The philosopher Sir William Hamilton in 1859 carried out a simple experiment in which he cast down a handful of marbles, varying the number of marbles thrown and attempted to estimate their number visually.  He concluded : If you throw a handful of marbles on the floor, you will find it difficult to view at once more than six, or seven at most without confusion.

Source : Human Memory: Theory And Practice, Revised Edition

Research has shown that our short term memory can only hold 7 +/- 2 items at any one time.  In the above quoted text, we know that when we try to pay attention to more than 7 things at the same time, the mind gets confused.  It is no wonder that we falter when we try to do too many things at the same time.

In recent years, attention spans are even more short-lived with the influx of new information every single moment.  Above all, we live in a world with increasing choices.   Having more choices is sometimes a double-edged sword because we tend to prefer to leave our options open.  This encourages procrastination.

Further, every option you consider opens another set of choices and possibilities.  The permutation of choices become infinite.  Before you know it, you’ll be down with the “paralysis by analysis” bug.

More importantly, when we keep our options open, we introduce variables into our decision making process.  The thing is, decisions to be made are dependent on fixed and variable factors – the more variable factors there are, the more difficult it is to come to a final decision.

Take for example, if you’re looking to buy a new notebook, you have option of going for a lightweight one.  Or a high performance model.  Or a budget model.  Then as you do more research online, you read that the lightweight model fares really badly in terms graphics performance.  Then you read that high performance one has really lackluster battery life.  Later on, you think of the fact that the next operating system is going to be launched soon, and perhaps you should wait for it.  Then again, you might want to use the old operating system so that your existing software works without a hitch.  And as the list keeps going on.

We have to decide to “lock-down” some of these variables in our decision making process.  We need to set a cut-off time for ourselves and make the best decision we can based on the resources that we have at that moment.

To lock down these variables is to block out distractions.  To do this, you have to be very clear of what you want to achieve at the end of the day.

Stop confusing your own mind.  Be clear of what you want, lock down the variables and make your decisions.

Those who study large scale information databases, i.e. those in the terabyte (10¹²) to the petabyte (10¹⁵) range, suggest that information in the global intellectual inventory is now doubling as fast as every nine months.  This rate of information doubling was supposedly every three years in the late 1990s while in the immediate post World War II period information doubling required decades.

Source : The Basics of Satellite Communications By Joseph N. Pelton

Today, the rate of information growth is doubling very quickly, as fast as every nine months in some fields.

What this means is that if you studied 10 textbooks in 9 months, by the time you’re done with that pile, you’d realize you’ve another pile of 10 textbooks waiting for you to dive into again.

You can see it for yourself.  Everyday, new discoveries are being made, new products being pushed to the market, new problems, new solutions keep coming up.

Some people get inundated by all this but it’s inevitable and at the same time necessary for the human race.

You see, in whatever decisions that we make, we seek to minimize uncertainties and in the process, reduce risk.  In doing so, we need more qualified information.  The better information we get, the better our decision will be.

The abundance of information is also one of the reasons we see more successful people these days – because many of us have easy access to quality information.  If you’re starting a new business, there are tons of good books on entrepreneurship, business processes, sales and marketing, etc.   Many of those books document the blueprints of successful role models who have been there, conquered that.  If you’re learning to be an excellent programmer, there are vast numbers of free resources for you to learn and master almost any type of programming language.

Unless you’re a martian, almost any problem that you’re facing must have been solved by someone else or it could solved by combining and/or improving existing solutions.

So, it is important that you turn your attention towards educating yourself instead of being a TV addict or a game addict, unless that’s primarily what your life is about.

Once you agree that we need to continually learn and take in more information, you might also realize that it is easy to get inundated by the mass of information available out there.  Also, there’re tons of attention grabbing information out there, most of which might not be what you need.

The solution is to be selective.  Be very selective of what information you are looking out for in your life.  Just as you (should) have specific goals and plans for your life, you should be specific about the information you want to gain.

