Seeing Your Attention As Valuable

Have you ever considered the value of your attention? We often think about the value of time or money, but what is the worth and weight of your focus? When you choose to center your eyes and mind around a single object, you are assigning value to that thing and paying for it with your attention.

Our attention is constantly contested in our techno-fused world. The apps on our devices are designed to keep our focus captive for as long as possible. A platform that boasts more user engagement can sell that attention to companies for advertisement. There are literal dollar amounts associated with how long your attention can be captured by the apps on your phones.

Do you think of your attention as something that is valuable, or do you aim to throw it away? Think of the last time you were bored. Not just a lazy day–but literally nothing to do and truly bored. Most of us don’t get bored anymore because the moment we have “down-time” we get lost in senseless social media or mind-numbing games on our devices. These apps are desperately competing for your attention and won’t easily let go. Once, these apps were simply space-fillers or time-killers but are now consuming our attention at a gluttonous rate. We download these boredom avoidance apps for free but pay for them with our attention.

Don’t worry, this not just a rant against social media and games on your phone. The point is that our attention is worth something. It’s probably the most precious currency in our possession. When you want someone to focus on what you’re saying or doing, you might say “Please, pay attention.” That person would then give their attention–or not. The idea of attention as currency is built into our language, yet it doesn’t hold a value of quantity. Money and time, the most common currencies, have values that are easily identified on your watch or in your wallet. But attention is not so easily noticed.

What Makes Your Attention Valuable?

Often, we only see things as valuable if it gives us joy, pleasure, or makes money. We will pay our attention toward things that fulfill these desires. Our attention is only as valuable as what we gain from paying it. Focusing enters us into a bargaining deal. I’ll trade some of my attention and in return I expect to be paid back something that will satisfy me. That’s why when we pay attention without any gain it feels like a waste of time.

Social media has cheapened how much our attention is worth to us, and replaced it with an emphasis on taking from others. The amount of likes and shares that a post gets online should lead to followers and a community of people who are willing to pay attention to what you’re doing. There’s this false sense that somehow all that taken attention will add up to something meaningful. What we forget is that we’ve already devalued how much that original attention is worth. This is why no amount of likes or followers will ever fully satisfy a person.

Our end goal cannot simply be to get attention from others. It’s a means with no end. Like a coin going down a spiral wishing well, the value of our attention will only get smaller and smaller until it’s gone completely.

Revaluing Attention

Attention becomes more valuable when it inspires a person. Joy, pleasure, and money are moments–inspiration is momentum. There are two decisions that we can make to reclaim the value of our attention.

Stop paying your attention to things that don’t inspire you. Your attention is only as valuable as how it positively impacts you and those around you. If something you’re focusing on inspires you to do more, then you’ve just gained momentum toward exponential influence!

Next, start creating inspirational content for other people to pay attention to. It could be an encouraging post, an interesting blog article, a poem, song, painting–whatever you want it to be. Don’t worry about making it go viral or how many likes you might get. Make something original and inspiring. Even if only one person is encouraged by paying attention to what you’ve created–it was worth the effort.

The next time you’re trying to fight boredom–stop and think “How can I increase the value of my attention right now?”