Currently, I’m rereading Chris Bailey’s Hyperfocus (2018). When I went to MPH Bookstore the other day, I saw a new book that interest me by Johann Hari entitled Stolen Focus (2022). But the price is so expensive, RM89.90! I understand the book business is having a hard time nowadays and in the same way, owning physical books and encouraging people to be readers is getting hard too (state libraries and discount bookstores like BookXcess are saviors for bibliophiles). Not that I cannot afford to buy the book but as I browse through the contents - besides having newer research and the author’s unique perspectives - I realize that the challenge of managing attention and focus today is the same as yesterday. No new book can claim that this is a new phenomenon. Thus, I reread Hyperfocus and settle with just listening and watching interviews of Johann Hari online… hoping that soon the State Library will have it available. Lord, have mercy.
“Reading a book requires a good deal of attention,” writes Chris Bailey, “and with attention becoming a rare commodity, fewer people can devote themselves to reading without distraction.” Attention is our most limited and constrained resource. According to Microsoft Attention Spans Research Report*, the average human attention span in 2000 is 12 seconds and in 2013, it decreased drastically to 8 seconds (I don’t know how they measure this, but the goldfish have an average attention span of 9 seconds. 1 second longer than the average human!). In today’s fast-paced world of information overload, we’re constantly flooded with social media notifications, text messages, and games. Smartphone users, like you and me, check our devices about 80 to 90 times a day. No wonder we are so distracted. This is one of the reasons for the decline of book-reading culture in Malaysia and the world in general. We still read but read bits and pieces of information. We have amassed lots of random information but lack actual knowledge, depth, and wisdom. This is not just affecting the overall quality of our work-life (or study-life, if you’re a student) but also the state of our mental health and spirituality.
Therefore, you must cultivate a love for reading books. It helps to train you (or force you, at the beginning) to increase your attention spans. It requires attention and it improves your attention. Jessalyn Lau, from the neuroscience perspective, says: “Reading has been proven to increase your focus, attention span, concentration, and to improve memory.” Perhaps you say you don’t have time to read books. I get what you mean. You have works to do, family to care for, products to promote, etc. But “no time” is a myth. Unless you move at the speed of light and the theory of special relativity applied to you, we all have the same amount of time. It's not about you don’t have time but it's about you MAKE time. We have no problem carving out time for things we want to do. So, take or buy a book that interest you, set an uninterrupted time (10 to 15 minutes for a start) today, turn off or switch your smartphone to silent mode and put it away from your reach, make a cup of hot coffee or tea or chocolate and start reading! Start small but do it frequently. At first, you will still be easily distracted. However, over time it will become a habit. And soon, you will be proud of yourself because you have beat the goldfish attention span record! Congratulation!
*https://www.scribd.com/document/265348695/Microsoft-Attention-Spans-Research-Report
#ServeToLead #Hyperfocus #AttentionSpans #BeatTheGoldfish #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain
To read my book reviews of #LeadersAreReaders FEBRUARY 2022, CLICK LINKS below:
1) On the Future: Prospects for Humanity (2018) by Martin Rees https://bit.ly/OnTheFuture
2) The Gift of Reading (2016) by Robert Macfarlane https://bit.ly/MacfarlaneReading
3) 25 Ways to Win With People (2005) by John C. Maxwell https://bit.ly/25WaysPeople
4) The Previous book reviews https://bit.ly/1Book1Week
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