The un-scalability of reacting to demand

In our world, where technology plays a primary role on stage, notifications are everywhere. We're constantly bombarded by them, masquerading themselves as important and even urgent sometimes.

There are plenty of situations where reacting to the demand, moment, or circumstance is useful and necessary. An important last-minute meeting at work. A call that someone close to you was in an accident and needs your support. A call from your health provider telling you there's an opening today for an appointment you've been waiting for. One of your kids getting hurt playing in the backyard. 

These require our immediate attention and action. They fall in the "Do" quadrant of the Eisenhower Matrix. They are urgent (time-sensitive) and important.

Our attention is a very precious resource. We can only honestly give it to one thing at a time and have a limited amount we can spend every day before reaching a point of saturation.

We have a choice in how we spend our attention. We can spend it effectively in areas that align with our values and drive us forward in our careers and goals. We can also spend it foolishly; when we do, we are left with less for our goals, interests, families, friends, hobbies, work, etc.

We currently live in an attention-based economy, where money-hungry organizations are targeting our attention. Their purpose is to find ways to capture our attention and keep it for as long as they possibly can. To name a few, these include Facebook, Netflix, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube; their success depends on us spending our attention within their service. Without it, they wouldn't exist.

None of this is either good or bad; it's simply the reality we live in today. It brings into focus the importance of managing our time and energy. A significant component of that is how we choose to manage our attention.

In our world, where technology plays a primary role on stage, notifications are everywhere. We're constantly bombarded by them, masquerading themselves as important and even urgent sometimes.

In such a world, it's easy to forget about what is truly important and urgent, so we start treating all these demands as such. When we do, we slowly move toward feeling and being busy but unproductive. And even sometimes, we begin to feel overwhelmed, thinking we don't have what it takes to attend to all these demands.

The more we let these attention-hungry apps and services take away from our precious resources, the less we have to spend on the things that are truly important to us and the less we have control of our destiny. We're bound to what they want us to know and pay attention to. We become saturated, and we're left with less for the things that truly matter to us. 

Maybe it's time to take back the control and spend our attention on our own terms. Where do you want to spend yours?

Miguel,
Sparknotion – Think Differently.