attention age doctrine

8/2/2019 Attention Age Doctrine

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An Open Letter From The Desk Of Rich SchefrenDear Fellow Business Builder,

What you now hold in your hands is a snapshot of my research over the past 12months with my thousands of clients (including many of the most successful marketinggurus) and the biggest direct response companies on the planet.

You see, our world is changing our personal lives, our businesses, and everythingthat surrounds us theyre all changing.

In a blink of an eye certain weaknesses are all of sudden strengths, and a numberof strengths are now irrelevant. Disorders have become natural gifts, and a select few havealready leveraged them to build thriving businesses with incredible profits.

Heres my promise to you:

If you understand and apply the information in this Doctrine, you can build a verysuccessful business in record time. Regardless of your past Whether youve been

successful or not No matter how many times you may have tried. Because right now,with this information, your ability to profit enormously has never been more certain.

Back when I finished the Manifesto Trilogy, I thought Id never write another report.In fact, I was so certain I was done; I named it The Final Chapter.

But I was wrong.

The Calm Before The StormSomething dramatic is happening in the marketplace

its not email deliverability rates,

its not Search Engine Optimization,

its not the shift from salesletters to video,

nor is it pay-per-click, banners or any other paid advertising methods.

In fact, its nothing technical whatsoever.

It isnt because marketing is less effective, although many will say it is. Or that thereis a lack of money, although there will be for many marketers.

Its far deeper than any of these things- its the unfortunate price of admissionmany entrepreneurs will have to pay as we enter a new era.

Theres been a fundamental shift in the currency of our entire economy.

People have simply reached a saturation point in their lives all the cool technology,all the nifty gadgets, and many of todays modern conveniences have turned on us.

For entrepreneurs who dont get it this is going to be a growing problem like an


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undetected terminal disease sloeffectively and profit.

But it doesnt have to be tI am going to show you how youbusiness as fast as you desire.

2 Years Ago Each o

Prediction And

This Time The SignalEven Greater, An

Right now I feel even morespotted an emerging trend onlinecompetition screamed out to mesystemized well running busines

I acted immediately on thiwere accepted for this initial testlegendary. Here are just a few of

ly eating away and destroying the abili

is way. Because right here in The Attecan keep blasting on, earn massive pro

These Entrepreneurs Acte

Theyve All Become Million

Are Even Stronger, The ProThe Probabilities Are Mor

certain than I did back in February ofbefore anyone else did. The sharp inc

that the winners would be the first maes.

trend. I set up a pilot coaching prograrun. 12 months later the results theythe stories you might recognize:

ty to market

ntion Age Doctrinefits, and grow your

On My Last

ires

fit PotentialCertain

005. Back then Ieases inketers to build

m. Only 25 clientschieved are now


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With results like these, my prediction proved to be dead on. So I rolled out thecoaching program and to put it mildly, it was an extraordinary success.

Fast forward to today, Strategic Profits helps thousands of entrepreneurs grow

their businesses faster while working less. And demand for our programs keep growingwith each new success story.

In 2006 we clobbered our 2005 numbers by a factor of 30x. And by March of 2007we already surpassed our annual 2006 sales. Thats great news for the thousands businessbuilders who are now living their business dream.

But thats not why Ive written this doctrine in fact it has nothing to do with mycoaching program whatsoever.

On the pages that follow I am going to prove to you theres an even greateropportunity for you to profit right now. More simply stated more people will make

more money than ever before. Not only that- Ill also show you exactly what you mustdo to capitalize on it.

Pay careful attention: because if you end up being one of the lucky few to get what Iam about to share its the entrepreneurial equivalent to winning the lottery.

Heres how it all started: For the past 15 months Ive been digging around for ananswer to a question Ive been struggling with. Ever since I began coaching so many of themarketing gurus I kept wondering

Why Do 53 of the 75+ GurusIve Coached Have ADD?That works out to be a staggering 76% of all the marketing and business gurus Ive

coached have been diagnosed by their doctor as having ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) .

Thats more than 15 times the supposed national average of 5%. Its such an extremevariance I knew there had to be a reason.


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And since then Ive spent an enormous amount of time in search of an answer.

I went through all my old notes andreviewed all the past recordings of my privatecoaching calls.

I took each and every one of my guru-clients businesses and put them under themicroscope. I identified, refined and improvedthe strategies that shot them to the top. Ieven identified a few strategies they werenteven aware they were using.

My search continued over months ofintensive, in the trenches, research. Plusmany sleepless nights pouring over countlessacademic research papers from differentauthorities and universities like Harvard

Medical School, University Of Pennsylvaniaand MIT,

All of the research and analysis led meto a startling discovery I could have neverpredicted.

It revealed an amazing opportunityfor entrepreneurs to quickly build profitable businesses right now!

The discovery set off a chain reaction of events that has left everyone in my officescrambling (including yours truly) to make all the necessary adjustments it required. Butmore than anything, I realized...

You and I both stand on the threshold of the greatest wealth-building businessopportunity in history, but for many it could be a gruesome business disaster.

Which side you end up on will be determined by the decision you make in theupcoming months. Thats why I simply had to write another report.

Listen carefully: It wasnt my love of writing, my desire to stare at monitors for solong my eyesight blurred, and it wasnt that I couldnt think of at least twenty-five moreenjoyable things to do with my family either.

Nope, not even close! The reason I am sitting here right now is because what I amabout to share with you is so exciting so incredibly profitableand so certaintheres no way I could keep something so powerful a secret.


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SoWhy

conbase

abo he

infointe

summy

it w

Jay then spent the next 30these findings with the public.

he didnt care that I

he didnt care that t

gladly rent us a bigg

he wouldnt listen totold me stories of wh

out within a week.he didnt believe tha

couldnt think of any

No matter what excuse I t

on me. It was a verbal ju-jitsuIn the ten-plus years Ive k

argument), and this time was noto do whatever it took to invite ehistoric event.

Thats right. Jay won out,

the doors to my exclusive client-

The Attention Age Doctrine, gr

I reconvened with my teamballroom accelerate the preparthis event.

nly The First SegmIn a little less than three weeks from

ucting a very special summit for my pd entirely on the research that led to t

When I told one of my marketing me

t what I discovered and my plans to rewas absolutely floored.

First, he secured an interview with mmation to his private clients. Then Jayview when I promoted the summit.

When I told Jay I wasnt planning onmit to the public that I had never oprivate events to the public, he just sta

It felt like he was staring at me for fivs probably no more than forty-five sec

minutes telling me why I had a respoe was relentless

ad never done it before, he said it was

e ballroom wasnt big enough, he said

r room.

my excuses that there wasnt enough t

en he was forced to conduct a 5 figure

my team was too busy to get everythi

thing more important.

rew at him, he deflected it and put the

nown Jay, Ive never won a disagreemedifferent. We ended our conversationtrepreneurs to attend what we both k

nd for the first time, I am breaking pr

nly seminar to the few entrepreneurs

sp the need to be there.

, and gave them their marching orderstion schedule all other priorities we

nt?now Imivate clients. Itsis report.

tors, Jay Abraham

eal it to my clients

e to get the samesaid I could use the

promoting thened up even one ofed at me.

e minutes althoughnds.

sibility to share

time to start.

the hotel would

ime to prepare he

seminar and sell

g done because he

pressure right back

t (let alone anith me promising

ew would be a

cedent am opening

ho, after reading

get us a biggere now secondary to


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I began writing The Attention Age Doctrine. But orchestrating the creation of thisnew program has been so arduous getting the incredible lineup of speakers soexpensive and putting together the integrated curriculum so exhaustive I just didnthave the stamina to finish both the summit and the doctrine.

And since The Attention Age Doctrine is vital for your ongoing success I simplyrefused to do a half-hearted rush job on the most important segments it wouldnt be fair.

But if I wait until its finished, you wouldnt have the advantage of knowing all of theforces converging to cause this business shakeout. You wouldnt get the heads up to startmaking your profit moves right now.

Most importantly you wouldnt have the critical information you need to appreciatehow groundbreaking and important The Attention Age Doctrine and my upcoming eventare.

Heres the rub if I wait until the report is completed and sit on this critical

information and I dont share this opportunity I have for you, you would end up with the

short end of the stick. I am forced to release the first segment of the Doctrine right now.

