The Lost Art of Paying Close Attention to Your Situation

The art of paying close attention to your situation may be going extinct. That's because, in today's world, we get subjected to pressure tests of modern technology and stockpiles of skewed information. All those distractions only make it more difficult for us to make it safely through the day. 

Yes, paying close attention to our situations may be an extinct art. 

Why do I say “extinct art?” Because paying close attention is a learned skill, it's essential to cover the learning process.

The Learning Process

For our purposes, there are four phases of the learning process. 

Phase 1 – Unconscious Incompetence

At this stage, a person has so little understanding that they don't know they are incompetent. These people genuinely have no clue that they are incompetent, incapable, etc. 

Phase 2 – Conscious Incompetence

This is the person who has enough understanding to know he or she isn't competent. Moreover, while this person may not admit it, they know that they aren't as skilled as others. 

Phase 3 – Conscious Competence

This is the stage where a person applies their in-depth knowledge to practical application. In other words, they take what they've learned, put it to the test, and learn better ways for them as they do. 

Phase 4 – Unconscious Competence 

At this point, a person can perform the task or noodle out the problem without effort. This is the master tradesman, the person with years or decades of experience. 

So, now that we're on the same train with regard to the learning process let's focus on what that means for our preparedness. It means that, as we all know with babies, we don't come out of our mother's wombs in anything other than unconscious incompetence. Instead, the only thing we are competent in is dirtying our diapers. 

Nonetheless, we all grow in our competence as we journey through life. Some of us more than others, but the point is that we all grow. While growing, most of us become good at at least a few things. 

Some of us become so good at something that we truly master whatever our “it” is. We master it to the point of being able to mindlessly succeed at whatever it is we've mastered. Some do so well that they become artists at their skill. 

Paying Close Attention to Situations is Learned

So, as with any other learned competency, paying close attention is learned. Paying close attention to our situation can also be taught to oneself or others. However, to truly be able to pay attention to our environments, a person must practice. As the person pays attention better and better, the person may become a master of paying attention over time. 

Eventually, a person may become an artist of paying attention. At the level of unconscious competence, a person is so in tune that Chuck Norris can't sneak up on them. They're so situationally locked on that they know what tomorrow will bring before tomorrow arrives. In other words, the artists of paying close attention to their world understand what is happening around them, like no one else.

However, all of us, regardless of competency, have a kryptonite to paying attention. Our weakness is the weakness of distraction. 

Our distractions impale our awareness at the behest of our modern world. After all, it's our modern world that bombards us with a nonstop onslaught of technology and gigabytes of skewed information. It's this constant bombardment of technology and skewed information that is our kryptonite. And, it's our kryptonite that reduces our ability to pay close attention to levels that rival the unconsciously incompetent. 

The Pre-Information Age

In the pre-information age, people mainly focused on the here and now. After all, it was only 55 years ago that Gene Rodenberry first conceived of the tricorder, a 1966 fantasy for Star Fleet officers to be equipped in today's reality. Today's reality is minus being a Star Fleet officer and minus the fact that Spock's tricorder didn't hammer him with CNN, Fox, or MSNBC all day. Spock never mentioned a FaceBook account, so I imagine he was free from that nonstop cannon to the consciousness. 

At the end of the day, most of us simply hope to have enough attention to detail to make it through the day unscathed. Unfortunately, that hope of making it through physically unharmed is getting smashed more and more with every additional distracted driver (or insert whatever irritates you the most here) wreck. Likewise, every piece of toxic information spewed our way risks polluting our often overloaded thought processes. 

The fact is, as technology advances, our ability to pay close attention diminishes. As our ability to pay attention diminishes, so too does our chances of making it through each day unscathed. Unfortunately, for those who choose not to pay attention, not much will protect them until technology provides a more advanced safety net for the unaware. Likewise, fortunately for those who choose to be their own safety net as much as possible, there is a solution. 

The Paying Attention Solution

The solution is to make the conscious decision to set the tech down as often as possible. If you do, you may find over time that your conscious decision to unburden your tech becomes an unconscious decision. With that, you will likely find that you are more in tune with your surroundings than before you took your sabbatical from tech. 

Only after you're in tune with your personal environment is it okay to open your focus to include the outside world. As you do, try to keep in mind, it's an outside world that we often have no control over. So, it's an external world of information, nothing more, nothing less. 

The Bottom Line of Paying Close Attention to Our Situation

Paying close attention to our environment does not mean only seeing what's heading our way that may pose a threat. It also means becoming less stressed by focusing on the here and now while avoiding a raging torrent of distractions. As we become better at focusing on the here and now, we'll become much more in tune with what is around us, which means we will find ourselves more safe, confident, and self-reliant. 

Then, once we can better protect ourselves and our families, we'll find the art in paying close attention to our world, is the art that is revealed to those who pay attention. 

Now, tell us about your paying attention wins and fails in the comments below. We'd love to learn from your experience! 

Stay safe,