Attention Is Not Cheap
Information is cheap. Attention is not.
Text, video, documents — the carriers of information cost almost nothing to make now, and work is drowning in them. But the passage from seeing something to understanding it is as narrow as it has always been. Hao wrote a ten-page proposal with every edge case and every risk; his manager's feedback was “you lost me” — she cared, she just physically couldn't. The hard skill in the AI era runs both ways: presenting information at the right level of attention, and spending your own attention on the right information.
- The passage from seeing to understanding is as narrow as it has always been.
- The hard skill runs both ways: present at the right level of attention, and spend your own attention on the right information.
Transcript
Information is cheap. Attention is not.
Text, video, documents — the carriers of information cost almost nothing to make now. We live in a world drowning in information. Certainly at work. But the passage from seeing something to understanding it — that passage is still narrow. As narrow as it's always been.
Here is how I learned that. I recently wrote a proposal. Ten pages. Every edge case. Every risk — with a mitigation plan for each. I didn't write a proposal. I wrote a mini book.
My manager's feedback: “Too much detail. It is diluting your point. You lost me.” And she was right. She cared. She just physically couldn't. I drowned her in detail. I asked for attention that nobody can afford. The proposal didn't pass.
So here is my working theory: the hard skill in the AI era runs both ways — presenting information at the right level of attention, and spending our own attention on the right information. Information will keep getting cheaper. Attention stays scarce.
So, honest question: what's the longest document you ever sent that nobody actually read?