Attention Audit

Everything in your life is competing for a piece of your attention.

Some things demand it. Some things you choose. Some things you want to pay attention to never seem to get their turn.

I noticed this with friends whose attention was scattered in too many directions. We sat down and did an attention audit to see where it was going and where they actually wanted it to go.

The exercise was revealing. It is also something you can do for yourself.

Think of your attention as a budget. You have a limited amount. How do you want to spend it?

Write down your whole attention world

Make two columns: personal and business.

List everything you give attention to, everything that demands it, and everything you want to give attention to but have been neglecting.

Include what you think about, connect with, do, focus on, and get distracted by.

In my own audit, I included employees, upcoming trips, work, shopping, houses, projects, people, and daily habits.

Write names of the people you want to be present for. Your kids, partner, family, and friends may all matter to you, but are they getting the attention you want to give them?

This isn't about dividing your life into an automatic fifty-fifty split between personal and business. I don't think equal attention is always useful.

It is about choosing the allocation consciously.

Notice what takes more than you want to give

In my twenties, I was obsessed with my weight. I would say about half my attention went toward food, my body, calories, diet books, and exercise videos.

That attention came at the expense of other things I could have focused on.

Your audit may reveal something similar: an area receiving far more attention than you want, or something important you keep delaying.

We called these attention drag and attention delay.

Attention drag pulls you down. Attention delay is the attention you intend to give later, after everything else is done, that you never actually give.

Ask which things energize you when you focus on them and make progress. Which drain you?

Include the unfinished things

Unfinished business can take attention even when you are trying not to think about it.

Think of homework you know is due. You can avoid planning it, but it still pulls at you beneath your awareness.

The same can happen with debt you haven't addressed, a house you haven't cleaned, an incomplete project, a call you haven't returned, or a promise you haven't kept.

Being in denial doesn't remove the attention those things require.

Give yourself enough time to notice what is running under the surface. What aren't you solving, fixing, finishing, or addressing that is still present in your mind?

Make the trade-offs visible

Every allocation of attention is a trade-off. The audit helps you see choices you may have been making unconsciously.

Ten minutes of social media could also be ten minutes sending a message to someone you love, connecting with a colleague, or learning something useful for your business.

I don't consume social media. I give attention to creating ads and videos, but I don't spend my attention scrolling.

I often choose audiobooks when I walk or drive. I wonder how much that ongoing learning has contributed to the life I have created.

Your choices don't have to match mine. When I talk to my kids about video games, I tell them I support it if they consciously choose it, enjoy it, and find it a release from work.

I want them to know they are choosing, not just surrendering attention to something designed to grab it.

Look at television, social media, food, alcohol, music, and other parts of your day. Is the attention you give them intentional?

Plan the future to free up the present

Notice how much attention is going toward planning ahead.

A present filled with last-minute decisions can require much more attention than a future you have planned.

A dinner reservation is a small example. Trying to find one tonight can mean calling multiple places, joining waiting lists, and watching the phone for a response.

Making that reservation three weeks ahead is often simpler. Once it is done, you can stop paying attention to it.

Planning for the future doesn't mean you are failing to be present. Your past self can prepare this moment so you are more available to enjoy it.

If your past self hasn't planned, your present self has to spend attention catching up.

Allocate your attention over a week

Imagine you have a hundred units of attention. How would you distribute them over a week?

A week is useful because you can't give everything attention every day.

You can bring the audit into your calendar planning and schedule things that might otherwise never make it onto the calendar.

Plan your free time. Plan the call to your mom, your child, or your best friend. If you don't have time this week, choose a time two weeks from now.

Ask whether there are ten minutes or ten units you could give an area you have neglected.

A small deposit of attention can add up over time. It is different from letting months pass without contacting someone or making progress on a project that matters to you.

Use the audit for awareness, not punishment

For one friend, this exercise was upsetting. Seeing all the unacknowledged things on paper brought up frustration and overwhelm.

We did a thought download afterward to separate the circumstances from his thoughts about how he had used his attention.

You may want coaching after you do the exercise, too.

The point is to understand your life and your attention, not use the list against yourself.

You can decide what you want to grow, whom you want to love, and where you want your energy to go. An attention audit gives you the opportunity to make those decisions on purpose.