Hey friend,
First of all, let me start out with the reminder you didn’t know you needed to hear today: you are valuable EXACTLY as you are ❤️.
You have a unique combination of skills, talents, abilities and experiences that differentiate you from everyone. Alive or dead.
Nobody can ever compete with you on BEING you. No matter how hard I try, I can’t be more you than you are. And (lucky for you) you will never be more me than I am.
Comprende?
It can be hard to remember that sometimes.
Ok. Preamble complete.
Still with me?
Onward.
Can you guess what your most valuable asset is? (WITHOUT scrolling ahead 😜)
You probably have a good idea. Since you are smarter than the average Joe or Josephine.
Are you thinking it rhymes with lime?
If you guessed time then guess what???
Ding ding ding 🛎 - you’re wrong!
Huh?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful guess. And if you have ever read or listened to anything in the self-development space then that’s what you have been spoon-fed over and over again.
Something along these lines:
“The most precious resource we all have is time.”
“You can get more money but you can’t get more time.”
“We all have the same 24 hours in a day.”
“The greatest gift you can give someone is your time.”
Blah, blah, blah.
WRONG 😑.
Ohhhhh so wrong.
Did I lose you?
Am I crazy? (strong chance)
Stick with me. I promise I haven’t lost it….completely.
I know you are thinking, “Those quotes are from some of the wisest gurus. They have to be right. How could there be anything more valuable than time?”
But if Arman says it’s not then he better have something really good for me.
You know I got you 😉.
You can stop racking your brain because I’m about to drop a good ole fashioned knowledge bomb 💣. So be ready.
But I don’t want you going around sharing my secret with all your friends because….they haven’t subscribed yet. They aren’t as cool as you.
So let’s just keep this between us, ok? 👍
Now lean in. Come on. A little closer. I don’t want anyone else to hear this 👂.
Your MOST valuable asset is….
your…..
ATTENTION.
🤯
Let me explain.
Ask yourself: “where are my attention marbles going right now?”
If you are anything like me then they are probably going to some of these:
Job/Career.
Family drama.
Childhood trauma.
Black box (aka phone).
Watching the “breaking” news.
Relationship with your partner.
Wondering if you should clean your room.
That reality TV show you can’t stop watching.
And reading this post (the ONLY one I gladly endorse).
The list goes on and on.
Our brains were not designed to be able to handle all of this.
But you feel helpless, don’t you?
There is no escaping this distraction culture we have created.
Then how are you supposed to get anything meaningful accomplished?
Hold on one sec….
My phone just buzzed with a notification that the Braves won ⚾️.
And now my fiancé just texted me asking if I remembered to fill up the car with gas ⛽️.
Shoot, now I got that reminder to pay rent 🏠.
….Ok, I’m back!
See what I mean? Sheesh!
And this is supposed to be a relaxing Sunday afternoon.
How many urgent things will be SCREAMING 😱 for my immediate attention on a Monday morning?
Only God knows.
So what can you do?
Are you powerless in this world of endless fake urgency?
Maybe.
It’s called paying attention to something because it costs you attention. It’s not an infinite resource. Attention is limited. How will you choose to spend your attention marbles?
But it is your duty to focus your attention.
Gather those marbles up and distribute them in a more intentional way.
Because if you are able to improve your attention by just 1% you will see an immediate improvement in your day-to-day life.
Focused attention will be your key 🔑 that unlocks your untapped potential.
It will be a cheat code that few have internalized.
And I believe this is what sets the greats apart from the masses stuck in the quicksand of distracted mediocrity.
But be warned: it may piss a few people off.
And that’s ok. That’s a risk I’m willing for you to take 😆.
But there is a cure for this madness.
And I’m far from being completely healed myself.
So take what I am about to say with a heavy pinch of salt 🧂 .
You can start by snatching back your attention by taking control of your phone.
Yes, that magnificent little device that gives you more power than Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan and George Washington….combined.
Or else it’ll continue to suck your finite attention out of you drip-by-drip💧.
Here are the 3 ways that have given me the greatest ROA (return of attention):
turning off all notifications (except for calls and texts).
turning on airplane mode before going to sleep.
changing the color settings to grayscale (steps for iphone: settings>accessibility>display & text size>color filters>toggle grayscale on)
I’ll give you a second to do that last one now.
Finished?
Don’t lie to me.
Seriously, go do it now. I know you don’t have an android.
See that wasn’t so hard. Was it?
There you go. I guarantee you just increased your ROA (return of attention) by 1%. And it could compound over time to the point where you don’t even recognize that person in the mirror who has more control over their attention than they ever thought possible.
So what are you going to do with all that newfound attention?
Start the next Amazon?
Become an astronaut?
Make it to the league?
Just a few minutes ago that would have been impossible.
But now it’s not only possible, it’s probable 😀.
And you didn’t create a single extra second of time.
You gained something infinitely more valuable: an extra unit of attention.
So the next time someone tries to convince you that time is your most valuable resource you can just smile and say “Thanks for sharing”. Then you can walk away and think “but Arman revealed the truth to me because my most valuable resource is actually my attention.”
Because distracted time is worthless.
Distracted time leads to a life similar to a chicken 🐓 running around with its head cut off.
All the free time in the world won’t do you any good if it is spent unfocused.
It’s pretty simple. If you want to live a better life then you have got to master the art of attention.
The choice is yours.
What’s it gonna be?
TLDR: Attention span has become a competitive advantage.
P.S. - If you are tired of being distracted by your email then I give you permission to unsubscribe from everything in your inbox (like right now). And for a limited time only I am granting you the ability to subscribe to Arman’s Antics (see below). This will ensure you only get one email per week actually worth spending one of your attention marbles on.