Time and Attention
our precious resource
1,000 books
I was reorganizing my bookcase when it hit me: I have a lot of books. And a lot of them are unread.
I read about 2 books a month, 24 a year. That is, if I’m consistent. If I live for another 50 years, I’ll read about 1,200 more books. Give or take.
But then I’ll re-read some books, so the number of books I’ve yet to read shrinks further. A life with 1,000 more books.
I love books. They are a store of wealth—our history, our knowledge, and lives. 1,000 books is just not enough. I don’t think I’ll even get there.
That sucks.
So many waiting to be read. So little time.
Paradox of Abundance
We are drowning in abundance.
Not just books. Streaming services flood us with TV shows and movies. Our feeds never run out of blogs, podcasts and songs. Online stores lure us with unlimited choices.
We want it all.
We fool ourselves into thinking we’ll get around to it someday. But that someday never comes. There’s always something else. Something more. More distractions. More noise. More things demanding our time and attention.
Psychologists call this the paradox of choice: when overwhelmed by too many options, we end up with analysis paralysis. We hesitate. Or, we choose, but regret it—buyer’s remorse—wondering if the other option was better.
So, we scroll endlessly. Sampling a little bit of everything. Savoring nothing.
We have more content than ever before. More knowledge, more entertainment, more ways to fill our time.
We call them ‘content,’ but they contain nothing.
It’s a wonder why we often feel unfulfilled.
Commodification
Attention is scarce. Time is finite. These are precious resources
Yet, the modern world treats them like commodities to be exploited.
Platforms don’t charge us money to use them. But we pay all right. We pay with our time and attention, and the platforms monetize them.
If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
The apps bombard us with notifications. They craft headlines designed to hook us. They fine-tune algorithms to keep us scrolling. They want our eyeballs glued onto their platforms.
And it works! The endless hits of dopamine get us high, but for a moment. When it fades, we feel empty. So, we go back for another fix.
But the real cost isn’t just wasted time. It’s what we lose in the process. Every moment given to distractions is a moment taken from something else.
That opportunity cost is neglect.
Neglect of deep work. Neglect of relationships. Neglect of long-term goals. Neglect of the things that truly make life rich and meaningful.
Currency
Look at the language we use:
We spend time.
We pay attention.
Like currency, our time and attention can be wasted—or invested.
“focus your time and energy on what you want to see more of.”
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Imagine dedicating your time to mastering a new skill, nurturing a deep relationship, or pursuing a creative passion.
Imagine the satisfaction of your efforts bearing fruit: your understanding deepens, your bonds grow, and your works take shape.
The more time and focus we put in, the more we get out of it. Invest your attention to the superficial slop, and you’ll feel hollow and ever more diminished. But direct our attention and invest our time in more meaningful pursuits—skills, relationships, meaningful work—they’ll compound.
One Lifetime
The most precious resource of all, of course, is life itself.
The heart will beat a set number of times.
Then, it will stop.
If this life is all there is, every wasted moment is gone, forever.
If this life is one of many, every choice we make in this life has consequences beyond it.
Either way, the stakes are that high.
And yet, we treat our time so cheaply.
We give it away for free. We so easily, eagerly, surrender our lives to whatever shouts the loudest for our attention.
Our lives are being spent. With every passing second.
Spend it well.
Inspirations
Tim Urban from wait, but why?