Attention Sinks and Time Burglars

Below is a video of Merlin Mann’s talk on “Attention Sinks and Time Burglars”. Here’s some of the stuff brought up:

• Realize how much your time is worth, because some people (telemarketers, spammers, employees, bosses, clients) will abuse it and take it from you at little or no cost to them.
• The notion of the “black box job”.
• Time and attention are precious and finite. We don’t notice this until we’re in short supply.
• Own your time like you own your money. If some obnoxious PR guy goes up to you and asks you for $100, you’d probably say no. But when they come up to you and ask for 2 hours for a meeting, you’ll probably say yes. Have a concrete notion of your time’s worth.
• You are what you repeatedly do. So be mindful of the things you’re doing.

The video is more in-depth, and watching it is worth it if you feel like you’re leaking time and attention everywhere: