Two words have been on my mind a lot lately: attention and intention. In fact, I can’t think of two words more important to me right now than attention and intention. Why? Because this world we’re living in is too much. I don’t mean that in the “I can’t take it anymore” sense (although sometimes, maybe I do). I mean it quite literally and historically. For the first time in over two million years of human history there’s just way too much.We have cute initials for it - TMI - too much information. That’s what life in our world has become. An endless stream of information vying for our attention from everywhere all the time. Not just information, too much information.Don’t get me wrong, I love information. I think it’s pretty obvious to any student of history that for tens of thousands of years humanity has suffered greatly from not having enough of it. But we have a lot of it now, and we’re learning now that information is like calories. As hungry as we may be, we only need so much, we can only handle so much, and we need the right kind.You know the human body stores fat so quickly because for millions of years work has been hard and calories have been sparse. Now, work is easier, calories are everywhere, and it all happened so quick that our bodies still think we’re in food supply version 1.0. But the biggest problem with calories today? Most of them are cheap and most of them are junk. So now we don’t die thin and malnourished, we die fat and malnourished. We’re dying of TMC—too many calories. So, when it comes to calories, for the first time in human history we have to pay attention. And, when it comes to burning calories, for the first time in our history we have to be intentional.And the same is true with TMI - too much information. Yes, there’s still plenty more to learn but, like calories, for the first time in human history there’s information coming at us from everywhere and, like most calories, most of that information isn’t helping.Now I’m not here judging what information is TMI for you. It’s different for all of us. But what I do know is there’s just too much of it for any of us to handle and thrive. And so, I come back to those two words—attention and intention. I’m convinced that if we are to survive this new state of information abundance we must learn when and where to give it our attention, and we must be more intentional about the information we’re seeking.If you really think about it the world is truly, actually, honestly, no worse off now than it’s ever been, and in many ways it’s better than ever. How then are we more depressed, more confused, more riddled with anxiety than ever? I’ll tell you how. Lack of attention and intention that leads to TMI. TMI anxieties are the Type 2 diabetes of the information age. So many of our illnesses are diet related. Too many calories. Too much information. Too much of the wrong stuff.I don’t have any other answers for you on this. I’m still just beginning to work it all through myself. But hopefully this thought nudges and encourages you to take a look, maybe start to filter more, focus more, and give more attention and intention to building yourself a beautiful life.
