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- Sep 06 2007
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105 Comments
Age of the Attention Hog
Published in Blog, Effectiveness
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Local TV news programs often follow a very simple directive:
“If it bleeds, it leads.”That’s why crime stories and negative news regularly top the daily newscasts. “Bad news” almost always steals our attention.
The “good news” about the church that raised $100,000 for a blind orphan comes much later in the newscast – if it makes the news at all.
Frustrating, isn’t it? Why do the negatives often grab the spotlight from the positives? Why is our attention drawn to negative thoughts and events?Blame it on the “attention hogs.”
Sept. 11, 2001. It got our attention. Evil terrorist attacks on the United States and the resulting, ongoing war on terrorism. It’s held our attention.
But while fear and bad news often grab the headlines, our “good news” – perhaps your own marketing message – suffers as a consequence of dastardly “attention hogs.” By capturing and holding attention, these hogs leave little room for other more attention-worthy news.
Just who are these attention hogs?
The list is long and it grows longer by the day…
Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, the late Anna Nicole Smith and Princess Diana. They join the ranks of Monica Lewinsky, Barry Bonds, Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey, global warming, Hurricane Katrina, Harry Potter, and the Apple iPhone on our impromptu list.
They are all persons or entities that have won our attention, for better or worse, in the Attention Age.
Not all will hold a treasured place in our memories. In fact, many may be fading as we speak, but they still receive attention. At least for a moment – usually more – and just long enough for us to emotionally brand our brains.
Our attention is a scarce resource, and so is the attention of the marketplace. How we allocate our own attention really matters.
But there are those “attention hogs” among us who are trying to steal more bandwidth. They want real estate in our brains, and with the help of technology and mass media, many have left their mark forever.
Attention hogs not only suck your attention, but they make it more difficult for your own marketing to be successful. In essence, we are all competing with Paris Hilton and the terrorists for attention.
When people are paying attention to them, they’re not paying attention to you and your products.
Terrorism is clearly an instrument of attention-getting cowardice. Osama bin Laden is known worldwide as a terrorist mastermind. His name and face are synonymous with terrorism. Bin Laden’s acts of terror have made an emotional connection in our brain. He captures that much of our attention, as we hope to capture him.
Far from the only evil “hog” in this Attention Age, Bin Laden is joined by the Virginia Tech killer – no name is necessary – as having successfully seared his image and actions in our brain. The tragic events at Virginia Tech in 2007 and the 33 people killed will long be remembered, even if the name of the killer is soon forgotten.
Why do we know or care about Paris Hilton? How do we know about Lindsay Lohan’s progress in rehab? What about Anna Nicole Smith or the intimate details and tragic turns in Princess Diana’s life and death?
All are celebrity-driven drains on our attention, with two receiving more attention in death than the considerable attention they had already received in life.
Why? Because we allow them to take hold of our attention and keep a piece of it for themselves.
Barry Bonds sets a home run record, but we pay more attention to rumors of “performance-enhancement drugs.” Monica Lewinsky becomes infamous for an adulterous affair with President Bill Clinton. Her last name becomes a slang term for oral sex. Now, that’s attention.
Hurricane Katrina is a metaphor for natural disaster, hope and recovery. Global warming straddles the line between hoax and reality. Oprah is Oprah. Harry Potter is a book-selling, movie-making wizard. And the iPhone becomes the “next big thing.”
All claim attention, all are attention hogs. They hold themselves up as “winners” in the Attention Age.
The losers? Anyone who pays too much attention to any one or all of these winners. They are not all worthy of that much attention, but they get it just the same.
Remember: What we give them in attention, we can never reclaim as our own.
So let me ask you this: What are you receiving from all of the attention you freely give?
In other words… What is your “return on attention” – your personal ROA – from the attention you so willingly pay to the attention hogs?
Create a list of the “good” and “bad” attention hogs in your life.
Tell us what you demand in return from each attention hog and how you will make them earn your attention in the future.
Let’s discover new ways to channel our attention, fight off the hogs, and help our businesses grow.
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105 Comments to “Age of the Attention Hog”
Here’s my list:
My wife.. have to try finding more time for attention. I know this has great ROA.
My blog- have to quit looking at it after I post. I’m impatient and want traffic. No ROA here.
My adwords and adsense. Only returns ROA if I cut back on it to once a week.
My autoresponders.. need a new system- it gets too much attention for an auto system
Myself- no attention, probably a good ROA
That’s it.
Hi Rich -
I read the attention age and thought it was right on. I think you may appreciate the following quote if you haven’t already used it:
“In a world where attention is a major scare resource, information may be an expensive luxury, for it may turn our attention from what is important to what is unimportant.”
