Your attention is the most valuable resource in your life, and everyone is after it. We live in a world that’s highly optimized to distract you and suck your energy because your energy follows what you give your attention to. Advertisers are trying to get your attention, right now I’m getting your attention, other people are getting your attention, etc. So you have to selectively choose what you actually give your attention to. Some people give you energy when you give your attention to them, and others just take it from you. You need to really pay attention to the quality of the interaction you are having with the thing or person you are giving your attention to, with the food, with the habit, with the content you consume. If something is always just taking your energy and taking and taking and taking, it will leave you drained, numb, and dull. You can’t really live a profound life, you can’t really self-actualize and self-transcend, if you’re habitually drained by various things in the external world. Some things, and people, just take your energy, and they just suck your attention, while other things actually get it and give to you because they care. They have a high enough moral development to the point where they genuinely care about you.
I want to give some examples now, some very extreme examples, so you get a clear idea of what I’m talking about. Your attention is the most valuable resource in your life. Your energy follows your attention, and what you give your attention to has a formative effect on your mind and your life. For instance, reading a book for hours versus mindlessly scrolling on Instagram for the same hours shows a clear, extreme difference. One is going to have a profound effect on your mind, while the other just sucks your energy, usually for someone else’s selfish gain. It’s twisted, actually. Another example is practicing meditation for one hour a day versus eating hot dogs and watching TV for one hour a day. The shift that occurs over time from choices like these is enormous. What you repeatedly give your attention to shapes your life.
The problem is that humanity has figured out how to hijack your attention. Humanity’s figured out how to manipulate you so that you give your attention to things and people that benefit them, but don’t give you any value. There’s nothing wrong with making money, advertising, or using technology, but the problem arises when these are used in an exclusively selfish way that doesn’t provide meaningful or healthy value to people. Instead, people get addicted to junk. Social media, news, junk food, gaming, online shopping, streaming services, and more have been designed to exploit you. These distractions create addictions within your psyche, leaving you stuck, without knowing a way out, because it’s baked into our culture. Most people don’t know other ways of being. They see everyone else watching TV, eating junk food, scrolling on their phones, and they do the same. They don’t meditate, clean up their diets, go on meditation retreats, or engage in self-actualization and self-transcendence. They don’t even realize other possibilities exist.
Without learning how to protect your attention and focus on what’s meaningful and healthy, your attention will quickly get sucked into something unhealthy in our modern world. There’s so much unhealthy garbage that is incredibly stimulating and easily grabs your attention, especially if you lack discipline, impulse control, a vision for your life, or clarity about your values. Without psychological structure, your psyche is easily distracted and infected. You need boundaries and strategies to counter all the external noise and focus on what’s meaningful and healthy for you.
This is why you need to know yourself. The Greeks said, “Know thyself.” You need to uncover your values, take personality tests, read books, study psychology, practice meditation, connect with like-minded individuals, spend time in nature, eat for nutrition, not escapism, and sit in an unstimulating, undistracted room by yourself. Have you noticed how hard it is to sit without stimulation? You constantly jump for distractions. Our culture reinforces this behavior with an endless bombardment of advertisements, games, TV shows, and material junk that doesn’t provide real value. This overstimulation causes mental illness and cracks in your psyche, all for the benefit of others exploiting you.
You need to protect yourself. Without strong boundaries and healthy habits, your life can easily be consumed by distractions. I talk to people who spend 10 hours a day scrolling on their phones, but it’s not just phones—it’s all forms of overstimulation infecting your body, mind, and soul. You need awareness, boundaries, and habits to counter these influences. Build principles and values that prioritize your health and well-being because we live in a sick world. This isn’t something you’ll learn in school or see on the news.
Defend yourself from a numb existence, from the constant bombardment of distractions. Our culture is built on escaping reality, avoiding the present, and suppressing pain. We can’t just be present in our existence. Sitting quietly in a room is unbearable for most people—they get bored, angry, or anxious. Instead, they cope with distractions to avoid unprocessed emotional pain. This pain doesn’t disappear; it gets stored in the body, cycling back repeatedly until addressed.
Pay attention to how you feel when your attention is absorbed in certain activities. Notice the quality of energy from the things you engage with. For example, compare waking up and scrolling your phone to waking up and meditating, drinking water with lemon, going for a run, or journaling. As you go through your day, notice the energetic flow between you and the things you interact with, whether it’s food, habits, or people. Is the energy exchange positive or negative? When you meditate consistently, you become highly sensitive to these exchanges and can no longer ignore them.
If something drains you—leaving you exhausted, foggy, or sick—you need to cut it out. Examples of draining activities include eating fast food, mindlessly scrolling, and excessive entertainment. If something energizes you—making your body feel alive, your mind sharp, and your spirit clear—these are the things to prioritize. Examples include meditation, nature, reading, writing, solitude, and spending time with healthy people who care about you. Seek interactions and habits that provide a fair energy exchange and avoid those that exploit you.
Some people naturally give value because they’ve transformed themselves into individuals who effortlessly provide it. Engage with such people and habits, and cut out those that only take from you. Protect your attention and energy so your life isn’t drained by meaningless distractions. Take control of your focus, build habits that nourish you, and live intentionally.