilt, build leather, write stories, run or play music. Whatever it is, just focus on it.
Dream of where you can be, and who you can be when you are fully there. Maybe what this world needs is not more skills or bucket lists, but simply people who are learning to become more focused, present people. People who are willing to advance their attention.
