Why Attention is the New Money

Money is used in lieu of attention, trust, network & time.

That’s why if you have enough people focusing their attention and heart on any subject, money will never be a problem.

This is why Kickstarter works.

Let’s remove money from the equation for a moment.

Gatherings for a cause such as flash-mobs or fundraiser walks work for similar reasons. A shared common goal, issues, and heart to evoke change or bring about awareness.

We use the money to meet our own individual interests.

Money can be used to save ourselves time and buy us attention.

When the world interests converge on the internet to get things done, we use our collective heart, to give to aid to those affected by natural disasters, and to connect those within our network who can help them more directly.

If you have ever started your own business or worked in a growing startup, you know the importance of attention.

Attention is a momentum based; It can sometimes be easy to gain, but difficult to maintain. It takes skill and effort to leverage that attention and keep people engaged.

Building a notable reputation for yourself or your brand is crucial to long-term success. Trust is a level higher up from gaining attention. It’s gradually gained by establishing who you are, and what you’re all about through your actions over time. (It’s “how to make friends and influence people”)

To gain attention and trust, you have to give it.

This is what “Networking” is really about. It’s not about befriending a person, who knows the person (five friends deep) who you believe can help you with a problem.

When you take the time to invest yourself in the lives of friends, neighbors, and strangers and help to make a difference, they, in turn, become invested in your goals, aspirations and dreams.

Marketing and advertisement may get people’s attention, but rarely will it get their heart. Time happens to be our most valuable investment because we all have a limited amount of it and it’s always moving forward.

Time is the only 1 of 4 that comes freely and can be spent at our own discretion. Many of us may get lax with how we spend our money, but we are “number crunchers” when it comes to how we spend our time.