This way youll easily appreciate how groundbreaking and important what I am giving youis for your future.

To Higher Profits,

Rich SchefrenStrategic Profits

PS The dates of the summit are July 12, 13, 14, 15 For me to go out on a limb and tellyou to change your schedule, to reserve your plane tickets, to book a room, and register foran event, is not my style.

Ive no intention of selling you on it. I am offering you an invitation to what Im surewill be recognized as the definitive event that launched more online entrepreneurs into 6figure, 7 figure, and even 8 figure businesses, than anything else online or off.

What I will do is give you an over the top guarantee and extremely generous

payment terms on the inexpensive price weve already established. You can read all about ithere: http://www.strategicprofits.com/live

PPS Ive convinced Jay to conduct our interview on a tele-seminar so that you can getthe same benefit as Jays most elite private clients. You can get all the details for it righthere: http://www.strategicprofits.com/jayprivate/


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Why The Doctrine IsDifferent (And MoreProfitable)Than The

Manifestos

The Attention Age Doctrineis different from the ManifestoTrilogy in more ways than just thetitle.

All three Manifestos; TheInternet Business Manifesto, TheMissing Chapter, and The Final

Chapter, were all centered on acommon theme - The mistakesInternet marketing entrepreneursmade that stalled their success.

As a result, strategies, tactics,and tips were scattered throughoutthe pages. Based on the Manifestossuccess (each Manifesto achievedmore downloads than its

predecessor) the format seemed toresonate with many of my readers.

The Attention Age Doctrineis different because it deals with thefuture. That means we first have toget up to speed to where we aretoday.

You are still going to get a lot

of step by step recommendedactions, although this time theyllbe concentrated towards the end.


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Bill Gates, MicJohn D. Rockef

Heres why: whenever a mbuilders who act fast often get veCarnegie, Gates, Dell, Perot, Wal

same way.Now get this: I am 100% c

What this means is you now havpossibly have ever imagined.

But the fact is you needto maximize your profits. For yoof what Ive laid out for you. If it

In order for you to maximiscope of the events and circumst

very glad you did.

Why The

As a top business coach aare not getting the quality of bus

Especially at a time like thcan build an empire.

The explosion of so-calledus from every direction and heexperts give the same advicecan even agree on what actionyou should take.

Overloade

and ConfusEntrepreneurs are in the ssituation of having more businesmarketing information availableany other time in history and fmore confused than ever beforehow to start and grow your busi

hael Dell, Andrew Cller, And (Your Na

jor shift happens in our overall econory, very rich. Business success storieson, and many others, got extremely we

rtain that right now we are entering inan opportunity to be more successful

to read this entire document as soon ar benefit, not mine please dont skipasnt important I wouldve taken it ou

e your profits you simply must undersances that have led us here today. If y

ttention Age DoctWas Writtend author, Im worried no, make that

iness and marketing advice you need

s where missteps can be deadly and o

Experts Advice and cleverly craftedes the clincher None of theseor

dranges andhan atelingboutess.

rnegie,e Here)

y, the businesslike Rockefeller,althy in exactly the

o a new economy.than you might

possible in ordera single sentence

t myself.

tand the entireu do youll be

ine

isgusted that youor deserve.

portunities seized

itches is coming at


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Whats missing is practicReal actionable information youdelegate almost every task to ovnothing.

Ive taken it as my job to cof uninformed advice. In fact itspassionate commitment to cut t

business faster and further whil

Thats why Ive written Thtechniques, and strategies you c

If youve been confused atfact, inside this Doctrine Im goiadvice today is little more than agratification on the behalf of its

But I mustemotions about

so Im not going toor even remotely t

So, if my calling out and ewho tell them, disturbs you, theugly before we are through.

If you want to keep your in

However you should alsosmartest and fastest ways to grofreedom in 2007.

Hype, Promi& One Tim

OffersIf youve been online even

short months, youve undoubtedeverything by now in the way ofpromises, and special one-time o

I wont try to over-hypeanything. Nor will I insultyour intelligence either.

al and objective business building adan use to boost profits, spend less timrseas or leased employees working

re about the entrepreneurial-after-effemuch more than a job. Its my lifes prough the fog, noise, and deceit so you

working less than you ever thought p

Attention Age Doctrine . It containsn useright now to make more money

ll, Im here to tell you it doesnt have tg to expose why 99% of what passes aset-up for a later sale, or some perversrovider.

arn you Ive got some really stronhats currently going on in online b

win any awards for being Politically Cctful for what Im about to reveal.

posing these dream-shattering lies, anheres your warning because its defin

nocence and ignorance look away no

know Ill be revealing in this Doctrinyour business and increase your per

es,e

or a fewy heardype,ffers.

vice that works.e working, and evenor practically

ts of this tidal waverpose acan grow your

ssible.

ozens of tips,and work far less.

be that way. Inexpert business

e form of ego

siness

rrect

d the lying liarsitely going to get

.

, some of theonal and financial


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I am not usually the type to throw mud; I usually just bite my tongue and keep quiet.

But this time Im taking it all very personally because I really believe whatscurrently being done is destroying many entrepreneurs best chances of building theirdream business.

And the timing couldnt be anyworse. Were in middle of the

biggest shifts our economy hasseen in decades its creatingincredible opportunities withmore potential in a moreflexible environment thats

ever existed before.

But up till now no one has said a single word about it theyre all toobusy screaming their pitches at a full stadium pitch.

Completely oblivious to whats going on around them.

Think about it:

Theres more opportunity, faster computers,faster Internet connections, better tools andsoftware, and marketing know-how on the Internetthan ever! So why is it that entrepreneur CONTINUEto fail online?

Ill tell you whyMost of whats being offered today in marketing or business advice is utterly

worthless and misleading. Its a one-two punch Mind Virus wasting your time, moneyand effort now and setting you up for bad decisions in the future by infecting yourthinking with half-truths.

Look, in your gut, you know this is true.

If there really were better choices out there to build your business you would havealready found them. You would have already studied them, committed to them, and appliedthem and youd be making an incredible profit in a business that no longer needed you to

continue to grow and thrive.

The fact that youre not means you still need an answer.

And what Im suggesting just here works. If my client list and my long list of successstories dont say it all, I dont know what would.


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You CaBusine

How can I be so sure? Well

First off, you can say I havin business.

Ive proved it time and timhypnosis, Internet marketing, ormulti-million dollar sweet-spot i

If that wasnt enough, myworld I could take business ownmonths.

On top of that, take a look

recognize. Each and every one ounique perspective on business

Of course I am not writingto you to tell you how pissed offInternet Marketing(even though its sadand I am mad ashell).

Nope, the mainreason is Im 100%convinced theinformation Imreleasing in THISREPORT will makeall those impressiveresults weve gottenin the past look like

a drop in the ocean.

And this time,you can be one of

those luckyentrepreneurs whobuild their businessand profit alongsideus.

Have A Thrivis In Record Ti

e a knack for knowing whats currently

again in my own life. Whether it was cbusiness coaching Ive always been ablthe market.

oaching clients unbelievable successrs from a complete standstill to million

at the slide below and see how many o

these business builders enrolled in muilding.

this to brag (even though I am proud)r saddened I am at what I currently se

ge

needed for success

lothing, music,e to pinpoint the

tories proved to theaires in less than 8

names you

program to get my

. Nor am I writinghappening in


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My CoachiAnd STIL

Teaching S

How to SystBIf you know anythingabou

business you know that I refusemy success.

Its my job to keep researcpowerful and critical business p

business owners never get a chaOf course, I always keep a

my roots are firmly planted. UnfIve been witnessing lately.

Things are changing...

mobasFre

anwatof),of y

fortonmaup

advout

In other words, I am alwayclients and I can profit from it. Acomplicated concept, Id like to s

g Program HasIsTHE Prorious Players

emize and Grosinesss Fastt how I work, or have been following mto be a static thinker and become

ing, studying, analyzing, and identifyiilosophies and profit generating strate

ce to be exposed to.watchful eye on the Internet marketingrtunately, Ive been shaking my head i

Today, the best selling rap artist isst successful golfer is black (Tiger Wooketball player in the NBA is Chinese (Ynch have been accusing Americans of

not caring about the views of foreigneer (bottled water is $9 a gallon) whileand you need 9 different phone numbeour friends. And I could go on and on

But in times of change and uncertaiunes are made. The quick acting lucthe right information are the ones wsive rewards, profit enormously, anor a righteous future.

