Attention Span
Attention span is the amount of time spent concentrating on a task before becoming distracted. Why do we become distracted? Well, if something else is much more interesting or more importantly , I think, — if we become bored of what we are doing.
So when we say we have destroyed our attention span — in reality we say we become bored easily. Does that mean we are doing uninteresting things?
A child who has “a low attention span” will probably play for hours if it is their favorite game. It is not an inability to focus that is the problem. A child that is not bored will have an incredible attention span at whatever that is interesting. I think it is the same with adults.
We have made our lives boring. We think we know everything about all objects and people in our lives — they become dull. We are taught to understand the world in certain ways and see what ought to be there — not what actually is. And what actually is there is usually vibrant and interesting — if you allow yourself to drop your preconceived notions of the world and simply pay attention.
Now the crucial part seems to me, how to make things that are regarded boring as fun? We can’t always play around, right? There are many right answers to this question but I will answer in the way that is fun for me to write.
Something is fun when you are good at it. Avoid tasks to be failures — especially when you are starting something new. This will happen if you set too high standards or have high pressure to succeed. Take painting for example, say you want to learn to paint a tree. Should you model yourself after the best master and try to paint like that — and inevitably fail and feel bad about the whole experience? That will not make painting fun at all and you will probably stop, because it is boring.
Should you rather go outside and look at a tree, feel it and simply paint as well as you can? With the goal in mind that painting anything remotely close to a tree is learning? Then you will succeed by your own standards and the activity is more fun. Thus, it is more likely you will spend time on it and actually become good because it won’t feel forced. Avoid boredom by allowing yourself to succeed in small way at first then keep upping the level.
What if you really are not able to paint a tree well? Maybe you should model it in clay then. This “don’t let yourself fail” mentality can be applied to any skill or activity. Start with low expectations and reinforce a positive vibe, rather than a negative boring one. See failures as learning experiences rather than failures is a good point as well.
This is all great when you don’t have to take money into account. It becomes more complicated when you consider what you enjoy, and that is also needs to be something others enjoy — because that will earn you money. That however, is a discussion for another time.
Some sources for these thoughts:
Impro by Keith Johnstone:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/306940.Impro.
How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17859574-how-to-fail-at-almost-everything-and-still-win-big
