To Control Your Life, Control What You Pay Attention To

Today's blog post is based on an article from Harvard Business Review:

One of the best insights on what true productivity means in the 21st century dates back to 1890. In his book The Principles of Psychology, Vol.1, William James wrote a simple statement that’s packed with meaning: “My experience is what I agree to attend to.” 

Your attention determines the experiences you have, and the experiences you have determine the life you live. Or said another way: you must control your attention to control your life. Today, in a world where so many experiences are blended together — where we can work from home (or a train or a plane or a beach), watch our kids on a nanny-cam from work, and distraction is always just a thumb-swipe away — has that ever been more true?

How can we control what we pay attention to?

Attention Management

To be consistently productive and manage stress better, we must strengthen our skill in attention management. 

Attention management is the practice of controlling distractions, being present in the moment, finding flow, and maximizing focus, so that you can unleash your genius. It’s about being intentional instead of reactive. It is the ability to recognize when your attention is being stolen (or has the potential to be stolen) and to instead keep it focused on the activities you choose. Rather than allowing distractions to derail you, you choose where you direct your attention at any given moment, based on an understanding of your priorities and goals. 

Better attention management leads to improved productivity, but it’s about much more than checking things off a to-do list. The ultimate result is the ability to create a life of choice, around things that are important to you. It’s more than just exercising focus. It’s about taking back control over your time and your priorities.

The article then goes on to talk about the things that you can control, both external and internal distractions:

• Control your technology. 
• Control your environment.

Sometimes the internal distractions are the hardest to control:

• Control your behavior. 
• Control your thoughts.

Controlling your behavior ties in with calendar mapping, which I wrote about here. And I've read that about 87% of the things we see and hear are negative, so we really need to pay attention to what we feed our brains.

Practicing attention management will not eliminate distractions from your day. But as you start to recognize when you become distracted, and build your “attention muscle” through habits like those above, you’ll start to reclaim your life and devote more of yourself to what’s really important to you. Don’t allow distraction to derail your aspirations and intentions. Instead, control your attention to control your life.

Be sure to read the article for a more in-depth discussion on controlling what you pay attention to.

Interesting days

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Week long celebrations:

Jul 18 - Jul 26: Moth Week