-Herbert Simon, 1978 Nobel Winner
Keep up the great work.
-Karl
Rich,
Reading email just as soon as it comes in too often grabs my attention. This is a good reminder to set it aside as a 2nd priority.
Colin
1. The likes of Rich Schefren, Jay Abraham, Bob Bly, Cindy Comaford-Lynch: I open their email, read their books, etc…often in an unplanned interrupted manner. I expect and have received high ROA, but the cost is anxiety on other immediate attention needs.
2. News and magazines relating to new business ideas (business 2.0, FastCompany, Inc. etc). I get personal enjoyment from these, yet again since I like these I divert attentio nto them as soon as new info is available - even when it is not the best time to give them attention. moderate ROA expected since it is pleasurable, however it spurns my creative juices.
3. My mind and those damn creative juices. I can and do easily get going on thinking through all aspects of a new business concept (to make it run itself as Rich mandates); this consumes about 1 hour every day. ROA high since this is where I expect to move to an 8 figure annual income.
4. my wife and children. They do not get as much as they should…but when in their presence, they quickly and sporadically get attention. low ROA expected since love in itself is the reward. The ROA here is rather on their part in that they likely (as I do as the recipient) feel better having gotten the attention.
5. Sweet ass Maseratis and Ferraris. Now having bought my first Maserati, I get easily distracted when I see another one on the street. low ROA expected
6. Fellow teammates walking into my office: High ROA since I boot them out if its not about business.
My list consists of:
Clients and agents who call determined that their point of view is the only point of view and expect me to spend my time soothing their egos or listening to them gripe about things they nor I can change.
Chaterria: My granddaughter who at 5 already shows the determination and drive that will make her a success.
My daughters who believe that nothing must be done until mother has been updated.
My husband: Wants more attention than I can possibly give him due to the other attention seekers in my life.
As for the attention getters on the news - I chose not to watch the news and if I do want any updates I choose my topics off the internet and speed read only the portion I’m seeking an answer for. Cuts down on the bombardment of useless and uninteresting information that journalist think we want to know. After all they have a job to do.
Hi Rich,
My biggest attention hogger is definitely reading and studying the works of successful internet marketers and bloggers. Hence this post!
The ROA is to improve my own writings and become better at what I do.
The ‘sports channel’ is a great big hog and the ROA is usually minimal, when watching England play football!
Peter
Subscribing to every marketer’s mailing list, looking for the “slight edge” and then having to continually purge the list after realising there’s not much value being delivered!
Forums suck up a lot of attention too.
Today is my birthday so I want all the attention I can get. My wife and kids will always capture my attention. As for all your points on who steals are attention, you are absolutely correct. What is important however is what of all the attention grabbers spur us to activity. Sports, celebrities and entertainment rarely bring me to act upon what I’m reading or seeing. Human need is an attention grabber and one I don’t dismiss easily. All the other stuff are habits that can easily be replaced.
I need a generic internet marketing system that allows me to perform data base marketing online.
Do you know of a system or software that will capture opt in email addresses that will allow me to perform demographic marketing….
Thanks for your assistance…
Keith
Hi Rich,
I long ago realized that there is trash that is unworthy of my attention. On that list is the “nightly news”, the likes of Anna Nichole Smith, Bill Clinton’s exploits and total hoaxes such as “global warming”. A note on the last one. We have had the technology to measure weather trends for just over 100 years. That is less than half a galactic heart beat. Any time someone pushes something as hard as “global warming” has been pushed, start looking for the money trail. But, if we are wise, we can follow the tactics used by the Henny Pennys to gain the attention for our own cause. It is worthy of note that starting about 30 or 40 years ago, we started to emerge from a mini ice age that lasted several hundred years, based on what has been determined from such studies as tree ring growth, glaciers cores and so on.
On my list of good ROA investments are of course my source of all that is good, my Heavenly Father, my family, the best attention investment on earth, sources of learning (some times takes a while to determine the ROA), my efforts at IM, etc.
I very much consider your e-mails (and blog entries) one of my better investments of attention for learning purposes. I also regularly invest in such as Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor, Zig, Denis Waitely, well you get the idea.
Thanks for your contribution. You do well.
Ken
Sometimes I forget to invest more in myself and my faith walk FIRST which enables me to help others better. Remembering that one thing can put even this most derailed consultant back on track when needed. Everything else just seems to start falling into place piece by piece.