If you know that your goal is to run a successful business, you should look out for information sources that teach you how to do so.  At the onset, you might still be confused, given the large number of choices – here’s the strategy, choose the  most reputable ones to learn from e.g. for running a small business, you will find The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber very useful.  Or, if you’ve been struggling to achieve success but found that time and again, you keep getting knocked to the ground because of the lack of clarity or the right mindset, you need guidance to sort yourself out internally first – in this case, check out Master Your Mind, Design Your Destiny by Adam Khoo.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” ~ Albert Einstein

The key is this, we need information to increase our level of thinking in order to move on to the next level in life.  Once you know what new information you need to learn, your task is to absorb it as quickly as you can and start taking action.

Start learning!

“Well, that wouldn’t hurt.”

“Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

As we go about our daily lives, we tend to neglect the micro choices that we make consciously or unconsciously.   But here’s the thing – the law of Cause and Effect is continually at work whether we know it or not.  Every choice has a consequence, every cause that you set in motion has a resultant effect on your life.

Everything you do, counts.  The life that you’re experiencing now is a summation of all the choices that you have made to date, whether you know it or not.

When a person flares up at a seemingly small provocation, it is the summation of all past suppressed feelings of anger and hatred.

When a person has a clogged artery, it is the summation of all the fatty foods consumed as well as the lack of regular exercise.

Likewise, if you’re experiencing a sense of fulfillment in your work, or enjoying a wonderful relationship with your loved ones, it is the summation of all the past thoughts you’ve filled your mind with and the all actions you have taken.

Remember, everything counts.

Of course, you might think that it would be overwhelmingly difficult to pay attention to every micro detail.   This is why it is very important to be clear of what your values and goals are as well as whether they’re aligned.  Because when you are clear of your values and goals, you will know when a choice you’re making isn’t in line with who you are and where you’re heading.   The key here is this, the choices that you make should be congruent with the person you want to become.

So, if in your mind, you want to become a person of integrity, patience and virtue but yet you choose to fill your mind with resentment when you encounter verbal disagreements, you’re not being congruent.  These pent up emotions of anger will manifest themselves later in your life.

When you begin to understand this principle, you will begin to see why long time relationships break down, why seemingly diligent people still fail, why highly respectable people still falter….  Because everything counts.

Failing to understand that everything counts results in disappointments, setbacks, failed promises, forgotten commitments and whole list of undesirable consequences in life.

When you embrace this reality, and consciously make all your choices purposeful and goal-directed, you will build unshakable relationships,  steady income streams and most importantly, a fulfilling and rewarding life.

Probably not, right? Even people who like challenges would be weighed down eventually by things which are overly complex.

Complexity decreases efficiency and more often than not encourages procrastination.  You might have heard of the term “paralysis by analysis”, which simply means that when you analyze too many factors, you get inundated and start procrastinating instead.

Further, complexity wastes a lot of your energy and drains you of whatever initial enthusiasm you might have.

Yes, Life is complex at times.  Problems are complex at times.  Choosing simplicity doesn’t mean denying reality.  It means making the effort to understand that everything complex is made up of many simple things.

Take for example, building a  customized website with good content would seem like a complex project initially.  What you have to do is to identify all the small subtasks that needs to be done and decide on the right sequence.  e.g. identify your niche, research your niche, choose a site theme, hire a freelance coder, etc.

Anything big, once broken down in the smaller tasks will immediately give you a lot of clarity.  Of course, in the process, you will also begin to realize that you might lack certain skill sets and this could be the time to acquire them or outsource the task.

When things are broken down and simple enough, you achieve them more quickly and easily, building your self-esteem in the process and increasing your motivation.  The converse is true, when they are too complex, you get overwhelmed, lose your momentum and end up in the undesirable state of procrastination.

So, if there is any area of your life which you’re experiencing procrastination, it might be useful for you to break up the tasks into smaller, and more easily achievable sub-tasks.  Achieving many small sub-tasks gives you a sense of accomplishment and keeps your motivation high and before you know it, you’d have completed the task which you were previously procrastinating.

You can perceive and experience the world around you using your five senses.

Unfortunately for you (and most of us), one day, your life will come to an end.

The important question therefore,  is, from now till then, how are you going to live your life?  Will it be a life of joy, bliss, accomplishments and fulfillment?  Or will it be one filled with anxieties and worries, stress and depression?

Which do you want it to be?

As we talked about in the previous article on Take Charge of Your Attention!,  you know that it is of utmost importance to be in charge of your attention.

But what happens if you’ve tried umpteen times, and yet you’re still unable to stay focused on your task?

