Attention Rich

Rich Schefren is famous for his Internet Business Manifesto Trilogy (The Internet Business Manifesto, The Missing Chapter and The Final Chapter). Now he’s at it again with a new report: The Attention Age Doctrine. As with his previous reports it is a free download.

The report starts with the startling observation that 53 of the 75 or so Internet business gurus that Rich Schefren has coached have been diagnosed with ADD. This resonated with me on a personal level since my wife has ADD. Is she maybe a budding Internet business tycoon? Unfortunately the report doesn’t answer the obvious question of what is behind this statistic. Do people with ADD have a natural advantage in today’s business climate? Or are the constant interruptions leading people to distraction, and these gurus are on the leading edge of this development?

Then — in true ADD style — the report jumps to the main point which is that there is an amazing opportunity for entrepreneurs to quickly build profitable businesses right now. As has happed in the past when there was a major shift in the overall economy, the people who understand the shift are able to profit immensely.

The two key contributors to this shift are: information overload and constant interruptions.

In the beginning of the information age, information itself was a scarce and valuable resource. Today people are more skilled in generating information than in consuming and managing it. Just look at the blogosphere, the plethora of available ebooks, and even articles such as this one, as examples of the overabundant supply of information. Since the information is available most people feel compelled to gather more of it and “learn” more. It’s also very tempting to gather information just in case you might need it in the future. One reason for these counterproductive behaviors is that you are still in the mindset that information is scarce and valuable.

The more information you try to gather, the less time you will have to process each piece of data. This in turn trains your brain to an ever decreasing attention span. Which in turn is further fueled by the second key contributor to the attention age: interruptions.

The Attention Age Doctrine lists a number of very disturbing statistics on how bad today’s workplace has become.

• Unnecessary interruptions now consume about 28% of the average knowledge worker’s day.

• Each studied knowledge worker spent only 11 minutes on any given project before being interrupted.

• It takes on average 25 minutes to return to the original task.

• 40% of the time you wander off in a new direction when the interruption ends.

• People who switch between different types of task lose 20-40% of their efficiency.

“You need to reclaim your independence. Your ability to be an incredibly successful entrepreneur will multiply when you overcome [these] new hurdle[s].” In my opinion this is the key phrase in the entire report. And given Schefren’s background in hypnosis this is where I think he’s going. Teaching you how to personally cope with the constant interruptions and how to be successful in the new attention age.

Only the first segment of the Attention Age Doctrine has been released. It ends with a nice segue to a promotion for an upcoming seminar. (There really is no such thing as a free lunch…) The first part of the report does an excellent job of defining the problem and raises some very intriguing questions. Presumably the answers and the promised step-by-step recommendations will be revealed at the seminar and in future installments of the report.