Hey Rich,
I don’t think I’ve seen or heard a commercial in two years because of Tivo and satelite radio - maybe the Super Bowl commercials to see how stupid major brands can be to spend that kind of money for a crap shoot.
My point… I get my news from entertainment…Howard Stern, Bill Maher and John Stewart because I CHOOSE where to pay attention…
Years ago - maybe five - I did a “media cleanse”. Where for 30 days I did not watch tv, listen to the radio or read any daily publications. Everyone in America should do this… you will be amazed at how much cleaner your mind becomes…because 99% of the stuff from mainstream media is pure garbage… this isn’t to say that we shouldn’t be informed…but this inundated lifestyle of crap has me conciously choosing who gets my attention…
I truly appreciate the attention you are putting on this conversation about how we can gain the attention of our target market… I believe more than ever we have to build our businesses one person at a time…what I mean by that is…quality and service…creating the feeling of being a part of something… Apple does this the best… in fact, if you ever speak to a Person who uses a Mac they are committed and loyal to the brand because of how Apple serves them…and the quality of the products.
I believe for my businesses it’s about serving up REAL quality and service and removing the BS of perceived value…perceived value is like cotton candy…it doesn’t sustain…it evaporates and dissapoints - quality and service will keep the attention…I believe that’s why I spend my time with Strategic Profits…I remain because…so far I receive quality and service…keep it up and I’ll be around for years.
Thank you,
Alan
Hurricane Rita has hogged my attention for 2 years. She did so much damage to my farm and has cost me so much time and money for repairs and I am not finished yet. She did clarify my goals though.
The insurance company which did not give me what I consider a fair settlement occupied considerable time. I fought them tooth and nail and I am one of the lucky ones. Some elderly people who paid premiums for years will die without getting what they paid for.
My farm takes most of my time and is my driving passion. Once I decided to repair and continue I knew it was going to be tough but worth my best shot.
The time hog I resent the most is communication media such as computers, internet, customer services, phones, automated menus, etc.. I have no intention of being held hostage by modern tech. so, as much as possible, I am working on ways to reduce my dependence. One thing Hurricane Rita made obvious…when push comes to shove, I can only rely on myself, so I had better prepare myself.
BB
I stopped watching tv 6 years ago, and still find myself being suck-in by the headlines on the internet. But, my #1 attention hog is daydreaming, i am still overwhelm by the amount of info and programs on the net, so i find myself daydreaming about what i’am going to do instead of doing-it. Fear is another attention hog _ it took me 30 minutes to write this and another 15 to hit the submit button.
I like what and how you are doing, but i don’t think it’s simple enough to help the under-educated earn online.
…and thats where i stand…
God Bless
BlueHoss
by far, checking to see if my work is working, and studying how to make stuff work. my attention hog is process itself.
UyOU HIT HTE NAIL ON THE HEAD!!
Attention-stealers in my case:
* Forums
* Writing assignments that don’t pertain to my books
* TV shows (mainly Military Channel and Discovery, at least, so not 100% waste-of-time)
* Telephone voice menus. Even my doctor has one now. ARGH!
* Email. Good Lord, yes. I get upwards of 100 mails a day.
* Needed maintenance to my yard and house. (it distracts from my key thing after my belief in and work for the Heavenly Father, which is my writing)
* My blogs. I’ve been tempted to delete them (have abandoned one entirely, have three others.)
* Website creation and maintenance.
I struggle with this situation daily. I agree with nearly everyone about the ones I didn’t list, too.
Rich,
All of the people involved in Internet marketing are long on promises and short on delivery. The number of people who are being tagged as frauds are growing.
It is definately a buyer beware purchasing anything from anyone who holds themselves out to be an expert in marketing anything on or off line.
Those are the facts. I have followed a large number of the experts for over three years so I have the experience of a long period of observation and I guess too much education
ROD
BS Acc MBA CPA
Thanks Rich,
Obviously I see a ROA by reading your mails, and you know there are many others who send emails that warrant my attention as well.
The REAL problem is in weeding out all the “canned” content and advertising, and discovering the true nuggets of wisdom.
Some very well known marketers that I used to get ROA from have now been relegated to the quick delete, simply for the fact that they’ve followed the “hot promotions train” too often and they’ve lost my respect. (but I guess I got some ROA in that too knowing what NOT to be reading
But overall, with umpteen accounts and membership on apparently EVERYONE’S list (how many times have I won that lottery now??) pound for pound I can categorically say I get my LOWEST ROA from email.
I’m not alone, and this raises the question, how ever will we effectively communicate with mass numbers of people without it?
Best regards all,
Making a mistake when entering my url is another poor ROA!
