Attention span management in today’s world probably means: having your attention span decline slower than everyone else. Everyone is becoming somewhat manic and unfocused. We can debate why this is true, but a reasonable hypothesis is that one’s ability to focus is more easily harmed than helped, and so, over time, even those trying to protect their attention span will see it degrade as technology makes everything faster. Remember that scattered, distracted behavior will rarely get you paid; it is the ability to focus when others can’t that has value…
…Another piece of advice I give to students and recent graduates: Keep expenses low, because you increase your options by doing so. Those whose expenses are systematically high have fewer potential options than those whose expenses are low. When your expenses are low, you can move, study, or pursue new opportunities with much less friction than you can when expenses are high. The same advice applies to romantic partners, pets, possessions, and real estate ownership; recognize that the benefit of having them comes at this cost of higher friction in pursuing new paths. Such commitments also make it harder to correct mistakes when your trajectory veers off course.
The opening paragraph of this chapter suggested that you design your career to develop “incremental value over Google.” Technology and globalization have made almost every field more competitive than ever before. We can expect that increased levels of specialization and competition will be the norm in every field. Being a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none isn’t a good strategic path…
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