Season 5 Episode 8: A Wealth of Information Creates a Poverty of Attention

Season 5 Episode 8: A Wealth of Information Creates a Poverty of Attention. See the infinite light cast over the information super-highway that spreads all around creating vast wealth is not without creating mass poverty of attention in the process.
Season 5 Episode 8: A Wealth of Information Creates a Poverty of Attention

We’ve never lived in a time with more information coming at us every single day. We are surrounded by ‘clickbait,’ misinformation, gossip, and messages aimed to steal our attention. What needs our focus, our attention, our hearts?

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SHOW NOTES

1:47 – Jason introduces Season 5 episode 8 of the podcast, A Wealth of Information Creates a Poverty of Attention. Welcome back to the podcast on corporate culture and leadership and thank you for listening. We engage thought leaders like CEOs, CFOs, managers, VPs, directors, and more for this podcast. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. We deep dive into today’s topic.

2:20 – We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with. If you have a suggestion, please send it to info@jasonvbarger.com

3:00 – Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!

5:10 – Jason talks about a Harvard Business Review study about how modern workers shift their focus an average of 300-500 times; this study was before the times of smartphones!

The switch cost from MIT, says it takes our brains 10-15 minutes to get back on track to the original task whenever we are distracted.

6:45 – Jason talks about the MIT study and the “switch cost” and what that means to the average worker. Imagine all the times you were distracted and how many times your brain takes 10-15 minutes to get back on track.

9:47 – Tips to handle disruptions that you and your team can take with you to navigate through this time. Remind yourself daily,

  1. He/She who aims at nothing hits it every time. For ourselves and for our teams and organizations. We need to be clear about what we are aiming for. What are our highest priorities?
  2. Where you look is where you go. When you are clear on priorities, we need to give our eyes, our heart, our focus to those highest priorities. Keep your eyes on positivity.
  3. Be aware of what is intoxicating to us. Step back and say, let’s be aware of the things that seem to steal your attention or the attention of your team. Sometimes teams get into habits that seem to distract them more easily than others. What are they? Can you name them?
  4. What narratives are you sharing personally? What narratives are you sharing as a team? Many people get intoxicated by that gossip and negativity and many teams end up spreading false narratives that are not helpful in what you are trying to build or the future you are trying to create.

15:30 – What are the narratives that you want to spread with other people or that your cultural ecosystem needs to share and spread? Jason provides a summary of all the top tips to keep focus and avoid the switch cost.

16:10 – Plato said, “What is honored will be cultivated”. Does our daily, weekly, monthly, yearly plan honor your goals or the culture you are trying to create?

Questions to Ponder

  1. What information, messages, narratives, are not helping or are toxic in your life or work right now?
  2. What priorities messages, narratives, need more attention?
  3. How can you schedule more reflection time to help align the culture you want to create?

Remember, the best leaders, teams, & cultures stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.


If you like the podcast, have a question, or just want to share your thoughts about daring to begin please leave a comment below or please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts.

ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT

Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.

A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families, or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.

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