What Gets Your Attention?

An invitation to a conversation with yourself about the stories, habits, and choices that shape your life.

I was running late this morning and of course realized I hadn’t eaten. I was gonna be running like mad, as happens at events, so I pulled into Starbucks and grabbed an egg sandwich and a chai.

About ten minutes later, on the freeway, I laughed and thought WTH?

I don’t even like this chai. I like real chai. Rich, spicy, aromatic and brewed with care. Not the sugary stuff I got because it was quick, familiar, and on the way. The sandwich was just easy to get me through the morning.

Sitting in traffic I wondered how many other things in my life I choose the same way. Not because they’re what I want but because they’re familiar and easy.

Every habit starts somewhere. At one time it was a choice. Maybe it solved a problem or simplified life. Maybe it helped us through a tough spot.

Our brains thrive on efficiency, and they’re good at it too. Maybe too good. The synapses build connections, turning repeated actions into habits. And then? We forget there was ever a choice, and now we have a familiar habit. Familiar begins to feel like truth.

Some of the stories we live by were once true. Some still are.
Others have gone unquestioned for so long they feel like facts.

I’m not trying to say we all need to rethink our lives. I’m saying maybe it’s time we poke around with a few good questions. Like…Is this still true today?

I’d like to invite you into a conversation. Not one with me, and not one you’ll have with anyone else. A conversation with yourself.

How does this go?
Give yourself a little time with these questions. Write out your answers if that helps. Record your thoughts if speaking feels more natural. Come back to them over a few days. There are no right answers, nothing to prove, and nothing you have to change.

This isn’t about optimization or fixing yourself. It’s about seeing your life a little more clearly. Maybe in a way you haven’t done for a while.

Open the doors and windows and air things out a bit, and see which of these offers an answer:

• Who gets your attention?

• Who gets more of your attention than they deserve?

• Who gets your attention without your permission?

• Who deserves more of your attention than they’re getting?

• What gets your attention every day?

• What are you still doing simply because it’s familiar?

• What habits have become so normal that you’ve stopped questioning them?

• What beliefs have you carried for so long you’ve forgotten where they came from?

• What are you giving your attention to that’s long past the due date on the label?

• Which of those things are still true today?

• If you reclaimed just a little of your attention, where would it naturally go?

We might notice that we’re still giving our attention to something that’s long past the due date on the label.

• A habit.

• A belief.

• A worry.

• An expectation.

• A story we’ve told for years without asking if it is true.

When we take the time to notice where our attention goes, we begin to see our choices again. Some still fit. Some don’t. Some were never really ours in the first place.

You don’t have to rush in and change anything. Just notice.

If you can take some time, maybe spread over a few days, a week, or even once a month, you might be surprised by the picture that starts to reveal itself.

With clearer vision, you might decide everything is a perfect fit.

You might uncover the sources and remember the choices that got you where you are.

They were there all along. You’d simply stopped noticing them.

Hey, did you like this post? Mebbe you’d like to support me buying a cuppa chai?
(A REAL one.)