Knowing firsthand the incredible opance insight provides I actually makechanges in the environment at least o

s on the prowl for a big business tidald as I find mapping the best way to viare my map on the next page.

Been,ramnline

Their

work/career incomplacent with

g the mosties that small

community wheredisbelief of what

hite (Eminem), thes), the tallesto Ming), theeing condescending

s, we now pay forusic is free (sortrs to reach any two

ty the biggesty few who stumbleho reap the

set themselves

ortunity thisit a point to mapce a month.

ave coming, so myually grasp a


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And what Ive seen come teasily leveragable, and so certaneeded to tell you about it ASAP

Thats why I neededmy cell phone, and gdoctrine as soon as I

Ok.Now what you see below a

between the cracks in the busine

In order to follow the chart(from left to right) when you seethe arrows emanate from.

Dont worry if doesnt all mtime and ever since I realized habout.

gether these past few months is so incn to boost profits of any entrepreneur

to clear my calendar, cancel all my appive up my weekends so I could writepossibly could.

e all the collective forces combining toss growth ceiling.

, start in the upper left hand corner. W2 arrows pointing to a box read both o

ake sense yet I know my mind sometow great an opportunity this is, its all

edibly powerful, soho gets it, I knew I

ointments, turn offthis urgent

create the spaces

ork your way acrossf the boxes where

imes works double-ve been thinking


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Besides, youve got the whole rest of this doctrine to get hip to this, and for me toshow you how to use it to your advantage.

Once you understand whats going on in the map, youll already realize its potentialfuture effect.

There are very big ideas inside this Doctrine, me and a few people have already madea fortune with what I am revealing here.

The Current Health OfEntrepreneurs & Their Businesses

I dont need to tell you how difficult it is for entrepreneurs to succeed these days.Youre right in the middle of it.

And even those of us who have tasted some success realize it isnt exactly as easy asthose who havent would think.

Between finding and keeping great employees, developing marketing plans that bringin the cash, and keeping clients happy even after you achieve success maintaining it isntso easy.

I could go on and on but the facts tell the whole story

Over 544,000 SmallBusiness Close Each Year

U.S. Small Business AdministrationLet that financially devastating statistic mentally marinate for a secondBefore going any further understand what that nightmare statistic means. Think

about all of the humiliated and humbled bankrupt entrepreneurs;

How they invested all they had (sometimes even what they didnt have) and lostit all!

How they worked harder than ever before with nothing to show for it but a pileof debts.

How they gambled with their pride and lost. How public their failure was, how the whole world can see it How their failure carries over to their families, their kids, their employees and

their families too.


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I know how this feels firsthand -- and it sucks. I consider myself lucky to have beenable to have barely escaped the clenching fangs of this bear trap when one of my companieswas on the line.

To make this daunting number of 544,000 business closings more real, lets break itdown. First, well divide it by the number of days in the year, 365.

544,000/365 = 1,490

Businesses Close EachAnd Every Day

Gadzooks! Thats a lot ofbusiness closing each day. Andthats including weekends too!

Think about that numberwhen you go to sleep tonight 1,490 of your fellowentrepreneurs are entering into

whatll most likely be the mostdifficult, embarrassing, andhumiliating low point of their lives.

But I dont want you to have towait for tonight to get this on anemotional level. Besides you might even conveniently forget about this altogether. And whocould blame you?

Entrepreneurs by their very nature are optimists.

We prefer to focus on the great opportunities in front of us rather than the potentialcatastrophes we hope to avoid.

Knowing that lets break the 1490 daily business failures down right now. Welldivide the 1,490 daily business closing by the 24 hours in a day.

1490/24 =62 Businesses Close Each And Every Hour

Each And Every Day.

Holy S#%T! 62 businesses closing each hour. Thats a depressing statistic isnt it?

Especially when you realize it means


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More ThaDisappe

And left in its wake theexperience, along with everyone

In the time its taken to rebusiness vanished. By the time ybe wiped off the face of the plane

Its obvious entreprene

And most are smart enougget the expert help they desperatworld profitable advice becomes

There are so many so-calle

the chops.The stakes are incredibly

total and complete financial deva

If you fall victimto the wrong advice,you and your alreadystruggling businesscan immediately sinkinto the businessdead-zone, not able towithstand the damageof another bad pieceof amateur advice.

I dont want toget too far off topichere but this isimportant.

If youveidentified with what I

just said, what aboutyour clients andprospects what fearsdo they have, and howdo they evaluate whothey buy from.

One Small Burs Every MINU

ightmarish entrepreneurial after-effectround them.

d the last sentence - another entrepreouve finish this doctrine dozens of st forever.

rs need help.

h to realize it too. But figuring out whoely need turns out to be a challenge. Tn unexpected odyssey of never ending

d business experts these days its hard

igh too, because the penalty for the wrstation.

inessTE!

the owners

eur and theirall business, will

and where to go toe search for realdetective work.

to know whos got

ng decision can be


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The RealEntrepre

Obviously, there isnt onlyideas, poor cash management, b

on.But even so, Ive noticed t

society and most business andoversight thats responsible for

We have less free time thawe have all this wonderful techncomplicated.

The chief reason is that wenoticing. Just so were clear th

and fail is theyre not noticingkeep plodding along so they contdesigned for the current environ

TheInformatio

Is AlreadyThats right.It has passed.

And now, weve quickly enan age I call:

The Attentio

Reason Whyeurs Are Strug

one reason why so many businesses ad hiring, obsolete solution, and the lis

at theres been a very big shift takinentrepreneurs havent noticed it yeore business failures and false starts t

ever before, we are working harder thlogy but our lives are only getting mor

ve entered into a new era, and it seeme single biggest factor causing entrepre

hese critical changes. Instead, mostinue to follow outdated and ineffective

ent.

Age

ver

ered a new age

Age

oreling

e failing badcould go on and

place in our. And its thisan anything else.

n ever before, andand more

as if no one isneurs to struggle

ntrepreneurs justtrategies never


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What Happens When the WorldAround You Changes

In a previous report I wrote about my love of tennis

I remember as a kid watching the legendary Bjorn Borg. At the time Borg playedwith a wooden racket, like everyone else. And he won a lot of major titles.

The he retired.

A couple of years later he came back, but by then all the top tennisplayers wereusing more powerful rackets (metal, graphite, etc.).

It wasnt pretty what happened toBorg. Inferior players with betterrackets creamed him. He stayed loyalto his wooden racket never to win

another major tournamentObviously, Borg knew the rules of

tennis. He still had the same winningstrokes. But the context and,consequently, the rules for winningchanged. The more powerful racketsgave a competitive advantage to anyonewho used them. Borg with his weakerwooden racket didnt stand a chance.Thats why he was never successful

again.Just to be clear Borg might of

still been a "better" tennis player buthis talent was shut-down by the

changing environment.

Bjorn Borgs story is our storyThe rules of the game have changed, and many ofus are struggling. We are still trying to win with a wimpy racket pretending that we areplaying in the same world we were in ten years ago.

But we arent times have changed


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What Happens When YouChange Before Everyone Else?

Heres the flip side of Bjon Boirgs story. Its a great way to illustrate the advantagesyou can gain over your best competitors by recognizing and leveraging the changes in your

marketplace.If you if youve studied any business history at all, youve probably come across one

of the very first business gurus of all time. His name was Fredrick Taylor.

He is perhapsbest described today asan efficiency engineerand a significantamount of his worklaid the groundworkfor the massproduction methodsused by Henry Ford.

He studied manydifferent methods ofworking in order todetermine what wasthe best way to achievemaximum efficiency onthe factory floors.Many of his ideas at

the time were quiterevolutionary. In fact,many are still widelypracticed today.

In his book,Principles of ScientificManagement(1911), heargued that

companies should install precise procedures to maximize the efficiency of the workbeing done. His system became known as Taylorism which dealt with people, machines,

and processes that would speed up work.

The reason I bring him up now though has nothing to do with his contribution tomodern management whatsoever. You see, his story is the exact opposite of Bjorn Borgs.

