I just started reading (well, listening really) to a book called The 4-Hour Work Week By Timothy Ferriss, it has been an inspiring read so far so at this point I do recommend it! But, it got me thinking about the different “ways” of life that people have. This includes religious beliefs, cults, systems, fundamental laws, or whatever other variation of ideas that guide the way one lives. It may seem strange that a book about how to shorten your work week would get me thinking about these sorts of things, but I am an existentialist at heart and tend to take a giant step back to view the cosmic themes that such works have.
The conclusion that I came to after pondering this topic is that everything essentially comes back to attention. The very essence of a lifestyle is determined by what you do and or don’t pay attention to. After writing this statement, it may seem quite obvious and almost so basic that its a form of unspoken common knowledge, but looking at the fundamentals of things can often bring about great ideas.
What I am getting at with this idea of attention being the basis for a lifestyle is that the way humans, especially in modern day, attention is everything. By simply deciding to attend to one thing or another more often than not, or refuse to attend to something, one can drastically change their lifestyle. Now more than ever, we as a species really have the opportunity to pick and choose where our attention goes, and how it is “spent.” The mobility that advancements in technology have given us, looking at the very recent past, is a big contributing factor in my opinion.
Through having a device such as a smartphone, tablet, computer etc. and being somewhere with access to wifi, a person has the ability to put their attention towards almost anything of their choosing. Which hypothetically means endless possibilities. Yet, it doesn’t.
Attention is a limited resource and there is only so much of it to go around. Another limiting factor is time. There is only so much time in the day. But if you can come up with the right combination of the two, you can really do anything you put your mind to, and that is really cool. Despite my long tangent, this theme is essentially what Timothy Ferriss’ book is getting at. By making the right choices about time and what you give your attention to, you can change your life entirely and be “successful” in whatever way you want to be.
Discovering Passion(s) 