Hi Rich,
In my opinion, the “Information Age” is over…now is the time for the age of “Wisdom.” Is there any out there? What are we going to DO with all that previously assimilated info?
The attention hog is all around me. My brain was getting fried trying to keep up and then, there it was, the answer to my dilemna and you gave it to me last year. You said; “What’s your time worth”, and now I had to go figure what was productive time and what was wasted time. I got rid of the TV in my office, I only check email 3 times per day, (I used to check it every time a new email came in), I schedule time slots for different tasks and set a goal for each day. My biggest ROA is prioritizing my day the night before. Thanks Rich, I now have an organized day. Now the only thing that needs to be down is to increase my profits. I’m still working on that.
My attention has all been on the project I am working on- a series of free teleseminars with Mark Joyner, Michael Morgan, Tom Justin, Jason Henderson, and 4 others at www.wealthvirus.com. I expect the ROA to be high from all the things I will learn from them over the next 8 weeks of interviews.
This has been a dream of mine for over 2 years, and when I finally started giving it my full attention, things started happening. It has taken a lot more time and energy than I expected, but I’ve already gotten so much back and the interviews haven’t even started yet!
Once the series starts I will turn more attention back to my family. They have been a great support during the long days of setup on this project, and share my excitement.
Tania
Wealth Virus expert
Here’s my list:
1. George Bush, and his administration. Gotta pay attention to him. Expect high ROA from that. Expect more loss of freedoms if you don’t.
2. Congress… although it’s quite boring, as they don’t seem to be doing anything!
3. China - if we don’t pay attention now, we most certainly will have to pay attention in Chinese class later!
4. My email - really low ROA from that - mostly junk, with occasional gems (like your emails).
5. My niche empire. Time to outsource a lot of it like Tim Ferris suggests - but I’ll still need to spend SOME time paying attention!
I’d like to talk about getting the attention of allgurus and investigate the stream of income available to them with the business I do on line. All you need to do is pay attention to this website www.1000aday.biz for the rest of the story.
1. According to Gallup: the average high school spends 6
1/2 hours daily watching TV, Videos, Games, listening
to music and using messaging to communicate.
2. Recent neuroscientific research at the U of N.C.
indicates students are day dreaming 30% of their beta
cps consciousness.
Do adults and in pacticular executives, use their 16
hours of consciousness better? Did you know Executives
(college graduates)read just one book annually according
to the Association of Book Publishers in 2006.
Boring,
Hal
———————————————————
Hi turn off the T.V and get a new life it’s great MIKE
Here is a paradigm,
My attention is spread to thin. I am in the military therefore,
-my daughter lives with her mom, not in the same state
-I need to re-enlist to pay bills (should be done for my country but realized the military is more corprate everyday. THEY will PAY but you have to do WHAT you are told no negotiations for orders. (period)
-I want an online business I can be proud of
-I have removed a TV from my place, only a cell phone, no stereo or anything else. I have a couch and bed, that is it
-I don’t do many social events, just work or online stuff.
-I have no pets, no family nearby (my brother but he is those EOD guys you here about difusing IED’S in Iraq)
-I do dip (use smokeless tobacco, gross I know, but helps with stress.?
-I am gone all the time on military functions.
-How do I manage my time for all of this?
Rich:
Paris Hilton and the like get zero per cent of my attention.
On the other hand when emails from Ken Evoy, Jimmy D. Brown, Dan Kennedy, Perry Marshall, Ross Goldberg, and Mark Hendricks come in they receive my immediate attention.
Oh yeah, your on that list, too, Rich. (LOL)
Robert
My email - have to STOP constantly checking it, worst ROA a person can have
My Stats and Analytics software, if I spend as much time driving traffic as I do analyzing its source I could easily triple my ROA.
Cheers!
Alex
All you so called Gurus who keep taking my attention by sending me useless emails and things like this. see, you have done it again you have got my attention when I should be doing something useful. As for getting the Gurus attention just trying sending them an email asking for their help and they NEVER reply and that includes you Rich.
Hi Rich,
My attention hogs:
1. Email. Particularly automated newsletters. Terrible ROA.
2. Books. Professional development, coaching, business-building books. Good ROA.
3. Maintenance activities. Need to outsource much more of this. Very time-consuming, not very rewarding.
4. Family - very high ROA.
5. Marketing activities. Spotting those that are successful should improve ROA, but I do too much of it in person.
Interesting thought, Rich. I know I really thought the world must be mad to pay so much attention (news in particular) to celebrities - particularly the bad actors.
