The Attentive Rebellion

Like almost everyone, the past decade had a profound impact on my attention span. Difficulty focusing. Feeling overwhelmed. An endless cascade of notifications, messages and “content” of every type imaginable.

To combat this, I used a number of techniques with varying degrees of success over the years. I became more and more fixated on the subject over time, talking about the phenomenon with friends and seeking out articles, books, studies, podcast episodes myriad other sources to to develop a deeper understanding of what was happening.

Since leaving my job as Content Director at a marketing agency earlier this year, I’ve used what I’ve gained through my obsession research on attention and its overlap with the recent explosion of available information to start building effective strategies for resisting the negative effects of the attention economy and prioritizing the right information.

Which led to an important realization: we are what we pay attention to.

It’s a statement with profound implications, and it’s what prompted the launch of The Attentive Rebellion. Bear in mind, it’s an ongoing, messy work in progress — a journey I’m excited to share with readers.

You can join that journey here: https://attentiverebellion.com

For now, this is a free email newsletter delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Ultimately, I’m hoping this is a springboard to creating a community for those interested in connecting, sharing ideas and building something bigger.

It helps readers:

•Understand how and why your attention is being stolen
•Identify what you can do about it (your options)
•Figure out what you should do about it

To be clear: the goal isn’t to convince anyone to opt out of the attention economy. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I want to empower people to successfully participate in the attention economy on their terms, in ways that align with their values and goals.

In my experience, most well-known experts tackling this topic focus on A) maximizing productivity by blocking out distractions or B) personal restrictions and extreme minimalism.

The Attentive Rebellion offers an alternative — a middle ground.