Even though Taylor wasnt the best player at the time. He won the US Tennis Openwith the invention of a unique oversized racket. There were no standards regarding the size,shape, and design of tennis rackets back then. So Taylor designed himself a bigger racket


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that was big enough to make winning a lot easier, but small enough that it wasnt toonoticeable by other players.

His oversized racket made it easier for him to return tough shots his opponentsthought were winners. The racket also gave him extra power turning his shots into rocketsthat were difficult to return.

Even though Frederick wasnt the greatest player, his new advantage proved too

powerful when competing against the better players with weaker rackets. He ended uptaking home the US Open title because of his unfair advantage.

Leveraging everything youve got is where I am leading you in this Attention AgeDoctrine. Ill show you how you can leverage yourself personally, and leverage yourbusiness so youll have an unfair business advantage over other entrepreneurs. evenif they are better business operators than you are!

The Perfect Storm

The world were operating in is changing so fast these days that almost everybody isscratching their head wondering what the hell is going on here?

Well, if youve been wondering the same thing yourself then youve just stumbled onyour answer. Because I am going to walk you through all different forces to recently cometogether on the entrepreneurial landscape.

I call it The Perfect Storm because it really is this very unique combination of eventsthat is currently creating the struggles and lack of business success in the lives of toomany entrepreneurs.

Listen: In order for you to really profit during this unique moment of change you

must comprehend all the different forces currently coming together to birth The AttentionAge.

There are no shortcutsno one can do your pushups for you.

Weve got lots of ground to cover together, so lets dive in and focus on the changesthat are currently affecting your ability to achieve a thriving business and a personal life allat the same time.


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A BriPas

In 10,000 years we humanup so fast that depending on you

Up until 8,000BC we livedcould kill an animal for food or spower.

We moved from the Hunteroaming and began to put downenough to build a real social stru

You became wealthy throumethods to maximize the yield of

The Industrial Age camesteam engine, a new invention pmuscle of men.

The world changed rapidlytransportation methods from theand distribution.

Then about thirty yearsinitiated by communications satnumbers of an educated public.

During this timethe number of whitecollar workers(management) surpassedthe number of bluecollar, or productionworkers, for the firsttime. It was a wonderfulera for business, forsure.

But somethinghappened.

Everything startedto move so fast thelines between onehuman age and the nextblurred.

ef Recap of the10,000 Years

s have been through five ages. And our age youve either witnessed two or th

in the Hunter/Gatherer age. During tlect the right items to eat were succes

/Gatherer age to the Agricultural Ageoots. Farming made it possible to stacture for the first time.

gh ownership of productive land and kfood. This lasted until the late 1700s.

ext. It started in Europe with the comved the way for the freedom to no long

with factories leveraging machined prrailroads and the growth of cities as pl

go we entered into The Informationllites, computers, and the historically

r society is speedingee of them.

is era, people whoful and had the

when we stoppedin one place long

owledge of

ercial use of theer rely on the

duction, newaces of production

Age. This age wasnprecedented


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The amount of informationexploded. It just kept growing andgrowing until many of us developedinformation overload.

About ten year ago we enteredinto The Communication Age.

Each year brought another wayfor us to communicate with eachother. Pagers, cell phones, voice mail,conference calling, email, instantmessaging, etc.

But with all of the newtechnology we all of a sudden foundourselves connected to a 24/7 globaleconomy all of the time.

The downside of being over-connected led us into another age. About five years ago,we entered into an age I call

The Age Of Interruption.It was during this time that we found ourselves constantly interrupted by our

plugged-in world. This shift has had enormous consequences that up until now Iveheard very little mention of.

Later on in this Doctrine, Ill tell you exactly how bad it is how much weve been

negatively affected by this subtle shift.

You need to do to reclaim your independence. Your ability to be an incrediblysuccessful entrepreneur will multiply when you overcome this new hurdle.

Another powerful force rearing its ugly head during this time is The Paradox OfChoice. Too much of a good thing can be bad and thats exactly what many realizedwhen they had too many choices to choose from.

But before we get to that theres one more age I need to let you know about. It allstarted about a year ago. Thats about the time we entered into a new era, The AttentionAge.

With information no longer scarce, and an ever increasing numberof new technologies being developed to continually interrupt us,and too many choices to consider with almost everything, theresource that has become most scarce is human attention.

Ive been aware of this shift, in fact Ive even spoken about it, but I didnt recognize itsoverall importance as the chief culprit in business failure and success until recently.


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Theres a lot to discover about the Information, Interruption and Attention ages andwhat you must do to significantly profit from these cultural shifts.

Well focus on each and how you can overcome the challenges each one presents andwhere the big opportunities currently are to explode your business.

New Economies AlwaysOpen Up New OpportunitiesTo Build Wealth Fast

The dominant value of the Agricultural Age was land and the wealth that came fromthe land. Large landowners were regarded as the wealthy. Farming skill was prized, and ifyou could make the land produce more than your neighbor you got wealthier than he did.

In the Industrial Age, the new economic value became production. Wealth was

created through production.

The more efficient your production and the more effective your distribution thewealthier you became. Some people got very, very rich these were the early captains ofindustry, the robber barons, whose large corporations created unprecedented wealth.

Their wealth migrated to stock markets, where wealth was defined by the amount ofstock anyone owned.

Today were still reminded of our past by the remaining values of these two ages. Theownership of land, real estate or ownership of stocks and securities still acts as abarometer of wealth.

During the informationage it was thought thatinformation was power. Andfor a while it was until theamount of informationexploded and the Internetleveled the playing field (whenit came to the access ofinformation).

Still today certain typesof information can yieldincredible wealth (like insidertrading knowledge) but overallthe worth of information hasdecreased dramatically.


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In the Age of Interruption,power. They could instantly comprior consent.

Of course, over time we gosame level of access. We developcalling, email filters to rid ourseletc

And now we find ourselvessurrounding us and so many intattention as the scarcest resou

Those of us who have learsignificant advantage over otherspersonal leverage. If I can absorbto read one book, youll get left i

In the business world, busable to hold on to it are winningbusinesses and websites suffer f

Also, those companies that

that truly matter end-up fully lev

their employees diffused attentio

The InternGoing O

The birth and growth ofthe world wide web happenedso quickly no one was reallyprepared for it. On Wall Streetit caused IrrationalExuberance, during the techboom and then destroyed thewealth of many during thesubsequent Tech-Wreck.

Pundits said the worldwide web was going tochange everythingincluding business models.Obviously they werewrongor were they?

whoever owned the vehicles of interrupand the attention of millions without

hip and no longer allowed all interrupd caller id boxes to let us know who wes of the excess commercial spam mes

in The Age of Attention, with so mucrrupters trying to get our attention, wrce we have.

ed to optimize their own attention alre. Our attention is really the driver to gfive books with the same amount of atthe dust over time.

inesses that captivate the attention of tig time. Right now, the overwhelmingom an anemic amount of attention.

can focus the attention of their emploeraging their talent, while other compa

on everything from surfing the net to

t Bubble andIn the Backgro

tion had enormouseven getting their

ers thes

sages,

h informationare left with our

dy have aetting massivetention it takes you

he public and areumber of

ees on the thingsnies suffer from

personal issues.

hatsund


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Its important you dont mpromise of the Internet didnt hhappening because all the evid

Just to be clear, Imor anything like thatentire society and cudo, youll profit from

Any history buff will tell yobust is a pattern thats played orailroads to the mass availability

Innovations always end upan inevitable backlash when thetrue, longer range potential te

How Insid

What I am about toshow you will change theway you look at any newtechnology, software, ortrend.

Not only that, but it willmake you a much better

investor and business ownerbecause youll finally knowwhen its the right time toleverage or invest in a newtechnology.

