How To Understand And Use Attention To Your Advantage.
For our life, work, and writing
No, I am not Gary Vee. I am not going to preach that we need to be omnipresent on all social media platforms. What he says makes sense, and there are also many other nuggets of wisdom that makes sense. We can listen to what he says, and we can listen to others too.
When it comes to attention, I agree with the Greats that it precedes everything. Imagine heading into a meeting with a client we have never met. We arrived on time and was brought to the meeting room. The door opens. And we hear this.
“Ah, Aldric. The man is in the house!”
Now, of course, that doesn’t happen to me all the time. I am writing this example because it happens to me occasionally, although I would like it to be more frequent than it is today. I want to make a case in point. When people know us, life is so much easier.
That is because we no longer need to do any self-introduction or break-the-ice. We can jump straight into the “How is your day”/ “These are great cookies!” and then start our meeting proper.
Heck, I think there really isn’t any need to introduce what we do, what businesses we run, and what values we stand. People already know us!
From here, we know that there are ways to hold people’s attention. That said, holding people’s attention is a 1st World issue, and it can be done through education, entertainment, and/or helping others earn some money fast. There you have it. I presented 3 solutions to hold people’s attention.
What is the prelude to holding people’s attention? As simple as it sounds, it is actually to GET people’s attention. And don’t thumb your nose at this. It is actually God-Forbid-Just-Freaking difficult.
We have to learn from the Masters if we don’t want to bang our heads into the wall while learning how to get attention. Who are the Grandmasters in this arena of business and life?
I have 2 to learn from — The Little Ones and our mobile phones.
Kids are the Grandmasters of attention marketing. I was in a Starbucks yesterday seeking inspiration for writing while waiting for a prospect to arrive. At my 2 o’clock is a Dad with 2 princesses. The girls are having a fun time outdoors laughing aloud and making a fool of themselves.
Their Papa? He is working on his laptop and speaking into his phone while clipping it firmly using his left cheek and shoulder.
His princesses aren’t getting his attention. His work does. Are they disappointed? No. They know the secret sauce. This is what they did. They went to their Papa, each princess shaking a different leg and ask the following question.
“Papa, can I have your FULL attention? Papa, can I have your FULL attention?”
They made their intent known, knowing full well that their Daddy is juggling multiple balls in the air. He looked at them with love and decided to give the balls a break.
All it takes is to ask. Sometimes, you get what you ask. Of course, try being cute help.
Next, our mobile phones. Our smartphones are brilliant at getting our attention. They are great at getting our attention all the time through their visual attacks. The way to think about it — If we let them.
And we allow our smartphones to grab our attention via endless notifications. What’s App, direct messages from FaceBook, Linkedin work to grab our attention through visual attacks.
A black screen will light up with a notification banner when messages are received. Find it hard to avoid staring at the phone when it lights up? That is the point.
If we think about it, this source of attention-grab attempts are made by the people around us and is reflected through the devices in connection. They are looking to get our attention via the devices we carry daily.
When we understand this — We can deploy this into our writing. For instance, headlines that capture attention such as “How to Make $X On Medium In A Month”.
If we start seeing Medium stories attached to posts from our social media connections? Our connections are trying to get our attention through our social media accounts. They know we are online.
This is how attention really works. Many people work to get it, hold it through their Medium Stories. And that is a good thing. It hones our writing to be sharp. We will also work to pack a punch in our writing.
Since this is an inevitable process, why not work to use it to our advantage?
Use Attention To Our Advantage,
Aldric
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About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure.
Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
As a Consultant by training, I believe in making the complex simple.
Because simplicity adds value.
And with clarity — We grow.
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