Attention, Information, and other Associated Thoughts

I'll start with information, and it's related cousin, experience, and distant relative, wisdom. (now THAT'S a weird family)

Information is important, because it guides decisions. Simple. With a certain amount of information, you would choose to do one thing, and maybe if you learned some more, you would choose to do one thing. Example (because I love a certain fruit company waay too much): You're about to buy an iPod in August, and I tell you that Apple always unveils new iPods in September (which is true, btw). You'd probably wait for a while longer. In this case, having more information has led to making a better decision (you hope, anyway). And that's the idea: more information should lead to better decision making. It's why I love data-collecting Apps like Account Tracker - the utility of these increases as you use them more. I say should, because this is not always the case, and I'll lead to that later on

There is perhaps no theoretical limit to how much information that you can gain when pondering something, but there is almost always a practical limit when considering something, beyond which any information gained is not worth it in terms of time lost pondering the said information. It's a trade-off which sometimes has to be considered, though not always. Sometimes the relationship between the amount of knowledge you have about something and the odds of making a good decision will be linear, sometimes exponential, and sometimes like a law of diminishing returns. In these cases it is up to you to decide what the relationship is, and then decide whether or not you want more information.

There is, of course, the problem of too much information. Of course, given the choice between having too much information, and too little information, I'd pick too much. Still, "analysis paralysis", as it is handily called, does exist, and at this point you probably have enough information to make a case for two or more mutually exclusive decisions, and have to pick between them. Normally, more information is not forthcoming, or not worth it in terms of the time you will lose, so you have to make a decision there and then. In that case, if there are more than two, eliminate the weaker ones until you have two left. This is almost always possible. Then, when you are left with two, and you still cannot decide, go with your heart/soul/intuition. That is correct. "The heart has its reasons that the reason knows not of", as Pascal says, and in going with what you feel to be the right course of action, you find that it was the right decision to make, even if it may not have seemed so at the time. In fact, even if it was the wrong decision at the time, it will still be the right decision, so to speak, because, approached with the right attitude, you will have learnt and grown from your mistake.

Which brings me to experience. Experience is knowledge, yes, but of a different kind. It is knowledge that has come from doing, and as such, is not just theoretical, (though it may have elements of that), but also practical as well. Information is all very well and good, and so is studying, but it has to be acted upon, and acting upon it brings a better kind of knowledge than book-learning. With doing, there will be mistakes, but this is part of learning too. The old joke goes that experience is the name men give to their mistakes, and this is funny because it is true (Exactly what women call their mistakes, I have no idea). Experience also brings about a kind of confidence that is hard to mask, and a refinement of technique that no book-learning can bring. I mean, I'd rather go under the knife of a surgeon who has 500 operations under his belt than one who only has one. It's hard to emphasise the importance of actually doing something. Our lives are dynamic, and choosing to do puts us in control of the growth that comes, instead of having it forced upon us.

Wisdom is tougher to define and measure, but it definitely comes with experience, and with age. The best I can say is that it's an ability to tell the best course of action without having as much information as you would like - a combination of instinct and experience that sometime will lead you to the best results even if initially it seems counterintuitive to start with. Going one further, perhaps it's the end of a cycle where first comes simplicity, then complexity, then simplicity again, but the second type of simplicity runs deeper than the first.

Attention is a different beast altogether. In giving my attention to something, I am excluding pretty much everything else. I'm a male, so the most I can have going on at the same time is two, maybe three things. As such, it is important to keep your attention on what is important, because what you focus on is what you will gain knowledge on, and experience with, and later, hopefully, wisdom about. It's hard to emphasise how important this is as well. You could give your attention to anything, and as such, you have to make sure you are focusing on the one or two or few things that are the best for you to focus on, which will lead you to the most growth, and help you fulfil your maximum potential.

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I write this for you, and for me. For you, perhaps, this may be of use, and sparks maybe a new way of looking at knowledge. For me, well, I'll be reviewing 2010 and setting down my 2011 resolutions, and thus it's probably important that I keep these thoughts about knowledge, experience, and attention at the fore of my mind as I am doing so, and thus gain from writing both, no matter what happens after. Keep an eye out for the two posts to come before the year is up - they will either be useful, or vapid. Could go either way, honestly.