The graph above isknown as a Hype Cycle. Itwas introduced by arespected analyst/researchcompany by the name ofGartner. The hype cycle represen

Since 1995, Gartner has udisappointment that almost alwa

A certain amount of hypeis when everyone is talking abouproductivity.

ke the natural (yet incorrect) leap thatppen on stock speculators timeline, itnce suggests it most certainly is.

not talking about selling ebooks, affilia. Its the overall impact the Internet islture thats critical to understand. Becit guaranteed.

u that what occurred with the dot comt in almost every new technology. Froof electricity, its always the same old

being over-hyped, creating massive didont deliver on everybodys wildest pds to be vastly underestimated.

rs View Techn

ts adoption and business application o

sed hype cycles to characterize the hypys happens with the introduction of a

lways accompanies new technologicala new product, but no one is actually

Almost every new technology goes tcycle on the way to being mainstr

just because thes not currently

e marketing,aving on ouruse if you

boom and thenthe birth of

tory

illusionment andomises. But their

logy

f technologies.

e and inevitableew technology.

evelopments. Thisusing it for greater

hrough this hypeam acceptance.


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When shown graphically,people pay attention to the new t

But the curve drops just anew technology has still not e

Only as the technology beEventually it hits its plateau of p

ThHy

1. "Technology Trigger"-other event that generates signifi

2. "Peak of Inflated Expegenerates over-enthusiasm and

3. "Trough of Disillusiondisillusionment" because it fails

4. "Slope of Enlightenmwith the press, some continue ththe benefits and practical applic

5. "Plateau of Productivitwhen the benefits become widely

RailInformaOnce you realize that there

common pattern to the hype thatsurrounds new technologies, youthat we are just now in the midslong-term effects that the Internehave on our lives.

In many ways the hype thsurrounds the Internet mirrors tthat once surrounded the birth orailroads.

hype cycle initially climbs steeply asechnology.

steeply once public interest wanes, een been employed productively.

ins to come of age will its use becomeroductivity and becomes a natural part

5 Phases of ape Cycle Are:he first phase is the breakthrough, pr

cant press coverage and interest.

tations"- In the next phase, a frenzy onrealistic expectations.

ent"- Next the new technology enterso meet the unrealistic expectations.

nt" Even though the technology hasrough the "slope of enlightenment" andtions of the technology.

y" - The technology reaches the "platedemonstrated and accepted.

roads and theion Superhighis a

realizeof the

t will

te hype

f the

ore and more

en though the

ore widespread.of doing business.

duct launch or

f publicity typically

the "trough of

lost its popularityexperiment to find

u of productivity"

ay


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Heres a quick history le

A supposed technological rconstraints (sounds familiar, doe

The railways were sold asmillions in returns. And naturalltheir millions they lost their sh

But the railways over an erevolutionary and radically tranbecause right now the Internet is

We make the same mistak

I call it the Overestimate/overestimate what they might

In addition we dont see thimplications that are still to com

But wed better! Especial

be successful in the coming ye

Because not knowing howout could cause you to make a loguesses and missed opportunitie

For a consumer this can mnewest gadget only to be disappolive up to its promise. But thenand less expensive gadget comethat blows the older model away.

In business knowing this cavoid jumping on new technologiseen plenty of business lose theithey focused too much of their atproducts or marketing methods tto hit critical mass for another d

son: A railway mania swept Europe i

evolution promised abolishing currentnt it).

oldmine investments that would bringthe vast majority of people who first i

irts.

tended period of time did prove to be gsformed the entire world economy.quietly having that same impact on o

in our personal lives.

nderestimate Theory because most pachieve in 1 year, and dramatically

what they might achi

And its no differ

expectations about tecMy point is ma

discounting the staggeInternet has already h

bigger.

y if we want to

ars.

this trend shakest of wrongs.

ean buying theinted it doesntee a much betterut a month later

ycle helps youes too early. Iveshirt because

tention onhat werent goingcade.

n the 1800s.

time and distance

its savvy inventorsvested never saw

enuinelynd thats importantr lives.

eople tend tonderestimateve in 5 years.

nt with our

nology.y of us are alreadying effects thed on our lives.


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The widespread acceptancits no wonder that our society a

Heres my advice to you ab

Think of the Internet as aaffects the entire economy and o

It is the converging intercommunications that is causinprocessing systems, data compreand data telecommunications ne

What this means is thatof future innovations.

It already has dramaticallyinformation marketing, startup b

Keep this in mind as we di

Heres a look at the profouwanted to start selling informati

Today, there are 181 millioWeb for health information than

Recently, an orthopedic sucoming to the office who have do

of the Internet is changing so many od businesses are changing so rapidly.

out how to think of the Internet from t

general purpose technologylike elecr lives.

section of innovations in computersg this shift: microprocessors, softwaression, data storage and digitization tectworks.

he Internet is going to continue to

changed the landscape for outsourcinusinesses, and the nature of competiti

cuss all the current changes we must

d implications for society and for youn online in the health field.

n Americans online. They are more liktheir own medical doctor!

rgeon complained to the New York Timnloaded 50 pages of stuff from the Int

invasive sur

On th

factoid migunimportanunique casethe areas wsudden, wesome of thebecome well

All ofbecoming ihundred, teven a thoareas thatany pressustudy befor

our daily activities,

is point forward.

ricity which now

and

and informationnologies and voice

agnify the results

, publishing,n for all of us.

adapt to later on.

if, for example, you

ely to consult the

s: I have peopleernet on minimallyery.

e surface that small

t just seem but this isnt a think about allere, all of a

are taking backresponsibility toinformed.

a sudden you areformed in ao hundred, orsand differentou didnt havee or desire toe.


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Unfortunately, thats just tand know more information. Thi

Information:

Welco

InformaEveryone said our lives wo

workweek would shorten free t

It sounded like we were geNirvana!

SoHows Nirvana

Ill get back to our so calle

First, lets get a handle on what

The Infor

It freed us from the Ipaid was something we neBefore economists define a

there hareso

we

Inman

the cou

In the Information Age it smovies, music, books, software a

he beginning of the pressures to gatheleads us to

e to the

ion Ageld dramatically improve theme would multiply... remember?ting ready to enter a time of

orking Out For You?

era of bliss in a moment.

ot us here.

ation Age

ndustrial age. But the price weer could have projected.new age, they look to see ifbeen a change in which

rces are scarce and can lead tolth.

So in the Information Age,

information was the scarcestresource. If you could captureit and distribute informationbetter than others you had an adva

Microsoft became one of the wocompanies. Because of its role in crethat greatly improved our ability to cdistribute digital information.

A large cause of our rushing into

as the new way money was being madustrial Age the U.S.s major exports wfactured in the plants and factories s

ntry.

ifted to intellectual property deliverednd higher education to name just a fe

more, learn more

ntage.

rlds largestting the platformpture and

the information age

. During there itemsread throughout

in the form of.


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I know its hard to believwas a scarce resource. We neein business and our personal liv

A great example of our desprinting press. Towards the endwine press into the worlds first

Only forty years after the icities in six different countries!

Then just ninety years laAlmost everything printed wasavailable to the average person

The InfIn an economy where infor

was obvious: we directed our eneour supply of information.

By 1990, in the US alone,were 260,000 billboards; 11,520newspapers; 11,556 periodicals;video outlets for renting tapes; 3million TV sets; and over 400 milradios.

Add to the list the 60,000book titles published every year

(300,000 world-wide) plus everyAmerica 41 million photographstaken, and just for the record, ovbillion pieces of direct responsecome into our mail boxes every y

And thats all without evmentioning the computer!

The contribution of the peover-estimated. The personal co

world wide web, word processorsnetworking, pdfs, powerpoints, e

Weve all become infall become more sk

in managing it.

e now, but there really was a time wed information to help solve specific as.

ire for more information is the adoptioof 15th century a man named Gutenbrinting machine.

vention of the press, there were printi

ter more than eight million books hafilled with information that previou.

rmation Explosmation is both the currency and the pr

rgies and know-how to invent things

here

27,0002lion

ew

ay inareer 60ail

ear

n

sonal computer to the information expputer spawned all of these new invent

, spreadsheets, blogs, search engines,c

rmation/content producers. More to tilled in generating information than

en informationd urgent problems

speed of therg converted an old

g machines in 110

been printed.ly had not been

ionoduct our reaction

that would increase

osion cannot beons: email, the

ss feeds, social

e point, we havealmost anyone has


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This makes it extremely difficult to figureout which information is useful and notwasteful or, even worse, destructive.

Its not just the quantity of theinformation either. Its how all these things(email, documents, the Internet, etc.) cometogether like an orchestra with no conductor.

