Attention Span Shorter Than A Goldfish??

Attention span shorter than a Goldfish!!!  What??!!…  How could this be true?  You have got to be kidding me!!

So at work this week I watched a webinar on Marketing.  The presenter made a couple of statements that I found to be very surprising.  So back in 2012, the average attention span was about 12 seconds.  The attention span of a goldfish is 9 seconds.  The statement that really surprised me is that as of 2015 the average human attention span is now 8 seconds.

One second worse than a GOLDFISH!  That was back in 2015 it is probably even shorter now.  I thought that this was a really sad commentary on our society that we can’t even focus for more than 8 seconds.

As technology increases, I think our attention spans will continue to get shorter. How do you effectively hold someone’s attention for 8 seconds in order to be able to present a new idea?

One of the exercises in Haanel is to concentrate your attention for 10 minutes.

“…you can not do it; the mind will wander a dozen times and it will be necessary to bring it back to the original purpose, and each time the effect will have been lost and at the end of 10 minutes nothing will have been gained, because you have not been able to hold your thought steady to the purpose.”

Going from 8 seconds to ten minutes is a big jump.  In order to cultivate your power of attention, it takes practice and practice and practice.  I have noticed in my morning meditation how much my mind wanders.  In fact, in one of my earlier posts I talk about the concentration of a hungry cat:

Week 20 – Learning from my cat

“Attention has been held to be the distinguishing mark of genius.  The cultivation of attention depends upon practice.” (pg126)

Haanel also says that it is only

“thru attention that you will finally be able to overcome obstacles of any kind that appear in your path onward and upward, and the only way to acquire this wonderful power is by practice.”

It is attention and relaxation combined that really help in overcoming obstacles. With the mind, inspiration comes when it is relaxed and not stressed.  This applies to the importance of meditation, yoga, the sit in the morning to focus on your purpose.  Start and end your day with clarity.