The Attention Diet | Mark Manson
There are a few fronts on which our attention is being assaulted. First off, there’s just a massive surplus of stuff to pay attention to. And the more crap there is to pay attention to, the more difficult it is to choose what to focus on—not to mention stay focused on it!
So, the first and most important goal of an attention diet should be to consciously limit the number of distractions we’re exposed to. Just as the first step of a nutritional diet is to consume less food, the first step of an attention diet is to consume less information.
– Mark Manson
Digital Minimalism is making it's way around the web and I like Mark Manson's take on it. I think calling it The Attention Diet is also a clever idea. If you have not read Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism book, this post can serve as some kind of head start to cutting out digital distractions and taking back your attention.
Link: The Attention Diet
Most of the stuff that Mark covers in his post are mentioned in the Digital Minimalism book, but one thing new I learned is the use of Wikipedia's “In the news” section, as a quick source of world headline news. I like it. It seems unbiased, minimal, straight to the point. For someone who is trying to consume less news, this seems like a good way to get a quick status check on what's going around the world.
One thing he doesn't address, is what to do with all the free time you will have once you follow the steps to reduce distractions and take back your attention. This is where Cal Newport will say, you have to cultivate a life of high quality leisure activities, preferably analog activities. For instance, learning a new skill (like learning how to cook), learning or mastering musical instruments, getting better at a specific sport, reading more books, etc...
The whole post is a lengthy read, however it is good exercise for your brain. So set aside some time to read it and try to do it in one go.
Tags: #Bookmarks #DigitalMinimalism #SelfImprovement #MarkManson