The Order of Attention
- Priya Venkatesan
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Many clients, aspiring for senior leadership positions feel that the runway to their own career growth is shrinking.
They want to realise their Dreams, Ambitions & Goals. However, they feel the clock ticking. They are in a self-generated urgency.
Many of them think what comes in their way to achieve their dreams are Time, Resources, Opportunities & Constraints. These could be a part of the larger problem. For eg, lets look at time.
Leaders report an average of 25-50% of their work week time (10-20 hours) being lost to distractions.
People spend an average of 2 hours and 27 mins on social media per day.
Imagine this leak being ploughed to your dreams - what can't be achieved?
Through coaching conversations, what my clients realize is:
the lagging indicators are opportunities, promotion, step up and all the nice things one wants.
the leading indicators are attention, focus, energy & decisions.
Thats the only thing they can work on instead of just waiting for opportunities.
They can take a decision to learn a new skill, they can start exercising to hold their energy.
They can hold attention in meetings when everyone else is losing theirs and spot things that others don't see.
They can build their energy to sustain in the new role.
If one has to ponder on aspects that can really aid attention, focus, energy & decision, the following might be a good starting point.
Focus is a practice
While we live in the age of "over-stimulation", focus is a practice.
We cannot leave it to chance, will or need.
Take the most important task for the day and check if you can hold only thoughts about it for 9 seconds.
If you can, thats your baseline. If you cannot, start with 5 seconds. Practice holding attention in one place. This helps you to conserve energy & time. When decision on details needs to be done, this is a valuable asset.
Conscious distractions
Auto-pilot distractions cost you more than conscious distractions. Doom-scrolling, without time boundaries, is going to cost you a decision or an opportunity.
Make distractions conscious if you need to. Look at your device metrics to get started.
Distractions are discretionary & hence the need to be conscious. When you are conscious of what you are doing, you can take better decisions on whether this is a good use of your time or not.
Larger purpose
What is the impact you want to create by getting to the next higher role?
Purpose defines our True North.
Attention needs to be directed.
Weigh the way you spend your time on a larger canvas of purpose.
It would direct your attention & energy.
Attention and energy when directed towards true north help you be more satisfied with yourself. This is the starting point of a good life.
What are you willing to do for your ambitions?
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