September 25, 2025

Why You Should Pay Attention to Your Attention

We might think that our most precious resources are our time, our money, our health, or our family. Yet, while these are important elements in our lives, this list ignores what may be our most important life resource. Without judicious use of this additional resource, our time can be wasted, our money squandered, our health diminished, and our family neglected. This resource costs nothing, it is completely within our control, and it requires no special training.

This resource is our attention. How we choose to invest and manage our attention determines the value, utility, and sustainability of most other aspects of life. Without attention, much of what we value in life withers and may disappear. Meanwhile, failure to direct and sustain our attention where it is needed can allow unpleasant and unwanted life forces to grow, making our life frustrating and miserable.

We can choose to treat our attention as random access to life, or we can choose to focus and give sustained attention to those elements in life that we value, want to protect, and desire to grow. Let’s explore the power of attention and how we can use it to our best advantage.

Attention is a powerful but scarce resource. We might think that attention has no limits, but it does. We cannot pay attention to everything at once. When our attention is scattered, it has little impact. Attention requires us to make choices. When we focus in one area, we cannot simultaneously focus elsewhere. We need to protect, direct, and invest our attention wisely.

Energy follows attention. We can choose to focus on what bothers us, our worries, and what stresses us. When we do, these elements will sap our energy, undermine our optimism, and leave us feeling anxious and depressed. Alternatively, we can choose to focus on our strengths, what we can control, and pursuit of our goals and priorities. As a result, we can build on what we do well, feel more confident, and see significant and sustained progress toward our goals.

Attention magnifies its object. What we focus on tends to grow. If we focus on student misbehavior, we are likely to see it grow. If we consistently notice and reinforce appropriate behavior, we are likely to see more of it. When we notice and encourage curiosity, students tend to show more of it. If we focus on compliance with rules rather than commitment to learning, again, we are likely to see more of it.

Expertise requires sustained attention. Of course, there are some skills that require little time and practice to master. However, skills that offer durability and significant long-term impact typically require practice, depth of understanding, and continued honing. Classroom management experts may make the work look easy, but it is the result of years of focused practice, continued development, and the skill to anticipate and adjust in real time.

Attention aligned with purpose and values lessens stress. A sense of purpose and clear values can provide hope and confidence in difficult times. Believing that the work is important, feeling a sense of mission, and pursuing what matters can be powerful counterweights in times of pressure and stress. Struggling with a difficult class can be challenging, but it still can feel worth it when we consider how much our students need us and that we are doing the right work.

Failure to give timely, adequate attention invites disaster. We can be tempted to ignore growing problems, fail to build necessary skills, or push students through even though we know they are not making necessary progress. In the short term, we might convince ourselves that everything is fine. Yet, small problems can become big headaches. Failure to learn new skills needed to serve students can make our work more difficult. And allowing lack of progress to go unaddressed can have long-term life consequences for our students.

There is no question that where we place our attention matters—often more than we might imagine. Consider this insight from Albert Einstein: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”