The Attention Wars - Know Your Enemies!

We live in a safer world now (I speak from my privileged  position in it). But we still have wars and the biggest war is fought 24/7 - it is the war for our attention. We have enemies in this war and we can use their image to motivate healthier habits. In this blog I'll talk about how I use it to get up early, to stop distraction and to focus on my goals.  Let's do this! 

I've been enjoying the music of Akira The Don, who makes beats to accompany soundbites from inspiring speakers. In this tune he takes a speech from Jocko Willink - an ex Navy-Seal - to inspire us to use the enemy image to get up early. I paraphrase quips from Jocko here:

• "I like to have that psychological win over the enemy. When I wake up in the morning... I'm thinking about the enemy and what they're doing. "
• "I imagine there's a guy rocking back and forth, with a machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other, and he's waiting - for me! We're going to meet!"
• "I'm thinking to myself what can I do to be ready for that moment? Which is coming"
• "Successful is someone who brings light into that darkness"
• "I will use the word 'Fearless' not because they didn't have fear, but that  they overcame it, all the time." (This is from the song  'This Is It')
• 'To live and fight and die like a warrior - to overcome fear - that to me is success. Regardless of the outcome.'

Who have you made your enemy?

We mostly use the enemy image unconsciously. We make enemies of our friends, other people and even ourselves. We don't realise we do this and we also don't realise the negative effects it has on our mood, body and relationships. Two examples come to mind: 

• Some Left Liberals imagine bitter, short sighted Tories, hoarding money and shitting on the environment. The worry that the world is being dragged into fascist and environmentally destructive dystopia leads them to become more and more radical in their rebellious approach. 
• Some Right Conservatives imagine lazy, workshy hippies, draining the national purse illegally. This leads them to despise people who are in poverty and become judgemental and bitter and try to make stricter and harsher rules. 

These examples of 'othering' can also be done consciously - We can make up a story to help us and thus avoid the negative side effects of confusing imagination with reality. Here is how I do it:

Modern Enemies Look Like This:

I imagine two main enemies in this modern battle:. I understand these are characters and not 'real' people (who are more complex). The following  images help motivate me to thwart the attention wandering.  

#1: The Corporate Attention Masters.
Think Mark Zuckerberg meets Jeff Bezos; Money hungry business tycoons that exploit people in a trance to create content for them and buy stuff on their online platforms, as they bombard you with stimulus. This robs you of your most precious commodity -your attention. You become a zombie consumer, lost in a trance of media and products and left lost in a world of comparison and confusion.  This is enemy #1 .

 #2: The Online Attention Provokers
I imagine spoiled, resentful and entitled tweens and twenty somethings, on Reddit and YouTube (like Jake Paul, Morgz , Liza Koshy, Logan Paul, Alissa Violet - I had to research these - it's scary stuff). They want your attention too - to drag you into liking or hating them - spreading (mis)information and sparking pointless debates about irrelevant stuff, leaving you feeling guilt, shame and anger. This includes text message wars on the phone. This is enemy #2.

The truth is: These enemies are inside you

I teach this and I still forget at times - such is the power of the modern trance.
Whenever we create an enemy image it is usually a representation of a part of ourselves that we repress, but very much lives inside.  When I consider my enemies - yes there are people in the world like that but the real enemy is my own pattern of distraction and then blaming, whilst ignoring my own body and mind. The real enemy is within.

The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”. -  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

So what can I do?
I take the advice of Ghandi and Jocko (can you imagine these two combined!? What a team!)
Be the change I want to see and Prepare for battle with the enemy. Just  like in this video ​we must recognise the inner parts if we are to tame them. This means discipline and boundaries.

What this means in practice: 

• Practice Discipline and Boundaries: Starting my day well, off the smartphone and using techniques (which I teach and coach) to liberate myself from online and offline distractions that only serve the corporate Zuckerberg's of the world. 
• Practice Gratitude and Empathy: I use mindfulness to create more love and less hate in myself and in my relationships. I step back from online debates (including text messages) and have real conversations and real relationships. 

For me this means I have a morning routine of getting up early, meditating, journaling, working out and then a daily practice of using Pomodoro's to stay focused and gradually changing my online habits. I keep the enemies in my mind to remind me of the parts within. 

If you'd like to learn some of these techniques and develop a healthy relationship with yourself and others please get in touch and do some coaching with me. 

I want better focus and healthier relationships !