Then it means 2 things :

1) You’re not doing what you love (many people like to believe this)

2) You’re not loving what you do (sounds familiar?)

This begs another question : Should I learn to do what I love, or should I learn to love what I do?

If you’re a little apathetic or nonchalant about your job, your studies or maybe even your life as a whole, this could be a question that strikes a chord in you.  Interestingly, this can be a blessing in disguise if you’d learn to read the hidden message.

The message is simple – there are things that you’re deeply not satisfied about in your Life.  It is Life’s way of telling you that you can’t find meaning and fulfillment in the situation you’re currently in.  The adage “Circumstances do not make a man, they merely reveal him to himself” succinctly describes this point.   So, if you’re not happy about about certain things in your life, don’t fret – these emotional signals are just your body’s way of communicating with your consciousness.

In the book “DaVinci Method”, Garret LoPorto makes a very powerful statement :

“Don’t ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive.  Then go do it.  Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”

Even Slyvester Stallone said “I’d rather do something I love badly than to do feel bad about not doing something I love.”

Think about it.  What makes you excited?  What drives you?  What would make you eager to wake up in the morning?  What is something that when you do, you feel that resonance within yourself?

You have to do something that you love to do.  You need something that invigorates you every single day.  Now, it might sound over-romanticized but that is the truth.  We are not here to find the meaning of Life – we are here to create meaning for our lives.  And so we have to find or decide on our Life’s purpose.

Some people believe that they’re trapped in unfulfilling work and have no recourse because of the monthly mountains of bills and possibly debts.  And this is probably where people trap themselves since according to Parkinson’s Law, expenses always rise to meet incomes.  I’m not going to pretend that Life is fair – there are people  who have environmental disadvantages, family disadvantages, health disadvantages and so on.  But we have also seen people with their fair share of disadvantages go on to achieve great things in their lives – look at Lance Armstrong, Honda, Slyvester Stallone, Nick Vuijic.

The point here is this – if you find yourself trapped and unable to be doing something you truly love, then learn to love what you do first.  Because only when you begin to develop a passion for what you do can you begin to excel, and in doing so, climb out of the bottomless pit.  Of course, if you’re just a pizza delivery boy, or a garbage collector, you might be going “are you nuts? what passion?”

Look higher up.  Develop the passion not for the job, but for your higher values e.g. excellence, integrity, recognition, etc.  Whatever job you are doing, you can always aim for excellence.  Do the best with what you have.  Continually read and upgrade yourself – improve your own personal productivity and become the best.  In doing so, you’ll be cultivating the attitude of success.  At the same time, you will attract the attention of people who can and will help you.  When the opportunity comes, you will be ready for it.

Learn to love your Life as a whole.  Bad things happen so that good things can happen.  When failure and frustration keeps knocking you down, chin up and keep moving forward.   Everything happens for a reason and when you learn to accept that, you can move on to find and do that which truly resonates within you.

Now, go do what you love and love what you do.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…

STOP!

How did you end up here?  Something caught your attention?

You know what, mortal? I’ve successfully stolen a few seconds from your life.

Fortunately for you, reading this will be rewarding.

Because as you’re reading this, for once, you’re probably more aware of what you’re now reading.  Think about the myriad of content that competes for your attention everyday and everywhere, which you mindlessly indulge in.  Does it raise to your awareness how much time was possibly wasted?

One of the ironies today is that while we have advanced technological tools to leverage our time to do more, many people actually achieve less.  There is lesser contentment, lesser fulfillment.  More procrastination.

We all know that procrastination has robbed success, achievement and fulfillment from many people including ourselves.  And it still continues to do so today, and will most likely stay this way until we make a concerted effort towards fixing the root causes.

I’ve come to realize the central reason why procrastination is so challenging to overcome is that it has multiple causes.  Some people procrastinate because of a lack of a clear goal; others don’t take action because of disempowering beliefs about their abilities.  Some hold back from doing what they need to do because of a painful bad experience in the past.

For most of us today, especially the younger generation, it is the overwhelming amount of content that screams for our attention every moment.  DISTRACTIONS! They’re everywhere.

