Attention!!

Last year, I downloaded a mp3 from itconversations.com about Attention.

The keynote speaker of the panel, Linda Stone (blog link), discusses how we as a society have had major shifts in how we use our Attention. I was intrigued from this and checked out her blog site and found an important distinction between time management and attention management. For a long time I've been focused on time management and doing things with the time I have. One interesting expression I've heard is "I don't have time to do X". For example, "I don't have time to read this", "I don't have time to go to that conference". What the person really lacks is not time, but commitment to do X (read, go to the conference).

I would like to take that one step further and note that the person may lack the attention to do it as well. Linda Stone comments that our focus on time management is TACTICAL. It's about lists, optimization, effiecency. Borrowing from Kent Beck's model of using dictionary definitions:

TACTICAL - of or pertaining to a maneuver or plan of action designed as an expedient toward gaining a desired end or temporary advantage.

Linda also discusses how managing attention is STRATEGIC. It's about intention, making choices as to what does and does not get done.

So I will use my first ever syllogism:
Major Premise: I can manage my attention towards the things I do
Minor Premise: I can optimize the things I am doing

Therefore, if I strategically manage my attention first, then I can optimize those things that need my attention.

To often I've been in the position or seen others in the position of optimizing things that they don't need to be doing. By focusing my attention first, I can avoid optimizing my wasted effort.