Laura Huckabee-Jennings
Transcending Your Barriers
www.transcendllc.biz
I’m going to be contrary here. I don’t think we’re living in an age of attention. Lack of attention in todays age is only a side-effect, for the overwhelming amount of information available that is of no importance to us.
I feel the trend is moving from an information age to an age of meaning.
What makes us choose to read, buy or focus any of our attention on something, is its importance in our life.
What makes people buy “green” product over non-green products is its meaning and importance to us.
What do you think?
Hi Rich
You are responsible for bringing this attention attitude to my view.
I have recently shut off my Bell Vu 300 channel for one month now. It great. I find that I have more time to focus on what is important to me. Learning to direct myself where I want to go. Love it! Thanks
My greatest time hog is tweaking my sites to get them to read better, be simpler, be clearer be more focused be, be bee you get the trend
I must confess i am also a forum and blog fan. Just love reading other peoples entries and trying to figure out how they think
Hi Rich…Do I Really have your attention…?
Probably Not!
You’re probably working on one profitable projects that going to take you closer to your goal. or…
Consulting with a business person who building a business without distraction.
I ask myself a lot lately, what does the “Singing Bee”, “Last Comic Standing”, “20/20″ and other television programs has to do with building my list, and creating ways to monetize and bring value to my market place…?
It does nothing but waste valuable time!
Thanks Rich!
-Scott Y
http://www.MLMSponsoringPro.com
My own insecurity is my worst enemy. It pulls in email newsletters and guru promises like a black hole.
Now I know a little more, I’ve begun to apply what I know more effectively. I’ve started to focus on what works. Now it’s about persistence.
I’m a Brit living in Denmark - who the hell is Paris Hilton? Second thoughts, don’t answer that. I’ve lived happily enough to now without knowing that.
I guess that’s what this age of attention rant is all about. Isn’t it?
Right now, my daughter is my biggest attention hog. I willingly give it to her…I won’t get this time with her back (she’s a bit over two years old), but I do wish now and then I could get some heads-down time in more than twenty minute increments!
Biggest attention getters:
1. Sleep.
2. My coaching site for mortgage brokers at http://www.battlecall.com
3. Anything Rich Shrefren has to say.
4. The Internet.
Ok, confessions of the ADD…
1. Spider Solitaire: I play it in between my work priorities and while on “some” phone calls. I think I should remove it from my computer.
2. Emails from other internet marketers. Like many have said, they may have great info but the time used is unplanned, and there is too much of it. And… each email has a link to the great “offer” that takes on a whole new life and generates an additional distraction.
3. Home renovations/improvements/gardening. Always something to do there. I would be better to block time to focus on it and be done!
4. TV: With all good intentions of being in bed earlier, another episode of CSI comes on and I am drawn into it, then it’s late, morning comes too soon… less romance energy and time for my Hubby…
Getting control back is a simple matter of choice each time an attention stealer comes along.
It really feels good to focus, without interruptions, and accomplish my objectives!
Hi Rich,
I am your devoted reader and follower since July 2006. I read all your works, watched all your videos and read the majority of your blog postings…
You are my favorite “Good Hog”, and I feel grateful to God that I share the same time and the same side of the Planet with you…:)
I was so happy to find out the other day that you and I arrived to the same logical conclusion…That the ‘Starbucks formula’ is one of the most successful systems these days, in the Attention Age.
Because of that, I am starting a new business venture right now, and I decided to structure it like a Club - an Exclusive Society where everyone would be welcome…:)
Thank you for giving me your full Attention today.
As to me - I give you my full Attention EVERY DAY of my life…Why? Because Peter Drucker is no more - that’s why!:)
But if I lived in HIS Day & Age - I would give HIM my full attention - believe you me!
Let’s see
1. My dog (sheesh, I wish I got half as much attention)
2. My cell phone (why do I have so many friends?!)
3. My iPod (nuff said)
4. My Ass (is it getting bigger?!)
5. My E-mail (too many gurus)
6. My Desktop (I have a fetish for widescreen wallpapers like those at http://freewidescreenwallpapers.blogspot.com )
7. My Adsense account (why won’t people click the ads?!)
I find one of the rudest set of attention hogs are internet marketers who feel that I want to hear from them every other day whether they have anything valuable to say or not. I recently have started unsubscribing to any lists that send an annoying amount of email OR where I have not received anything of real value despite listening to them for a number of months.
Since I came to this post based on an email from you, you are staying below the stop-bugging-me threshold and also qualify as having produced documents that are meaningful enough for me to want the option of reading more.
Only thing I see missing from this post is — how do you compete in such an ADD society!