For a Better Life 2 Areas Require Growth

I acknowledge I have plenty of room for growth in multiple areas. I realize even with my consistent and persistent drive for personal development, the more I know, the more I know I don’t know.

I believe every one of us have room for improvement in more than one area of life.

I want to share two areas for growth I believe are absolutely necessary for your future success, for a better life, and especially, for your children and grandchildren’s future lives.

If you commit to growing (increasing) in these two areas of life, you will be a role model for your children and grandchildren that will create enormous advantages for them as they obtain their education and move on into adulthood.

The first area to focus on for more success and a better life, is to increase (grow) your attention span. This is critical. Right before your very eyes, without intentional awareness, your focus, and the focus of everyone around you is being stolen.

Every advertiser, every business, is seeking your attention. You see on average 2,000 ads per day. Before the internet, you had to seek out information. Today, information is seeking you out. Information is coming to you so fast; you literally have to block it out to keep from going insane. You can’t pump gas without seeing commercials on the pump. If you don’t limit the notifications on your phone, it would never stop beeping.

TED Talks are limited to 18 minutes in length. Based on neuroscience, TED organizers understand that 18 minutes is short enough for listeners to take in, digest, and understand the information.

Back in mid- 2021, internal data from TikTok identified the “optimal TikTok” length was 11 to 17 seconds. However, by the end of 2021, the length of TikTok videos had increased to 24 to 31 seconds. A TikTok survey found users felt videos longer than one minute were stressful!

If you look at Facebook posts, individuals get more likes from posting a picture of what they had for dinner than a post with useful, meaningful, written words.

The average professional checks emails 15 times a day or every 37 minutes. Do you think this doesn’t interrupt focus and productivity? There are over 347 billion emails sent every day! These numbers continue to increase.

Text messaging statistics are even more staggering. Adults under 45 years send and receive more than 85 texts daily (approximately). An average consumer sends 3 text messages per hour, or 72 messages per day.

When you see people walking around or eating a meal, their eyes are glued to their phones. There is minimal focus on their surroundings.

If you ask any schoolteacher today what their biggest challenge is, they will tell you it is getting the children to focus. By the time a child enters a classroom, the non-stop action, bright colors, and loud noises from video games, has turned the quiet classroom into a boring place to be.

If you want to stand out at work, increase your productivity. The best way to do this is through your ability to focus and complete one task at a time. It’s better to complete one task than to start multiple tasks.

The second area to grow, and this will help with your attention span as well, is the area of patience. This is an area I know I must continually strive for improvement. A lack of patience is a two-edged sword. Impatience can cause you (and those around you) to work faster and harder to achieve something. Impatience can cause you to reject mediocre outcomes. However, the downsides to impatience are countless.

The lack of patience can create anger, which will affect your ability to focus and respond. These are especially dangerous when you are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.

The lack of patience can prevent the time it takes to develop your attention span, or the attention span of others. Just this weekend, while at the park with my grandson, it was enjoyable watching him admire the work of ants as they worked in unison to pull popcorn kernels down into their farms. It was discouraging to see parents hurrying their children along, when they were stopping to observe flowers, rocks, and other things that peaked their interests. As the parents were in a rush, they were teaching their children not to spend too much time on things of interest. These poor, unintentional habit creating moments will come back to haunt them as their children enter the classroom.

When we can increase our patience, we give ourselves time to focus on more things. This will increase our attention span.

I encourage you to look around. Notice the short attention span of others. While initially frightening to realize, it also lets you know, with a small increase in your own attention span, and that of your children, you will have a huge advantage in life.

Remember, there is greatness within you. You have to choose greatness. It won’t develop on its own. I believe in you!

“The #1 Skill for the 21st Century is the ability to focus.”

Take Action Today!

If you would like assistance with increasing your attention span and patience, I can help you. We can meet by phone, through Zoom, or at a mutually convenient location. Whether you choose me or someone else, a coach will expedite your results. All change is best supported through consistent guidance and practice.

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I always look forward to your thoughts and replies.

Published by Bryan M. Balch, Results Coach

Helping Individuals and Businesses Achieve Desired Results