Between our phones, notifications, zoom messages, emails, meetings, our attention is under bombardment all day long. To be able to take a step back, yourself back into the moment and navigate it – rather than reacting to various message channels – will be viewed as a superpower in a few years.

Not that this is an easy task, nor a relatively new one. Whilst mechanisms of how we use our time have changed, and new technologies and ways to spend our leisure exist, time and the use of it has been a subject of discussion for years.

Solon tells King Croesus in 500 BCE that we have 80 years to live on average, and it is our character and use of time that matters, not the wealth and riches that we are able to accumulate and show others. Oliver Burkeman, in his book 4000 weeks, written a mere 2,500 years later, reminds us of this fact using today’s language and examples.

Seneca devotes a book on time and how we so easily waste it. The Ancient Greek philosophical schools looked at time, our attention, and where this should be spent.

Our time is our most precious resource. The present time is our most valuable. It is in this space that our habits come to fruition. Where we can take considered action. Where our character can transform itself.

There isn’t much that is up to us in life. But what is up to us is powerful. Our actions, our thoughts, our responses.

Unless we realise the present moment and move beyond a reactionary response, nothing can change. 

To do this, we must reclaim our attention.

We know this. The advice online is in the millions.

Slow down, breathe, pause, live in the moment. Reels, stories, and videos abound with this advice. 

Yet distraction persists.

Why Even Reclaim Attention?

We have all experienced moments where we want to be engaged and present in something, and then seemingly a few seconds later our minds are distracted and we have left the conversation or activity that we are engaged in. Rather than listening to our friend, we have instead drifted off into our own minds and are composing a reply to an email. Rather than helping our daughter build a stable out of magnetic blocks and be involved, instead, without any thought, we are thinking about a new process at work. 

We start off with good intentions and are easily sidetracked.

Even now, as I type these words on the bus, I happen to glance up and notice the person sitting in front of me scrolling past reels. It catches my attention for far longer than I thought.

Yet we want to reclaim our attention so we can remain in these moments that we know matter. Sitting in deep conversation with a friend, fully listening to show that you care and they matter. Talking about the stable you are building and making horse noises as the build completes to be with our daughter and make her laugh and engage with her. To notice our surroundings, what is happening, so we can then take better actions and know what the situation we are in actually needs from us, which is having fully listened so we can offer a unique perspective or affirmation to what you have heard.

A few days later I picked up my iPad and continued this article. This time, I’m writing whilst my daughter sleeps. I’m downstairs, sitting outside under the patio, listening to the rain on the roof and glancing out towards our yard. It’s a more peaceful setting to the bus. It feels more relaxed. That there is less pressure. 

Slower.

Add a nice cup of coffee and it’s a great setting. There is a peacefulness here that allows one to linger and pay more attention to what is around them. To hear the sound of an aircraft come overhead and pause to listen.

Our environments play an important part in our attention. Some make it easier than others to be attentive. What I’m working on is taking those tricker places, like the bus, the workplace, a busy kitchen, and bringing mantras to the forefront of my awareness so I can take a step back and pay more attention. These simple sayings can be a nice way to interrupt the automatic response and help to reclaim a bit of the space needed to choose a better action. It’s often messy when you are in the moment to do this, but finding what works and making a small shift is the next part of this journey.

It’s been nice in those moments where I have reclaimed attention to find myself noticing more and being present. To see the way my daughter curls her smile up when she manages to turn the measuring cup over and put the flour into the cup.

It’s these ordinary moments that matter. And reclaiming our attention allows us to see them and experience them.