It's also interesting to see how certain companies use the lack of attention control to their advantage.

>Curious/Want to share? Type in Facebook.com

>Bored? Open up the Twitter app

>Don't feel like working? news.ycombinator.com

>Need to check on a quick fact? Type it into Chrome/Google Search bar

The best companies leverage this to their advantage. They tie human emotions/behavior into their own products. Once you've reach that kind of penetration, it's takes a lot of effort for a competitor to build that kind of "integration".

When I started seeing how many times I visited HN/Facebook/Twitter I made a concerted effort to at least cut it in half. Did I miss out on a lot? Not really. Did I get a lot more work done? Yeah.

I told myself I would cut down many times before, but it never really worked since I didn't fully commit to it. If you 're in that position (or just want some motivation), I'd more than happy to help you stay on track (It's something that I'm really interested in). Just shoot me an email (hnusername - gmail.com).

I did something similar with TV watching. I'm always lamenting the fact that I don't read enough, don't do enough coding side projects, etc. So with the exception of new Mad Men and Community episodes [0], I've cut out TV.

So now whenever I want to watch TV, I just think "what's something else I could do?" Mostly I've filled that time with exercise and reading: a net positive.

[0] On Amazon Instant and Hulu, respectively

That's interesting. I've just really started paying attention to the effect that my constant (almost compulsive) "internet checking" behaviour has on me and I'd be very interested in the steps you've taken to halve your addiction (if that's the right word)?

I just emailed you -- interested to hear your reply.

I think this applies not just to motivation, but results/productivity. In 'The Fire From Within' (1984) Castaneda says that REAL learning (his emphasis) takes place only in a state of heightened awareness. The essential path to heightened awareness is attention; thus attention control is ESSENTIAL (my emphasis) to any kind of productivity gain or behavior change.

And sumukhi is correct - the pervasive marketing of instant gratification, whether from Madison Ave or Twitter et al is really creating a sort of de-evolutionary effect, whereby human behavior is often marked by self-destructive impulses, with the attendant lack of self-control.

Creativity may seem to arise during a period of inattention but has been well documented to actually occur (seemingly spontaneously) as a result of an immersion in attention (the "the harder I work the smarter\luckier I get" effect.

Am I the only one who feels attention is overrated? The thing is that lack of attention is correlated with creativity: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/02/why-being-sleepy-a...

This is why most people hate morning classes. Your brain hasn't fully woken up yet, so you're less attentive, but more creative. Of course, most college classes reward paying attention over creativity, so it's usually bad for people to take morning classes.

Yes, but creativity needs structural boundaries in order to be channeled into practical use. A combination of structured ("focused") and unstructured time is probably ideal.

Structure need not be extrinsically imposed, though; it can be self-directed (otherwise known as discipline).

It's interesting that you put it that way, because I also feel discipline is overrated too. :-)

That said, I'm by far not saying that attention is unimportant. I'm just saying that it doesn't deserve the importance we assign it.

Also, I would like to see evidence that scheduling distractions like that still yields the same creativity benefit. Scheduling your distractions would seem to defeat the purpose, wouldn't it? Planning for unstructured time isn't the same as not paying attention. It's paying attention to something random, which isn't the same thing as not paying attention.

There is a simple way to summarize:

Attention/concentration strengthens neural pathways, and allows you to make further use of them. Lack of attention promotes creativity, i.e. creating NEW pathways and connections in the brain.

At least that's the way I think of it.

"Control your reality like a TV set": http://rejectiontherapy.com/control-your-reality-like-a-tv-s... goes into the four states of attention and Attention Theory Control. Essentially, our perspective we use to interface with existance either gives us power or makes us a victim of circumstance.

Perspective is our power, and it affects everything, including motivation.

This article was profound because of the parallel drawn between meditation and CBT. The latter suddenly makes a lot of sense to me.