Friday, 5 June 2015

Poverty of Attention



Information consumes attention, wealth of information leads to poverty of attention –Herbert Simon.
The sheer magnitude of information we are forced to consume, assimilate and act upon is an indication of the turbulent times we are in. The first casualty in dealing with this onslaught is Focus, Leaders grapple with sense making from all the various messages and stimuli and deal with it in their own way. It becomes more important to make the leaders stop doing something than in doing something new, this state of zen or FLOW can arise only when the expertise and skill required to achieve the task is at the right proportion, if skill is higher than the task being performed, it leads to boredom .If the skill required is lower than what’s expected for the task ,apathy sets in.

Being able to filter and the ability to distil the essence of complex decision making into granular functions is extremely important. The brain when functioning at peak efficiency is actually at a satisfying hum of a superb engine rather than a frantic throbbing roar, this happens when the brain is fully immersed in performing the task. When regular actions become habits, the brain expends lesser energy in performing the same .


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