The net result is we try toget our work done, butinformation seems to getin the way.

A single publishing company like Reuters produces an astonishing 27,000 pages ofinformation per second. Whoops It seems we forgot to ask the question How muchinformation can any one person manage at a given time? Which led us to

Information OverloadWikipedia defines it as The state of having too much information to make a decisionor remain informed about a topic.

It was only a matter of time, with the amount of informationincreasing that we would eventually be overloaded by it. It all happenedtoo quickly. We went in a blink of an eye from information being scarce,to way past the point of saturation.

The total freedom and the complete accessibility ofpractically all information diluted

informations meaning and value tous. It became a curse rather than ablessing.

It certainly didnt help thattechnology made the retrieval, productionand distribution of information so mucheasier than any time before. Our newtechnology reduced the natural selectionprocesses of information.

What I mean is this: in the past,technological limitations enforced a policywhere only the most importantinformation was published.

And now with so much irrelevant,unclear and inaccurate data fragments

surrounding us, it has made it extremely difficult to tell the forest from the trees.


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Some experts have definedpollution of rivers and seas causby an excess of fertilizers.

Other experts compare thecurrent info-glut to healthproblems caused by a diet too ricin calories, except its stuffing ou

brains instead of our waistline.

Many have speculated thatall this information has left uspowerless to really know anythinanymore.

We havent had the time toadapt our defenses againstoverload break down. Nobodyever taught us how to managethis overwhelming quantity ofinformation effectively.

We don't know how to filte

We don't know how to red

We don't know how to use

Ive broken down our o

The first is having more imwe gather twenty different booksfeel that since all of the informatconsequences.

The second is being weighask for, with the fear that some

Take for instance email.

this as "data smog", which they fairlyd

hr

g

it.

ce it.

it.

erload problem into six ca

portant information than we can assimon a topic, but we cant read or reviewon is relevant, we cannot ignore any of

d down by a never ending supply of inay be important and we should know

ompare to the

ses:

ilate. For example,all of it. Many of usit without negative

ormation we neverabout it.


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We get tons of unsolicited email messages daily clogging up our email-boxes. Theyrequire our attention only because some may contain relevant or useful information.

Of course, each moment we spend figuring out whether an email messageis junk or not is a moment we cannot spend on one that provides relevantinformation.

Or, you conduct a search online and you get back hundreds of thousands, if not

millions of pages as potential sources. We know we cant go through every result, eventhough we may worry about missing relevant information.

The third relates to the speed we are receiving new information.

For most of us its too much to process.

It reminds me of a few college courses I took where the professors would attempt to gothrough too much information in a single lecture, it was impossible to grasp, capture,assimilate and work with it all. So Id walk out of class with the other students, moreconfused than when we sat down.

The fourth relates to the valuewe place on information: With the amount of

information increasing, the value we place on any single piece of information goes waydownNo matter whether its important, redundant or just simply noise (clutter causedirrelevant data).

The fifth relates to contradictions in the information wereview.

One source tells us one thing; the next tells us thecomplete opposite.

Of course both sources know more about the topicthan we do, so we end up with the dilemma of dealing withthese conflicted points of view.


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The sixth relates to our increased information needs. As overall changes in our worldaccelerate so does our need for information.

We need new information in order to keep up with all these developments.

Impacts Of Information OverloadUnfortunately the negative repercussions ripple through our personal and

professional lives. We are paying a very high price dealing with all this information we areresponsible for.

Since most people dont realize all the negative effects,what follows are some of the more damaging side-effects.

The Line Between Workand Personal Life Blur

It began innocently enough. At first there was voicemail, then cell-phones, and now

the ability to check work email from home and on the road.

On the other side of the same coin, practically everyone reads their personal emails,makes personal phone calls, and even surfs the web recreationally while we are supposedto be working.

Its grown to such unacceptable levels that most small business owners now feel as iftheyre working 24/7.

Our Work SuffersAll this information coming at us makes keeping track of it all difficult. It puts

pressure on us to multi-task (speaking on the phone while reading and writing emailmessages), which leads to an inability to focus.

We easily become frustrated (like when we cannot find a file on our computer).


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And along with theincrease in stress comesa decrease in our abilityto think clearly, and anincrease in our tendencyto make mistakes.

Its

counterintuitive, but asthe amount ofinformation increases,our ability to makeaccurate decisionsdecreases.

Weve always livedin a society dedicated tothe idea that we're alwaysbetter off gathering as

much information andspending as much time aspossible in deliberation.

But new researchand popular books like Blink, byshows us this line of thinking issnap judgments and first imprsense of the world.

The Tie BandIt used to be that between

into use and test it out. Unfortuinformation theres no downtime.between information and actio

Bestselling business booksbusiness community has referre

dont have enough time to do wh

Of course the implicationsand to our own personal lives. Siknow.

Malcom Gladwell (famed author of Tht always true. Galdwell shows lots of sssions actually offer a much better

tween Informction Is Severereceiving new information we had enouately with the blinding speed we are h

Unless youre highly disciplined itsn to be severed

have been focused primarily on this nto it as The Knowing/Doing Gap be

t it is we know.

of this new dilemma are extremely costnce all rewards come from what we do,

Tipping Point)ituations where oureans of making

tiongh time to put itit with neweasy for the tie

w condition. Theause we simply

ly to businessesnot from what we


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InformingOurselves to Death

A world-wide survey (Reuters, 1996) foundthat two thirds of managers suffer from increased

tension and one third from ill-health because ofinformation overload.

The psychologist David Lewis, whoanalyzed the findings of this survey, proposed theterm "Information Fatigue Syndrome" todescribe the resulting symptoms.

Information Fatigue Syndrome:Symptoms include paralysis of analyticalcapacity, increased anxiety, greater self-doubt, and a tendency to blame others.When people are faced with moreinformation than they can process, theybecome unable to make decisions ortake action.

Other side-effects highlighted by Lewisinclude anxiety, poor decision-making, difficultiesin memorizing and remembering, and reducedattention span.

David Shenk, author of the book Data

Smog cites many different studies showinginformation overload causes these wonderfuleffects:

Increased cardiovascular stress

Weakened vision

Confusion

Frustration

Impaired judgment

Decreased benevolence

Overconfidence

Even with all of these negative effects, mostof us treat information like a junkie who isconstantly in search of their very next fix.


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Informthe

Another research study bytechnology, we were still informa

Better stated: we feel certadvantage over others.

We consider information a

In our attempt to horde thias a continual drag on our liveaway from friends, families, andinadequacy.

Info-lusIf youre an experienced, s

day or even once an hour.

Nobody wants to be the guresearch the cheapest available fdifferent prices the car rental age

Its not just travel that spupurchase an intensive research

the cheapest price so we scour tthat lead us to the coveted infor

ation HoardingClutter FactorReuters revealed that despite the prolition misers.

in information if kept to ourselves

asset whether we realize the value o

s intangible goldmine, we create clutteby hampering our job performance, st

productive work and fosters an overall

t & Info-Addictiitched-on consumer you Google some

on the plane who paid the most for tre, the different rates the hotels are c

ncies are currently offering.

rs our urge for more information. For aroject is undertaken. We want the best

e information superhighway in searchation we are seeking.

If we are thinking about buAmazon, we scan the commentsfellow readers to prevent the purcbook.

Just for a second, think aincredibly addicted to informaticonsumers.

Some experts have said thaexperiencing nothing short of anINFOLUST:

Experienced consumers ardetailed information on where to

best, the cheapest of the cheapest,

eration of office

ives us an

f it or not.

. The clutter actsealing our timefeeling of

onhing at least once a

eir ticket. So wearging, and the

lmost every majoravailable option for

of the breadcrumbs

ing a book onnd critiques ofase of a worthless

out howon we all are as

we consumers arell-encompassing

lusting afteret the best of thethe first of the first,


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the healthiest of the healthiest, tof the smartest. Instant inform

In Internet marketing almlusting after more.

Think about this: More infor consumed than are bought an

Its the equivalent of torchi

Recent IDC research foundtime working searching for infordo twenty years ago?

What about you?

How much time do you sp

How would you rate your syou are looking for?

Why TryinMak

This may be the greatest ir

All of that data flying at yoand rss feeds -- could

actually be making youdumber.