Just think of some of the things that catch your attention everyday :

• Instant messenger chats
• TV commercials and programs e.g. Drama serials, Sitcoms, etc.
• Unsolicited email – some people are actually drawn by the content
• Eye-catching magazines
• Attention grabbing headers in the newspapers
• Social networking stuff – twitter, facebook, friendster, etc.
• Internet forums, where discussions occasionally ends up in a lot of off-topic banter.
• Reading online articles (not) like this one!
• And the list goes on…

I’m not saying that the aforementioned stuff are bad – the question is whether it is useful for you to spend your time on it.

If it’s not, then think about how much time had been wasted on all those activities.  If you’ve made wrong decisions in your purchases, you’d have wasted money.  But money can always be earned with your diligence and creativity.  My view is that Time is the most important resource that we have.  You can’t turn back the clock nor can you buy an elixir.  So if you’d wasted your time, it is gone FOREVER.  It’s the only real scarcity in life.

So, use your time wisely by blocking out distractions and taking charge of your attention.  If you’re distracted easily because you don’t have a goal or definite purpose, then use your time wisely to quieten yourself to discover and decide on that.

Distractions might be enjoyable and even cathartic if you have a heavy burden of worries and problems.  But always remember that problems don’t get solved by plainly seeking tension relief; our life only becomes better when we seek solutions and work harder.  When things go wrong, work harder, not less.

I’m not going to give you 10 tips to block out distractions because I believe you have to decide what works best for you.  More importantly, the motivation should be intrinsic.

But I’d share with you something.  If you’d read Stephen Covey’s books, he mentioned that the way to say “No” to unwelcomed requests vying for your time is to have a BIGGER “Yes” in your heart.  What this means for you is this – For you to say “No” to things that scream for your attention is to have a bigger “Yes” to the things that matter.

Personally, when I encounter an attention-grabbing and perhaps pleasurable time-waster, I’d say to myself “I have better uses for my time.”

So while this reading has probably taken up several minutes of your life, you know it is an investment once it begins to make more sense to you.  Your return on investment will be much higher once you begin to govern your attention.

So, run along now, you have better uses for your time.

The Anaconda

Jaguar Vs Anaconda. Battle To The Death. – video powered by Metacafe

Also, the narrator mentioned a thought provoking point – the Jaguar succeeds because it knows no fear. It’s interesting that many of us including myself find ourselves not realising our true potential not because our problems are too big for us – but that we allow our fears to grow too big for us.

From a biological perspective, when we allow our fears to get the better of us, our mammalian brain starts preparing our body for what is known as a “fight or flight” response. What this means is that our adrenal glands begin to release adrenaline and peptides like cortisol. Our heart pumps faster and starts sending blood to our arms and legs. Which explains why when we’re nervous, we can’t sit still.

But our fears protect us from danger – that’s the good point. The only issue is that our subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between real and imaginary issues. So many a times, we end up with a lot perceived fears. It’s times like these that we need to behave like the jaguar – to go forth fearlessly!

Here’s another one, this time it pwns a caiman (crocodile)!

There is an increasing tendency for one to be fixated on problems and worries. One of the issues about a fast-paced developed society is that while the society progresses rapidly in the material sense, many individuals are unable to keep up psychologically. That is, many people are beginning to lose sight of what’s important to them in Life. Is it really worth it to be chasing after material success (knowing that you can’t take it with you six feet underground)? Isn’t there more to Life?

Yet most people hardly find time to reflect on these issues because there’re simply too many problems and worries to focus on. Will the project run smoothly tomorrow? Will I mess up my school work? How am I going to face that angry customer? Why does God give me so many problems? etc…. and the list goes on.

What I believe is that no matter how much we do, we can never totally eradicate problems. Because our time is limited, our attention span is limited – there will definitely be some things that we will overlook as we try to find our balance in Life. This is when “problems” start to occur and worries start to flood in.

It’s almost as if our Creator planned for this to happen. I believe we were designed to make mistakes and have problems in Life. If we get too fixated on problems and worries, we paralyse ourselves and miss the whole point of living. In this case, I suggest that we should remove our own imaginary shackles and redefine our notions of what Life is about.  Problems help us to grow – we might not be able to solve all of them and create a perfect Life because maybe that’s not the objective. What’s important is not the solving of the problem per se, but the process of solving – that helps us to grow physically, mentally and spiritually. And that’s what truly matters mosts, IMHO.