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April 21st

DON’T LET YOUR ATTENTION SLIDE

“When you let your attention slide for a bit, don’t think you will get

back a grip on it whenever you wish—instead, bear in mind that

because of today’s mistake everything that follows will be

necessarily worse.... Is it possible to be free from error? Not by

any means, but it is possible to be a person always stretching to

avoid error. For we must be content to at least escape a few

mistakes by never letting our attention slide.”

—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.12.1; 19

inifred Gallagher, in her book Rapt, quotes David Meyer, a cognitive
scientist at the University of Michigan: “Einstein didn’t invent the
theory of relativity while he was multitasking at the Swiss patent office.” It
came after, when he really had time to focus and study. Attention matters—
and in an era in which our attention is being fought for by every new app,
website, article, book, tweet, and post, its value has only gone up.
Part of what Epictetus is saying here is that attention is a habit, and that
letting your attention slip and wander builds bad habits and enables
mistakes.
You’ll never complete all your tasks if you allow yourself to be
distracted with every tiny interruption. Your attention is one of your most
critical resources. Don’t squander it!