Fighting for Your Attention

How long is your attention span?

According to a study from Microsoft Corp, human attention span (or at least the Canadians the study was done on) is only 8 seconds. This is down from 12 seconds in 2000 and a second less than that of a goldfish with an attention span of 9 seconds.

Our decreased ability to focus on any one thing is attributed to the effects of an increasingly digitalized lifestyle on the brain.

Gotta check my facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, work email, personal email, gotta new text :), second personal email...oh what’s on my latest Amazon prime video guide...wait...that show is now on Netflix? How do they always know what show to pick for me? Should I join snapchat? Oh haha...that is the funniest youtube video ever? Alert, ding, ding...my boss wants what? I have no clue what that is...let me google that...no way...Katy Perry did what?...and the fight for your attention is endless.

We have moved from an information economy to an attention economy. An overabundance of information has lead to a scarcity of attention.

According to some, the management of attention is now the single most important determinant of business success.

Our society has evolved (or devolved) into one where we are in a constant battle for people’s attention.

“We are moving from a world where computing power was scarce to a place where it now is almost limitless, and where the true scarce commodity is increasingly human attention”

-Satya Nadella

In addition to dwindling attention, the distractions and demands of our digital world are causing massive amounts of stress.

Maybe this is why mindfulness has exploded in the past few years.

Companies including Aetna, Keurig Green Mountain, Apple, Intel, Google, and General Mills have all built extensive programs to foster mindful practices among their employees.

If you’re not familiar with mindfulness, it’s defined by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn as, “paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgmentally.”

Want to try it out? Just sit quietly and focus on your breathing for two minutes. Take a deep breath through your nose, hold for a few seconds, let it out, repeat.

 When random thoughts pop in your head (what do I want for lunch today) simply acknowledge them (I can’t believe she said that to me...wtf) and bring your attention back to your breath. And that's it!

 Feeling more focused? Yes, it’s pretty amazing. You just reclaimed a little bit of your attention. Keep it up and you'll beat that gold fish!

Over the past decade, mindfulness has been used by companies, hospitals, law enforcement, and other high stress occupations to lower healthcare costs, improve employee focus and productivity, and help employees stay “on task”.

Other workplace benefits from mindfulness practices are improvements in innovative thinking, communication skills, and more appropriate reactions to stress.

Mindfulness practices include breathing techniques, yoga, meditation, tai-chi, and mental relaxation exercises.

And it’s no wonder...the corporate sector alone has over $300 billion (that’s not a typo) in losses due to stress-related absences and turnover.

The goal of implementing mindfulness practices for many companies is to enable an environment so that both employees and employers can better contribute to the well-being (physical, emotional, financial) of one another.

Feeling left out because your company doesn’t have a mindfulness program?

Well you’re in luck! I’ve created a 7-Day Mindfulness Challenge.

Get signed up and you’ll learn how mindfulness can help you have more appropriate reactions to stress, and increase your happiness, focus, attention, emotional intelligence, and more.

If you commit to doing the mindfulness practice each day...you’ll finish the week a different person and you’ll have the tools to improve every area of your life...and you'll be better than a gold fish at holding your attention.

 See you in the challenge.