Why you don't know yourself as well as you could

3 types of attention and how they influence your life

There are 3 different types of attention.

Not knowing about them isn’t just making it more difficult for you to focus on the task at hand and be more productive. It’s also what’s preventing you from getting to know yourself better. It’s making it almost impossible for you to have a deep connection to your life’s journey.

So let’s talk about these 3 layers of attention, their different roles in your life, and how they interact with each other.

First, how do we usually think of attention and focus?

We think of it as an inner resource that is directed to something immediate, whether internal or external. It could be your breath, an idea, a book, another person, a task at work, etc.

The main point is that it’s primarily related to this moment. If your attention is distracted, and we do live in the age of distraction, it’s affecting how you experience the present moment and your (in)ability to get things done.

That’s at least how we think of it most of the time.

But this is just one type of attention. It’s called Spotlight. The other two are Starlight and Daylight. They were defined by the author and philosopher James Williams.

If Spotlight is the immediate, “micro” focus that allows us to get things done and be engaged in our day, what are Starlight and Daylight?

Starlight

Starlight is related to your long-term goals and vision, the big picture of your life. It’s “macro” focus.

Both a blessing and a curse of our age is that every person is faced with seemingly infinite possibilities. Every day, you are exposed to countless ideas on what business to start, what career to pursue, or what passion projects to work on.

And even if you somehow manage to choose a direction and construct a meaningful narrative around it, you are tempted at every step of your journey by different shiny objects and side quests.

That’s why you hear so many exceptionally successful people say how one of the keys to success is being able to say no to different opportunities and just stick to your thing. Even if you don’t have the best strategy and are not the most competent in your field, you’ll outperform most people just by staying focused and consistent. That’s because most people change direction every couple of months.

Starlight is your ability to do just that - to focus on your long-term journey and stay focused on it for months and years, not minutes or hours.

“It’s called the starlight because when you feel lost, you look up to the stars, and you remember the direction you are travelling in.” -Johann Harri (Stolen Focus)

My journey is, in many ways, a proof of the importance of starlight. I’m blessed beyond measure that today I get paid to do what I’m most passionate about, and that over 200,000 people across the globe engage with my work. But that wasn’t always the case. It was just inevitable that it would happen eventually.

In these 6 years of writing and creating educational content, I faced countless opportunities and temptations to either make a significant pivot in my direction or to engage in a completely unrelated project. A lot of those opportunities were exciting. Some of them were deeply meaningful. But they weren’t part of my long-term vision and the journey I had committed to.

But what would’ve happened if I had given one of those opportunities a try? Maybe it would’ve suited me better and given me faster, better results? Well, I guess we’ll never know.

Daylight

Daylight is the type of attention that makes it possible for you to know what your long-term vision is in the first place. It allows you to have personally relevant, authentic long-term goals.

How does one know they want to set up that precise business and stick to it for decades?

How does one know they want to focus on family life even at the expense of career advancement?

How does one know he wants to keep writing online about mental health and self-actualization even when he’s receiving little attention and losing money doing it?

Constructive, intentional self-reflection.

If your mind is constantly filled with distractions and you’re not making the time and effort to spend time with yourself and your life story, you lose yourself. You become unable to figure out who you are, what made you who you are, who you’re supposed to become, and where you want to go.

When you lose your daylight, you’re most susceptible to having your values, opinions, and life goals influenced by external noise. This explains why a lot of people you meet nowadays sound like they picked one of the pre-packaged identities from social media and are designing their life around it.

How These 3 Types of Attention Interact with Each Other

Spotlight makes Daylight possible. By being able to focus on what’s in front of you, you gain greater control over your day and can make constructive self-reflection a regular practice.

Daylight points toward Starlight. Getting in touch with yourself and your life story helps you choose and commit to a long-term vision and goal.

Starlight makes sense of Spotlight. Strong Spotlight without Starlight makes you into an empty productivity machine. You become great at getting things done, but are you getting the right, meaningful things done? Knowing your long-term vision allows you to create a routine of tasks relevant to who you’re trying to become.

How to Protect and Develop all 3 Types of Attention

The bad news is that most people are unaware that these 3 types of attention exist. And when they find out, they have no idea how to protect and strengthen them.

The good news is that, like anything else in life, you can develop all 3 types of attention as long as you have a structured and sustainable approach.

And that’s where I come in. (Shameless plug incoming.)

The Training Arc is a 6-week guided bootcamp designed to help you:

• Understand yourself better

• Gain clarity

• Choose a direction

• Become able to deeply focus on both the journey and its daily tasks

All of this through a structured, flexible, and sustainable approach to training all 3 types of attention and putting them to constructive use.

The best part is that every practice comes in 3 levels (mini, medium, and full), with the lowest being 5-7 minutes. This means you can stay consistent and keep building momentum even at your busiest or most overwhelmed.

You will be guided by someone who’s been in your position. I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed, confused, distracted, and stuck. And I know what it’s like to get myself and hundreds of others out of that position.

The Training Arc officially starts in the first week of January, but we’ll do a quick 48-hour pre-sale starting on December 18th.

Join the waitlist and I’ll notify you when the doors open.