Your attention is being hijacked. Chris Bailey can help.

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Politics, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.5 • 11.1K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2018

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Life is the sum focus of what you pay attention to. You hear that a lot. But look at the verb there: “pay” attention to. As if attention is something we consciously spend out. As if it’s something we control. But do we? Not these days. There’s a war on for our attention, and we’re often losing it. Chris Bailey’s Hyperfocus looks, from the outside, like a book about productivity. But it’s really one of the best books I’ve read about attention: what it is, how much it can hold, how we lose track of it, and how to get it back. This is a conversation about paying attention to your attention, making sure you’re controlling it rather than accidentally letting it — and all the multibillion-dollar companies working to hijack it — control you. This is one of those conversations that, if you can apply it, will actually make your life a bit better, a bit more your own. Recommended books: Getting Things Done by David Allen Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana How Not to Die by Michael Greger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Productivity, it's not about how busy we are. It's how much we accomplish. I don't think we've ever been so busy while
0:07.7	accomplishing so little
0:21.1	Hello welcome to the Clanchon on the Vox Media podcast network. William James wrote a line I love
0:26.6	He said we must reflect that when we reach the end of our days our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to whether by choice or default
0:35.7	Our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to yeah, that seems about right and I'm thinking about that quote
0:41.8	Staring at Chris Bailey's new book hyper focus. It's this really red cover with this giant arrow on it and honestly just looking at it
0:49.4	Stresses me out a little bit
0:50.4	But what's in this book has stayed with me for months now
0:53.8	This is a book about how to control what you pay attention to it's a book about what your attention actually is how much it can really hold how easily
1:01.7	We overwhelm it and how often we're not even sure where it is
1:05.8	This is something I believe really strongly one of the great struggles of living in this age
1:10.8	Not the only one but a more important one that people give a credit for is
1:14.4	Keeping control over our attention because everyone and everything around us is trying to hijack it at all times
1:20.4	Trying to make it so we're not paying attention to things we should be paying attention to and it matters in our lives
1:25.7	And it matters for government and justice and politics and being happy and being a good friend and family member
1:31.6	I don't think we have a good discourse around this, but I think it is so important and this is a conversation about it
1:38.5	This is a conversation in a world trying to take your attention from you about how to fight back as always you can email me at
1:44.9	As a client show at Vox.com again as we're client show at Vox.com. Here's Chris Bailey
1:51.0	Chris Bailey welcome to the podcast as we're client. Thanks for having me on the podcast
1:55.1	So here's where I wanted to start. How do you become a productivity expert? What does it mean to be a product? Oh, man
2:02.2	Is anybody really an expert?
2:04.2	I have the back of your book right here. I have the back of your book and the first thing it says is Chris Bailey is a productivity expert
	...

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