Quotes About Attention

We have already remarked how who we are can be defined, at least in part, by what we attend to - how much more so this is when what we attend to is determined less by our volition and more by ambience.

Broadcasters are also selling a product-their audiences.

talking about the habit of constantly checking for updates on email/FB/Twitter, etc.) The check-in would eventually become a widespread attentional habit; ..... No other has compelled so many minds with such regularity - regularity that has the feel of a compulsion, of a mental itch constantly in need of being scratched.

The most basic dividing line is likely between transitory and sustained attention, the former quick, superficial, and often involuntarily provoked; the latter, deep, long-lasting, and voluntary. What matters for present purposes is that selling us things relies mainly on the former—on which the attention merchant thrives—but our happiness depends on balancing the two.

We sometimes treat the information industries as if they were like any other enterprise, but they are not, for their structure determines who gets heard. It

By encouraging anyone to capture the attention of others with the spectacle of one's self—in some cases, even to the point of earning a living by it—it warps our understanding of our own existence and its relation to others. That this should become the manner of being for us all is surely the definitive dystopic vision of late modernity. But perhaps it was foretold by the metastatic proliferation of the attention merchants' model throughout our culture.

programs are scheduled interruptions of marketing bulletins.

The Greeks believed that it was a citizen's duty to watch a play. It was a kind of work in that it required attention, judgement, patience, all the social virtues." "And the Greek were conquered by the more practical Romans, Arthur." "Indeed, the Romans built their bridges, but they also spent many centuries wishing they were Greeks. And they, after all, were conquered by the barbarians, or by their own corrupt and small spirits.

Dawes? Dawes, do come back to earth and honour us with your attention for a moment.

A survey of Canadian media consumption by Microsoft concluded that the average attention span had fallen to eight seconds, down from 12 in the year 2000.

Keep your ears open. You know what the first word of the holy rule of Saint Benedict is? Listen.

Most information is time-consuming, negative, irrelevant to your goals, and outside of your influence. I challenge you to look at whatever you read or watched today and tell me that it wasn't at least two of the four. I read the front-page headlines through

When you're thinking of how to make your business bigger, it's tempting to try to think all the big thoughts, the world-changing, massive-action plans. But please know that it's often the tiny details that really thrill someone enough to make them tell all their friends about you.

Don't pay any attention to what they write about you, just measure it in inches."—Andy Warhol

People are poor judges of importance and inflate minutiae to fill time and feel important.

This is very similar to Derek Sivers's (page 184) "Don't be a donkey" rule. In a world of distraction, single-tasking is a superpower.

If you find yourself saying, "But I'm making so much money" about a job or project, pay attention. "But I'm making so much money," or "But I'm making good money" is a warning sign that you're probably not on the right track or, at least, that you shouldn't stay there for long. Money can always be regenerated. Time and reputation cannot.

all information and interruptions that are irrelevant, unimportant, or unactionable.

I don't care why people pick up cookbooks. I'm much more interested in why they put them down.

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it. —HERBERT SIMON, recipient of Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics8 and the A.M. Turing Award, the "Nobel Prize of Computer Science

While people often say there's not enough time, remember that you'll always have less attention than time. Full attention is where you do your best work, and everyone's going to be looking to rip it from you. Protect and preserve it.

Money in a business is like gas in your car. You need to pay attention so you don't end up on the side of the road. But your trip is not a tour of gas stations.

Básicamente es la idea de que es fácil que oigas decir tu nombre en medio de una multitud.

Pick the Right Audience to Suck in Front Of