Learning from Scoble - Optimizing Attention

If there is one thing I am, it's overstimulated. Too many activities. Too many obligations. Too many e-mail. Too many social networks. Huge emphasis on my wife and two boys; coaching, playing, living, loving. Which leaves time for - recovery, maybe. Something has got to give. I love to read; I don't read enough. I love to write; I don't write enough. I love art; I don't see enough of that, either. I love meeting interesting people; I do some of that but would enjoy spending more time with really cool people I can learn from. Bottom line: my attention is very broadly scattered and I hold it all together (most of the time), but I feel like I should be happier and more satisfied given my tremendous effort in all areas.

I recently read a post by Robert Scoble that made me feel both crappy and hopeful; crappy because he is so much more evolved than I am and hopeful because he provided some concrete ideas for improving my lot. His post, aptly titled Attention thieves; keeping you from living a "FOOCamp life?", really struck a chord with me having just returned from Foo Camp myself. So, what is a FOOCamp life to Mr. Scoble?

I’d live a FOOCamp Life and have an interesting conversation every day, just like the one I had at FOOCamp that Friday evening at about midnight with my son and a bunch of interesting technologists.

What I get from this is that Robert wants to preserve an environment of lifelong learning, of constantly meeting and making the time to speak with bright, insightful people, and enriching both himself and his readers in the process. Good stuff. And what was it about FOOCamp that fostered this desire to live a FOOCamp life?

How did FOOCamp create that need? ...Soon an executive from AT&T walked in. Then Yossi Vardi did (his kids started ICQ). Then Linda Stone walked in (she gave me some heck for working for Microsoft which struck me as odd at the time since she was a former executive at both Apple and Microsoft). Then the two guys who started Google walked in. Then Tim O’Reilly himself walked in. That was the beginning of my FOOCamp experience and it only got better from there.

This is exactly the way I felt when I was at FOOCamp. Fascinating people at every turn, people with a host of different academic backgrounds, perspectives and experiences than my own. Intellectual nirvana, basically, with a fun, social twist. Though my brain hurt by the end, I didn't want it to end. After a decent sleep and a shower I could have certainly done another day with a small group of people, really digging in to topics of mutual interest without it being quite so overwhelming. Kind of like what Scoble is now doing in his every day life. So finally, Robert asks the salient questions:

What gets your attention off of your life goals? Or, in my case, keeping me from living a FOOCamp Life? For me, this post was conceived because I started up MSN Messenger and instantly got distracted by several conversations with my friends.

So, what is distracting you from your goals?

Twitter? Facebook? Email? An RSS Reader? World of Warcraft? Flickr? Phone calls? TV?

How do you manage attention? Er, how do you manage your attention thieves?

Right now I manage the attention thieves like garbage. I put out the milk and cookies and practically invite them to attack. I react to every buzz of my Blackberry. I hate getting behind in my email. I like to check Facebook and make sure I am keeping up. I recently started playing with Twitter because I was feeling like a loser for not engaging with what has become such a popular and ubiquitous communication medium (at least within my circles). I invest a lot but have done so as a lone ranger, which has taken a lot of time (when you consider the size of my portfolio and the degree to which I am active with some of my companies). Oh, and I've been working on a stupid house renovation for nearly three years that may well have taken a year off my life. All of these things tax me greatly. Could I do it better, prioritize in a much more brutal way and simply opt out of a bunch of current media? Sure. And I am going to give it a good think. Because I ponder Robert's priorities and the changes he's made and I am envious. Attention thieves pervade my very existence. I need to take back my attention. Now.