Our Shortening Attention Span
The attention span of the average person is likely the shortest in history.
An off schedule post
This is an off-schedule post. That means something different or interesting is going on that warrants paying attention to. So, my friends, read on to find out more!
An important question
The attention span of the average person is likely the shortest in history. Why is that? What is the effect on our ability to achieve our dreams and live our best lives?
I’d like to ask you an important question, a two-part question. It’s a question I personally focus on a lot. Frankly, I’m not sure I always like the answer I get. After you read the question, stop for a minute to ponder it and consider if you, like me, sometimes find that you don’t like the answer you get. Here’s the question:
What do you really want out of life? Are the actions you are taking today helping you achieve that?
You see, this question served as the basis for developing the course and the book I authored, Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide to Living Your Best Life (Note 1). All my writing, whether it is the course, the book, or these blogs, goes toward helping us answer that question. Bear with me a little bit as I set us up to discuss our shortening attention span, the topic of this post.
The answer to the question
I’ve mentioned that I volunteer with an organization called Overcoming Job Transition (Note 2), and I lead one of the weekly sessions where people who have recently found themselves out of work, or as we say, in job transition, can come for help getting back to work. OJT is a ministry of volunteers whose goals and desires are to give back and help others. In the session I host, after we get to know each other, I ask a series of questions, and the first one is “What do you want to do?”
Let me tell you why I ask that question. Losing a job is a traumatic event. I know, I’ve been through job transitions four times during my working career. People handle job loss in various ways, but the fact is that everyone must go through the five stages of grief (Note 3). OK, let me pause for just a second. If you are not aware of the five stages of grief, then take a minute to check out the link in Note 3. This is excellent information to know, not only for yourself, but if you have a friend, coworker, or family member who experiences trauma, then you will be able to be more supportive of them. The time in each grief stage varies among individuals, and everyone must deal with grief in their own way. Some people require professional help. Not everyone knows about the stages of grief or that they must go through them. Knowing about and understanding the grief stages eases the pain of it.
The quicker individuals can move to the latter stages of grief, the faster they can return to work. So part of what we do at OJT is we show concern and empathy. We then guide people on a path we know to be successful. We know the successful process of getting back to work because the volunteers have been doing this for a long time, and we observe that those who follow the proven process return to work more quickly and often secure better positions than those who don’t follow the process or drop out before getting a job.
As soon as I know what someone wants to do (in this case, the job or career path they wish to pursue), we can direct our efforts toward that goal and reduce the time they are unemployed. That said, you would be surprised at how many people really can’t answer that question. Also, some people use job loss to change career fields completely. Some have been in jobs they don’t like and want to follow their passion going forward. So, whether it is getting a job or deciding what you want in life, you must first answer the question, “What do I want to do?” or, if we are talking about life goals, “What do I really want out of life?”
In a related vein, I’d like to introduce you to the Kubler-Ross change curve (Note 4). Dr. Elizabeth Kubler was the professional who introduced us to the five stages of grief mentioned above. The Kubler-Ross change curve describes the process of how people change. Study the graph in the link on Note 4. Here is your takeaway from that graph: Notice that people who successfully navigate the change process often end up in a higher, that is better, place than they started before they changed. I can tell you from personal experience, this is true and a very important motivator to desiring and pursuing change when it’s needed.
This is a long road, Dave. Where are you going with it?
Yes, I know I’ve been a bit long-winded, but there is a reason for it. Hopefully, if you did not know about the grief process or the change process, perhaps you have learned something valuable. But the primary reason for taking you down this path is to say this: Unless you know, with great specificity, what you want out of life and are on a defined plan that has proven to be successful, your likelihood of getting there is diminished. And if you have not defined everything you want in life, then you will need to determine those things and develop a plan to achieve them. In short, you will need to change from what you are doing today to doing something better aligned with what you really want. You will need to improve. And that’s where I’m going. Simply, I want you to:
Decide what you want out of life.
