4. Who Gets Your Attention?
Who Gets Your Attention?
Why you're busy all day but still not getting the things that matter done.
Have you ever got to the end of a day and thought: "What have I actually done today?"
You've been busy. You've answered emails, dealt with other people's problems, checked your phone, remembered things, worried about things... And yet the thing you actually wanted to do is still sitting there. Untouched.
In this episode, I start with a very ordinary problem: my dog's insurance went up by 30%. What followed was a ridiculous chain of emails, comparison websites, ChatGPT, a chatbot, more waiting — and, most importantly, a problem that kept taking up space in my head long after I had stopped actively dealing with it.
And it got me thinking: How much of our mental energy is being taken up by things that don't actually deserve our attention? And even more importantly: Who is deciding where your attention goes?
In this episode, I explore:
Why being busy doesn't necessarily mean you're moving forward
The hidden cost of constant interruptions
Why your phone isn't always the problem — and why it's not as simple as "just put it down"
How even using ChatGPT can become a form of distraction
Why worrying about other people's lives can sometimes become procrastination
The uncomfortable possibility that your brain may be distracting you from things that feel difficult or uncertain
How to identify what is actually important and what is simply noise
Using The One Thing to identify what will genuinely move the needle
Time blocking and working with your own energy
The Eisenhower method for deciding what to do, schedule, delegate or delete
A simple way to quiet the mental chatter
Why I've stopped calling my To Do list a To Do list Instead, mine is now: Things That Will Move the Needle Forward.
Because this isn't really about becoming more productive. It's about becoming more deliberate about what gets your attention.
Your attention is finite. And if everyone and everything else gets first dibs on it, what is left for you?
Your goals.
Your ideas.
Your relationships.
Your future.
Your next chapter.
Your challenge this week:
Don't try to overhaul your life. Just notice.
Notice what interrupts you. Notice what you reach for.
Notice what thoughts keep coming back.
Notice what's actually urgent.
Notice what's important.
And notice what is, quite frankly, none of your business.
Then choose one thing that will move you forward — and give it your attention. Because the big changes start with the small things we do on ordinary days. On an ordinary Tuesday.
I'd love to know... What's currently getting more of your attention than it deserves? And what would you give that attention to instead?
