The Attention Desert is killing big thinking

𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 are the "Triple-A"s of this era we live in. The things I think on are do we have them, know who has them, does anyone have them? Often the answer is no, and AI is making this worse - for now.

Let's look at 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 first, this is where we are seeing doom scrolling sucking our attention away, and removing the time to think, to apply our attention to the things we care about - I will come back to this.

But this is not the only attention sink - our early 20th Century business operating model is also built to pull us away from giving our attention to deeper thoughts - just look at the calendars from our senior leaders, and right through the organisation. What do we think about the productivity of a full calendar, rather than one with gaps - full calendar equals important person, right? Have we gamified our calendar like a Tetris game - how can we full in the gaps and win? A full calendar equals broken attention - is that what we want/need?

Most of our big thinking is done in the gaps - silence, stillness, and, dare I say, moments of boredom. And that brings me back to the social media attention sink. It is the perfect attention diverter - away from moments of silence, stillness, and boredom - away from opportunities for bigger thoughts.

Don't get me wrong, these platforms - 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦 - have been setup and can contain great prompts for big thought - exposing us to other's ideas and points of view. They allow for the exchanging and challenging of our assumptions - allowing us to question what we know and therefore grow our understanding and empathy. They can do that, but do we let them?

And, as always, we cannot have an article in 2026 without mentioning AI. This is where the slop comes in. It is hitting all the platforms we are talking about, making this exchange even harder, sometimes impossible. I scroll through and find perhaps 1-in-20 articles that are genuinely a commentary and thought from a person - and what is with all the AI Infographics lately? 😄

This is not a comment on what we are doing, we all have agency to choose how we engage (more on that below). I too use AI for some of my thinking - not in this case, mind - after all AI Transformation is my role - how and when is the key.

When I run training for leaders on AI, I start with the fear, uncertainty, and doubt around it - and the FUD is real. I cannot remove it, as they hope I will, but I can give it attention and context for them. The FUD is often based on potential reality - it could make us less skilled, remove creativity and tasks from our lives - it can do those things.

All is not hopeless, what I can share with them is that this is not a given and we still have 𝘈𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺. We just need to consciously choose to apply it. We need to choose how and where we apply this new peripheral capability called AI. If we do not do this consciously (give it Attention), it will be applied to us, we will be abdicating our Agency and handing it to the platforms and the business think that surrounds us. Our opportunities for big thinking will be swamped by the gamified models of others.

You choose for yourself or it will be chosen for you, but either way, you choose.

Thus, we need to be 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 and consciously choose when we use AI and what for. If you are up for it, take some of your precious Attention and, for you and your situation ask:

• What is taking my attention, 
• How am I using it, 
• What fills my days, 
• What do I want to keep doing, 
• What do I want AI to do for me, 
• What does it do for me now (whether I want it to or not).

Take this information out of the cupboards and draws of your life and tip it all on the floor. Then KonMari what is there. Look for what "Sparks Joy" for you, individually, and think hard on how to keep it, water it, grow it.

This Accountability is important, for each of our personal lives, but we also have accountability towards others, society. I am accountable for what and how I am sharing with you. My actual thoughts, shared in a way that is understandable, meaningful, and, hopefully, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 in you. Expanding back and forth between us humans, to a greater whole.

The AAA that allow for us to own our focus are important to contemplate on. Are we being 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 for how we turn up, taking the 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 to apply our 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 in a way that grows us and those around us?

What I am writing could be unlocking the big thinking that only you, as a person, can open. I gave it my attention - the rest is up to you and yours.

Photo by Tim de Groot on Unsplash