Develop a time-bound action plan to achieve those things.
Stay laser-focused until you reach your goals and achieve your dreams.
Eliminate any distractions or non-value-added efforts that delay or reduce the likelihood of reaching your goals, achieving your dreams, and ultimately living your best life.
And it’s #3 and #4 that are the subject of this post today.
The problem
In the course and in the book, I present you with something called the wealth curve that portrays the path from where you are financially today to where you ultimately end up over time. The path is not linear, but it curves up and dips down, and the rate of ascension varies depending upon circumstances and actions by you. For example, if there is a period of time where stocks are experiencing a bull market and you are invested, then your ascension during that period will increase accordingly. If you lose your job, there is a recession or other event, whether within our out of your control, you likely will experience a dip during that period.
The wealth curve and its principles are remarkably similar to those of achieving goals and ultimately realizing our dreams. When we are focused and following a well-defined plan, we are increasing the upward angle of our achievement. If we are not working hard and staying focused, our curve will flatten or even dip.
Our attention span
Which brings us to the point of today. Human advancement and technology improvements, especially in the last one hundred years or so, have been so dramatic and so rapid that how we live our lives changes at a surprising rate. If you are of a certain age (I won’t say what age, but you know) and you remember the introduction of the PC, we were told that it would help us be more efficient. Our work would be easier. Well, that was undoubtedly true, but what no one told us was that the expectation was that we would use this new technology so that we could do more. So, yes, we became more efficient at rudimentary tasks, which allowed us to do more. Over time, new technology has allowed us to do more and do it more efficiently, which in turn has enabled us to complete more work, making us busier, and so on and so on.
And that was not all. We also have access to more and more information, right at our fingertips. We have access to so much information, not all of it productive, that unless we stay focused on what we truly want, we become distracted and actually less efficient in what we really desire to do and accomplish. And the availability of all that information, or entertainment, causes us, sometimes without even knowing it, to lose focus on what is important to us. Consider this then: The tools that were designed to help us can, if we let them, actually hinder us in accomplishing what is important to us.
How do you know that?
There are people and organizations who track things like this, and I’ll direct your attention to the link in Note 5. Click on that and study it for a minute. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom. Everything I’ve been trying to say today will come to you in an incredible “Wow!” moment.
Summary
If we want to achieve our dreams and live our best lives, we need to decide upon what those dreams are. We need to convert them into goals with actionable steps that will accomplish those goals, and we need to stay focused and not engage in activities that hinder or obstruct us from accomplishing what is really important to us. In today’s world, those potential distractions are as close as our cell phones or other devices, and it’s up to us to control our unproductive usage of them.
If you would like to read a fascinating book about the adverse effects of electronic devices on today’s children, purchase and read the book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. Click on the link in Note 6 to purchase it.
That’s all for this week!
What’s in it for Me
I suspect that you are like me in that we are all suffering from a shortened attention span, which is not beneficial for us. If that is the case, the first thing to do is recognize it, then admit it is a problem. Only then can we move forward in changing our behavior to focus our attention on what really matters.
Call to Action
Assess your situation, your station in life. Are you satisfied with where you are and where you are going? If not, admit it and take action! That action may be to take the course or buy the book. Why delay starting on a path to getting what you really want in life? Begin today!
Recommended Resources
Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide to Live Your Best Life by David Giustozzi (Note 1)
Up Next
Back to regular posting schedule.
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
Achieve Your Dreams: A Complete Guide to Live Your Best Life by David Giustozzi: https://amzn.to/3IxEFgy
Overcoming Job Transition: https://ojttulsa.org
What Are The Stages of Grief?, Cleveland Clinic: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/5-stages-of-grief
The Kubler-Ross Change Curve: https://www.ekrfoundation.org/5-stages-of-grief/change-curve/
Average Human Attention Span: Golden Steps ABA: https://www.goldenstepsaba.com/resources/average-attention-span
The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt: https://amzn.to/4jzSJn5