What do you think when you see the image above?

Maybe that it’s something obvious.

And in theory, it is.

We know what it represents intuitively.

But in practice, things change.

We don’t think about what constitutes our current economy:

The battle for your attention.

YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Netflix, WhatsApp, emails…

Each wanting to rent a space in your mind.

You don’t know it, but your attention is priceless.

Literally.

These and other companies used to spend millions to get it.

Today, they spend billions.

Billions that, in the future, will become trillions.

Trillions that, by getting your attention, will generate even more money.

There is a very clear message here:

If you master your attention, your life will change in unimaginable ways.

To prove this, do an exercise now.

Ask yourself who you would be today if five years ago you had:

– Drastically reduced/cut out the time on social media;

– Swapped the content you consume for another aligned with your goals;

– Focused on the language you need to learn for who knows how many years.

Genuinely do it.

Pause your reading and visualize who you would be today.

How your life would be.

What friendships you’d have.

What you would have already achieved.

Do it now.

And once done, think:

The only thing that prevented you from having that life was your attention.

Or rather, the lack of mastery over it.

It’s no wonder that in English there’s the verb “to rewire”.

Literally, to rebuild the wiring.

Mastering your focus is reorganizing your brain’s “wiring.”

This is only possible due to neuroplasticity.

The brain’s power to integrate new information and change behaviors and beliefs.

In practice, the brain’s power to build another ‘self’.

How to do it and stop self-sabotaging?

Here are a couple of steps:

1. Organize your physical environment.

As Aristotle said, it is the nature of the wise to put in order.

A disordered place is the result of a disordered mind.

So, start small.

Organize your desk.

Your room.

Your kitchen.

Make your environment help you be organized, not the opposite.

2. Organize your digital environment.

Whether we like it or not, computers and phones are part of our daily lives.

Both have an arsenal of distractions carefully designed for you.

If you don’t arm yourself against them, you’ll continue to be stuck.

So, start by organizing your home screen.

Leave only the apps that are absolutely necessary.

If necessary, delete the apps that get in your way the most.

Unfollow/mute profiles misaligned with your goals.

Be pragmatic here.

No sitting on the fence.

And finally, use the “Do Not Disturb” mode.

Enough with the “but it’s just that…”

Your attention is too valuable to be wasted.

3. Use metacognition.

To have metacognition is to be aware of your own thoughts.

Currently, we are directed to reactive lives, not active ones.

We see a post we don’t like and leave a comment.

We read bad news and feel the need to share our indignation.

This is where metacognition can save us.

Being aware that this is just a behavioral pattern.

It’s exactly what the platforms want us to do.

Spend hours and hours liking, commenting, arguing, etc.

This will get you absolutely nowhere.

Whenever you’re caught in such a chain reaction, remember:

This is just a reaction to something, it’s not who I really am.

Don’t be reactive, be active.

Be the master of your attention.

It is by mastering it that you will become everything you want to be.

Fluent in another language.

In a better position at your job.

More confident than ever before.

In short, who you were born to be.

Everything will come through your attention.

So, once again I say:

Master your attention = Master everything.