The moreinformation we try tosuck in, the more wetrain ourselves todefault to a shorter

attention span.

The natural resultis it becomes harder to

rally the concentrationrequired to learnanything of real value.Which puts downwardpressure on how muchyoull make in yourbusiness.

e coolest of the coolest, or on how to btion gratification is upon us.

st everyone seems to be addicted to inf

rmation products are bought and nevd read.

ng whatever cash you have.

the average knowledge worker spendsation. Its a ridiculously large number

nd searching for information?

kill level at leveraging technology to fin

g to Keep Up Ising Us Dumberony of information overload.

by way of e-mail, instant message, ce

ecome the smartest

ormation, and

r read, listened to,

up to 25% of their what did people

d the information

Only

ll phone, voice mail


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The reason our attention span is decreasing is in the way we are designed . We arehardwired to automate repetitive mental actions to save ourselves from having to think.

The more times we perform a task, the more we habitualize it, and the easier itbecomes. Thats why we can save energy, because we end up putting less thought intothings we have done before.

Its the same with kids.Thats why experts always tell parents not to allow their

children to watch too much TV.You should be very concerned about this trend. Its like you are training

yourself to be stupider and stupider with each passing day.

Many business owners I meet have habitualized a short attention span and can nolonger concentrate for any extended period of time. It ends up being one of the biggesthandicaps to getting wealthy in our current economy.

Because our brains are designed to conserve energy, once weve habitualized ourshort attention span - our brains will fight to conserve energy by defaulting into thehabitualized pattern instead of more difficult options.

So we end up not only preferring to concentrate for shorter periods of time, but weactually default to it when attempting to process information. And it becomes a self-reinforcing process, only making entrepreneurs less and less likely to succeed.

Well informed, Well ResearchedVs. Lazy + Escape

This has to go down as one of the best forms of procrastination and laziness ever

invented.

The reason: The passive activity of reading and surfingInternet can fool practically everyone into believing that actualwork is being done!

You know what I am talking about dont you?

Youve most likely sensed it in your own activity - theway the collection of information can so easily disguise

itself as a worthy substitute for doing any thinking onyour own.

Its been so effective because its more self-deceptive than the obvious cleaning of our desks

before writing. Its a form of laziness the Internetencourages, justifies, and deceives us with.


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The scary secret is this: if were not made conscious of this hideous mind virus, wecan endlessly delay having to do any real thinking whatsoever simply by stacking more andmore bits of data in front of ourselves.

I see this pattern all the time with entrepreneurs who first get online. Sadly a largenumber of them never realize what they are doing to themselves and quit the Internetbefore ever applying themselves.

If you are an info-junkie you need to pay extra careful attention here. I know I do. Mystrategy is to have timers all over my desk and on my desktop screen I set them tocountdown and give myself a certain amount of time for research. If I wasnt disciplinedabout it I would never get anything done other than a lot of research.

If youve never realized this before from this point forward consider yourselfwarned. If you choose to willingly fool yourself from now on you know what you are reallydoing.

Increasing Complexity Mandates

More InformationThe more tools we buy to make or lives and tasks easier, the more complex our

existence becomes.

Think about that for a moment could you have imagined five years ago that youdneed to know how to set up a syncfor a PDA, wire a HD TV, backup alaptop and desktop to a 500 gigportable drive, find a restaurant on

your GPS, or manage a photo library?With each neat tool we add into

our lives comes the prerequisitetraining to use them.

How much time have you spentin the past year learning a newdevice, software program or evenmanaging your iTunes library?

I would hazard to guess that

your body of knowledge is greaterthan even you would imagine.

And this body of knowledgetakes a little piece of your attention each day, even if just to keep your technology running.


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Info-OverlThat Lea

Some of the more popular,strategies many resort to include

Omission simply ideciding not to process soinformation because there

Latching on - Grabinformation found as a wahaving to evaluate the datwould be using only the firsearch performed on your

Delaying - postponithe false thought that wellkeeps coming at us.

Filtering Arbitrarilreally making a real choicepile, or a single chapter fro

Walking Away sim

ourselves it isnt worth the

Generalizing we uLike summarizing the deta

Obviously all of theshelp temper some of the pseems to be too big.

In each of these strategiinformation is correct.

If we have to make any dec

our conclusions from the distortdecisions and faulty assumption

This leads to a tremendouworse failure.

ad Coping StraTo The Poorh

yet ineffective:

noring ore of the

is just too much.

bing onto the firstof avoiding

. An examplest result of aavorite search engine.

g thinking by allowing the informationget to it later but we dont because n

- choosing which information youll go. You just go through what you can, om a book, etc.

ply giving up from the activity all togettime or effort, we choose to simply wal

e a minimal amount of information toils of an article from simply reading its

coping strategies leave a lot to be desioblems caused by information overloa

s we give up a significant amount of

isions or take any actions we pay a ver

d information could cause a chain rea.

waste of time, at the minimum, and c

egiesuse

to stack up withew information

through withoutthe first half of the

er. tellingaway.

draw conclusions.headline.

red. While they may, the price we pay

sureness that the

y big price. Because

tion of bad

n lead to much


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What HaDone

ThrivinBut before you can easily i

management system, we need to

Changing YouJUST I

A good start to getting a hinformation consumption is toand analyze why (or whether) thefront of you is currently worth leplace.

For many of us our naturathe better of us.

We make time for what wmay need to know at some fut

creating an overabundance of inwe need to process.

The net result is weneed to know right nhave been conditioall of years of scho

Think about it in schoolcurrently deal with (especially incurrently learning outdated befo

Add to that the fact that th

This means if we never apparticipating in Just In Case leaneeded.

s Your Informafor You Lately

With Informatcorporate my suggestions into your o

cover a few other negative forces worki

Perspective On InforCASE to JUST IN TIME

ndle on your overallake a step backinformation inrning in the first

l curiosity gets

e think were date,

ormation that

ften forgo some of the information weow. Its no wonder we do this since med to appreciate just in case learling.

that was ALL we were taught. But theonline marketing)makes a lot of the infe we ever get a chance to act on it.

eres a use-it-or-lose-it aspect to mos

ly the information (which we usually dning) we seem to lose the ability to rec

ion

onerall informationng against you.

ation:

eallyst of using from

ate of change weormation we are

t information.

ont if we arell it when its


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Plus the current information demands placed on us are so high spending time oninformation we may or may not need, which may or may not become outdated, seems like abad choice.

In the final analysis Just In Case Learning is a

strategy that no longer makes a lot of sense.

Of course, Im not saying that there aren't problems with just-in-time learning, too...

Its just the lesser of two evils. Just-In-Time learning often turns into just-what-you-need to survive.

And it is the common approach of crammers who wait for the last minute.

Oh Yeah What About Nirvana?

Back in the early 70s the US Senate released a report that analyzed the social

implications of the 22 hour workweek (by 1985) and a retirement age of 38!Remember these buzzwords the "workerless" factory, the "paperless" office, the

"cashless" society, and the "leisure society."

In the 1970s the US Senate It appears that The Seattle-based Take Back Your Timeorganization, through its Web site and book of the same name, says we're working morethan ever and more than workers in any other industrialized country.

Many don't take earned vacations.

It creates compromises in health, marriages, parenthood, community and social

activism."We are not only working faster but even longer, and filling our limited leisure with

busy activities, leading to an increasing sense of time poverty," says Daniel Hamermesh, aUniversity of Texas economist, who studied time-stress perceptions among higher-incomehouseholds in the U.S. and four other industrialized countries.

Remember when a US Senate committee report earnestly discussed the socialimplications of a 22 hour work week by1985 and retirement at age 38?


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FrictYou and I are both knowl

That means we have to defwhat it all is supposed to look lik

It wasnt always that way.

Fifty years ago approximatthings. Back then it was real easunmoved things and then have a

your earning ability. Then well gslide to making a lot more mone

Some of the chief culprit

a constant barrage continually decreasi our natural instinct walls we place in fro being surrounded b the seductive force the paradox of choi our fear of missing a new trait many of

on Accelerantsdge workers.

ine what work needs to be done, whate when we are finished.

ely 80% of us made our living by makito know what you had to do. Just fin

t it.

