What distracts you?

Imagine you’re at the supermarket.

You find a shopping trolley and take out a piece of paper from your pocket. It is a list of things you need to get. You are going to find them, buy them and leave. You are efficient and in control.

You step into aisle 1.

You’re looking for a new toothbrush. But your eyes flick over to the other shelf for just a second and notice something interesting - a new electric toothbrush. Now you’ve never tried an electric toothbrush before but you have a friend who swears by it. In fact, she had recently recommended a brand. Could this be the same one?

You open your phone to look for her message and notice 3 unread messages in your WhatsApp inbox. You read one, read another and then remember you should be shopping. Wait, what were you looking for again?

Ah yes, tooth brushes. Check your friend’s message, its a different brand but this one looks good too. Let’s give it a try, you tell yourself. Would this need batteries? Yes it would. “Batteries are in aisle 4”, a friendly supermarket attendant informs you. You make your way there.

A multitude of images hit your eyes as you walk across the length of the supermarket. Hundreds of brands, thousands of products. Most are not registering, some are; triggering memories as they seep into your consciousness. A memory of an advertisement here, a memory of a friend there.

Intermittently a face or two also register.

Hey that person looks familiar! What’s that in their cart? Oh that’s a tennis racket, I’ve been meaning to get one. I really should be taking care of my health more. I wonder where’s the sports section in this supermarket.

Wait. What was I looking for? Oh yes, batteries for the electric toothbrush.

What’s going on here?

Your brain has a limited capacity to store readily accessible information. This storage is called ‘Working Memory’ and the ability to utilise this working memory is called Attention. Think of it like your shopping trolley. It only has a fixed amount of space. And if you fill it up, and something important comes up, something has to leave the trolley to make space.

Another way to think of this is that attention is a torch. A torch can only illuminate a certain amount of things in your environment. Wherever you turn that circle of light becomes visible to you while the rest of the world disappears.

We can only pay attention to a fixed number of things, which makes attention a precious resource. And like every other precious resource, everyone wants a piece of it. Your friends, family, boss, employees, the supermarket, amazon, Netflix, cricket, news channels, social media, your health apps, even your watch. Everything and everyone is competing for that precious attention of yours.

The world is a supermarket and you’re walking around with a to-do list and pushing a half-filled trolley. With limited money in your wallet and limited attention in your mind.

Spend them both wisely.

Cheers and love,

Sid.