Our hijacked focus & attention

We don't live life as it is, we live it as we are.

I’ve been reading Stolen Focus, a book about how our attention has been manipulated through the years and how we have been conditioned to jump from thing to thing due to the sheer abundance of information and the influence of hustle culture around us. (actually, the book is so much more — I encourage you to check it out)

Our waning attention didn’t start with the age of the internet, though the access we have to vast amounts of information within mere seconds has further made our ability to pay attention close to impossible.

We are conditioned to have less and less focus and we reinforce these neural pathways of interruption in our brains daily by trying to pay attention everywhere, all the time. 

Even when media is off, we are constantly packing it in: work, family, news, the ping of a text message, caring for others, and trying to care for us just to get through the day.

I’ll bet you’re quickly scrolling this email right now.

Our pace leaves no time for deep, thoughtful thinking about what is real — and what could be possible if we slowed down.

The outcomes we are reaping are bigger than our individual frenetic experience. 

We’re seeing the results play out in real-time in the political spectrum and in the systems and services that can’t meet the needs of humans (think healthcare, education, public safety, utilities, transportation, and most of our infrastructures that serve a public need).

But the way forward can't come from careless change and reckless destruction. That's just as detrimental as building and implementing without a thoughtful foundation.

Being reactionary is never the answer, whether concerning your brand and business or the country as a whole. 

The problem is that there isn't an easy answer.

We want to talk in sound-bites like everything is simple, but the issues that we face as humans are nuanced and complex.

Better outcomes for our businesses and our larger society require our full focus and attention. They require us to know ourselves deeply, to develop and trust our process, and to have meaningful connections to one another and what we put out into the world.

They require us to slow the f*ck down and reconnect to what matters to us and our communities so we can take action.

They require our undivided attention.

It's not an accident that I regularly recite the mantra "be here now"  in my daily life and to all of you.

It is my reminder to be where I am, to use my process to discern what matters at this moment — whether it's helping a client build a thoughtful and values-based brand and marketing strategy, contributing to a community fridge, or calling my representative — and to BE THERE, fully and presently, without my mind on whatever is coming next.

Our lives are made up of the moments we pay attention to and the actions we take every day.

One thing can have more impact than a list of thirty to-dos.

xox,

Michelle

P.S. I use my values as part of my process every day to reconnect to what's most important to me. It helps when the world is chaotic and noisy. Need a place to start? Download my values exercise here.

P.P.S. There's a lot of organizing happening in my world to help locally and voice globally. If you're interested in taking action to protect humankind with kind humans, please hit reply and I'll let you know our next steps.

P.P.P.S. This message can't comprise every nuance, recognition of privilege and bias, -- no email, social media post, blog, or discussion can. It is a reminder for you to ponder for a few minutes -- or a few hours -- so you can focus where it's meaningful.

Last postscript, I promise: Make pausing and paying attention a practice, not just a "one-and-done." Act from there. You'll never have the time if you don't make the time.

Need marketing & branding help?

Brand Visualization, to help you deeply understand who you are now, get clarity on what makes you different and unique, and become confident using your voice consistently and coherently with stories that align with your identity and strategy.

Brand Story & Strategy, to write bespoke content for your website and marketing, clarify your offers and calls to action to align with your targets, and fully launch your voice and vision to find the people who are waiting to work with you.

Brand Strategy Support & Implementation to revise your content and brand essentials and coach you on how to strategically write & deploy content to reach your short and long-term goals.

 WANT TO WORK TOGETHER? LET’S CHAT! 

If you want to share the love, forward this to a friend. If you were forwarded this email and want more like it, sign up here.

For more insights and interviews, follow me on Instagram here & here, TikTok, & YouTube. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.

You are a great human. I’m thankful for you.