The scarcity of human attention

A decade ago I heard a graduate professor suggest that the next item of scarcity in the world could be human attention. The comment arose from a conversation around advertising. Advertising, like children tugging at our coats, desperately competes for our attention. But so too does work, play, sleep, and relationships. Every day we make decisions, conscious or not, about what "makes the cut" for how we spend our attention.

Attention isn't just time. Attending to a task or a person requires concentration. Brain scientists tell us that multitasking isn't as efficient as it feels; context switching may be efficient for computers, but it's terribly inefficient for humans. This isn't just true of texting and driving--it's also true when you're e-mailing, checking FaceBook, finishing a proposal, and participating in a meeting. Multi-tasking just doesn't save time; it actually takes more time than attending to each item in sequence.

Next up: awareness.

gasoline

I was at Costco buying gasoline recently. It was a zoo--long lines and a bit of waiting in exchange for a price a few cents cheaper than ordinary gas stations.

I picked a line and waited in the car with my wife. At some point I noticed a person stretching the gas nozzle around to the opposite side of his car. "How strange," I thought, "that they wouldn't pull up with the gas cap right next to the pump."

There being nothing to do but wait, I kept looking around. I thought to myself, "Hey, there's another one--that woman is stretching the gas nozzle across her car to the gas cap on the side opposite the pump."

When I saw a third, I got really curious--and I mention it to my wife. Pretty soon I decide to do a count. Of the people in my line-of-sight, 7 out of 9 were filling up gas tanks on the opposite side of the car from the pump. 7 out of 9. 77%.

Now maybe it was just a fluke. But as someone who nearly always chooses the wrong checkout line in the supermarket, I find myself incredibly curious about the dynamics of group thinking that leads to so many people wrestling a long gas nozzle and hose to the opposite side of their vehicle.

I plan on getting gas at Costco again to have another look. Stay tuned...

Price point

Why is $4.00 per gallon of gasoline such a powerful price point?

If a couch we were considering buying went from $350 to $400, most of us wouldn't lose too much sleep over it. It's still in the ballpark. If a candy bar increased from 35¢ to 40¢, few of us would mind the extra nickel.

When gasoline surpasses $3.50 per gallon and starts approaching $4.00, people seem to get a little upset. I recently read that when gas prices spike, AAA has more calls from drivers who run out of fuel. Think of it--people would rather risk being stranded than fuel their automobile.

Why $4.00?

Fish metaphors

"You learn more from the fish you lose than from the ones you land." I've said this about steelhead fishing. Getting one to the bank is rewarding, but there's nothing like the sting of a fish lost due to a poorly set hook, a weak knot, slack line, or some other form of sloppy fishing. The sting is what cements the learning. I often learn lessons like this "the hard way," and the lessons stick.

I'm reading Roger Harrison's book, Consultant's Journey, and a line from that book reminds me of this fishing truth. The line is this one:

I remember hearing that one of the significant findings of Robert Blake and Jane Mouton's work on intergroup competetion is that losing groups learn more than do winners (55).

If the goal is catching fish, then getting one to the bank and to the table is a rewarding experience. If the goal is learning, then losing a fish has more lasting impressions. What implications might this have for organizations?