Inherent in the ideaworker is that thinking iwork. I am sure that all but what shouldnt mamany different things wand societal) that reducof our own thinking.

So, as knowledgincome is dependent owe continually engagelimit our thinking anearning ability.

Hence, Incom

In the next feto cover all the evil objects that

over how to remove all of them so yo.

s dragging our incomes down that w

f interruptionsng our attention spans that interfere with over-learningnt of ever achieving a flow-state

clutterf multi-taskingenythingus have adopted known as ADT

one means, and

g and movingd the unmade and

of knowledgerequired to do ourakes sense to you

e sense is howdo (individually

e the effectiveness

workers ourn our thinking, yetin activities thattherefore limit our

e Friction.

pages were goingcause friction inwill find it an easy

ll look at:


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The CoOver the past decade we w

communication tools.

Its hard to believe it wasnand email.

And the impact of these toand into the hands of almost eve

These tools have become sabout their growth except for thehow quickly they continue to spr

The number of cell phone(every minute another 1,000 useadded to the 2.4 billion existing

The global growth rate of Iuse (200 percent between 20002006ii), or how many e-mail mesand instant messages compete fattention every day (an estimatebillioniii and 14 billioniv, respecti

We were told they would eus to better communicate with oanother. And while its true, it cehas increased the level of

communication there have beeunintended consequences.

Take for example my frien

Shes got a cell phone, andon her desk at work and at homecomputer (at home and at work),

On Pams computers, shewhen a message arrives.

She also has a multiplatfomessage friends and associates

Of course, Pam has her clicommunication tools. So no matmessage to is only a button or ke

munication Aitnessed the birth of an abundant asso

t even that long ago we were without b

ls continues to grow while they spreadry single individual.

widespread it would seem unnecessafact of

ead.

sers aresersi).

ternetndagesr our62

ely).

ablee

rtainly

some

, Pam.

an organizer. Thats in addition to thein her apartment. Of course she alsoplus a laptop that she takes with her

as email, Microsoft Outlook with imm

m Instant Messaging program, Trilliann Yahoo Messenger, ICQ or MSN Mess

nts, friends, and family contacts on eaer where she is, anyone she wants to t

ystroke away.

e?tment of

epers, cell-phones,

across the world

y to quote statistics

land lines she hasas a desktopn trips.

diate notification

so she cannger.

ch of thoselk to or send a


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Dont get me wrong, its grmake it possible for us to reachconvenience. Its just that the flipretty. Because, now others hareach us at their convenience

I dont know about you, buto realize the irony of all commu

Interruptions arethe interru

Meaning, one persons intecollaboration, acknowledgementfriendship.

Its gotten so bad for manycharacterized this era as.

The II just got back from Starb

Unsweetened). What I saw is a p

While waiting to pick up m

Two co-workers sitting athotspot there, they were answerithe world), answering their cell p

So CoActua

The sheer number of wayscontinues to multiply And its tu

In fact, if you havenreading, the odds are over

Unnecessary interruptions

workers day (about 2 hours a daa year to U.S. businessesvi. At anAmerican businesses $588 billio

If youre like most entrepre

at that these toolsthers at our ownside isnt always as

ve the ability to

oo.

t it didnt take me longication. And that is:

in the eye ofted.

rruption is anothersor display of

of us, that Ive

terruption Agcks (my standard is an Iced Venti Blacerfect way to introduce you to The Inte

y order heres what I saw:

table. They were on their laptops cong emails, using ICQ (probably with pe

hones, all while talking to each other.

nected We'rlly Disconnectethat we can be contacted or contact otning our lives into a series ofinterrup

already been interrupted at least oncehelming that you will be before finishi

now consume about 28 percent of theyv). If we translate that into hours its

average cost per hour of $21vii, interrueach and every year.

neurs you arent even shocked by thes

k-Eyeruption Age.

ected to the WiFiple halfway across

ers hereand nowed interruptions.

since you startedg.

average knowledge8 billion lost hoursptions are costing

statistics.


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You set time aside to finisemails, instant messages, phoneoffice, family, friends, coworkers,

You end up finishing the palone.

Just ten years ago it wasncouldnt walk over to you and distelephone.

If they needed to send youup at your door once a day.

And the flurry of interruptworse. For more and more businday feels like this - one long para

interruptions with only the gapsour real work done.

Youve GMinutes

Get Your

DoneIn a different study, Gloriaresearcher at UC Irvine, found plife really is as bad as it feels. Eaworker she studied spent onlyany given project before being

Whats worse is it wouldon average to return to the ori

Youre living it.

an important project only to be constcalls, crisis that need your immediateand some important late breaking ne

roject late at night when you can be ce

t at all like this. Back in those good oldturb you in person, they were forced to

something written they relied on the p

ions keeps gettingss owners, everyde of

in between to get

t 11toork

Mark, aoof that our workch knowledge11 minutes oninterrupted.

ake 25 minutesinal task.

ntly interrupted byttention in thes.

tain youll be left

days if someonerely on a

stman who showed


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Most of us feelpowerless to doanything about itbecause interruptionsare often necessary weneed to discussimportant parts ofprojects with others,

take important phonecalls, and so on. Butwith so many moreways to be interrupted,now more than ever itspractically impossible tokeep the interruptionsat bay while gettingdone those importantitems.

The scary fact istheres a hidden costto all theseinterruptions as well. Mary Czetime, we wander off in a new diretechnological equivalent of shiny

The New York Times staterealized, is not really the interrumemory: What the heck wasI ju

The StaggeYour

But no matter what task onew one), there is still a steep pr

The University of Michigandifferent types of tasks say, emtalking on the phone lose betwe

Its just like running a prisignificant part of the total cost

It turns out our brains ope

Breaking your train of thtrack.

rwinski, at Microsoft Research Labs, foction when an interruption ends, distrobjects.

it simply, The central danger of interrtion at all. It is the havoc they wreakt doing?

ing Costs of Brrain of Thoughactivity we return to (the one interrup

ce to pay.

and the FAA found that people who sail and surfing the Internet, or writingen 20 and 40% of their efficiency.

t-shop, the changeover time for the mand time the job takes.

rate the same way.

ought gets expensive fast as you try

nd that 40% of thected by the

uptions, Czerwinskiith our short-term

akingtted or an appealing

itch betweenblog post and

chines is a

to get back on


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Thats why we become incranother.

Just like almost every othehero) saw this coming long ago.he wrote in the entrepreneurialEffective Executive:

To be effectivknowledge worker, a

every executive, therbe able to dispose oflarge chunks. To havdrabs of time at hisbe sufficient even if t

impressive number o

Its scary how dead on hetime ago. Before we go any furthgot some more bad news for you.

It turns out that you not obut being continuously interru

In 2005, Glenn Wilson, Psgroup of people who were to do n

He then had them take the

easingly inefficient when changing fro

r current business challenge, Peter Drorty years agoust read, The

, everynd especially

fore needs totime in fairlye dribs andisposal will note total is an

hours.

as such a longer though, Ive

ly need large chunks of time to get imted makes you dumb.

chiatrist at Kings College, London gavothing but take the test.

same test while being distracted by e

one type of task to

cker (my business

ortant work done,

an IQ test to a

ails and phonecalls. Eventhough theywere told to

ignore thedistractions,the volunteersIQ dropped anaverage of10points whilebeingdistracted!

Thatsmore than

twice the effectmarijuana hadin a similarstudy (4 pointdrop).


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Why PeopleEach Ne

Heres the scary part of Dr. Wilso

Interruption research it was do2005!

In the past two years sincestudy was conducted new and iways for us to interrupt each othbeen embraced by the mainstrea

Thats what led me to devegraph that you see on the right.

For some bizarre reason e

communication vehicle that getsreleased seems to shrink the amtime in between interruptions.

For example instant mesis quicker and therefore it can comore frequently than email.

The net result is there isfrequency of interruptions are indecreasing and the amount of IQ

So we are left with The IQeach new communication tool rel

Remember that the very nbang gadget that lets you talk tomake you dumber, limiting your

TheIf you ever looked at some

the observations they noticed thas to why.

When a New York Times reMacArthur "genius" grants, an oiPods, and their laptops off or awthinking.

re Getting DumbTechnology Rele

ns IQ-

e in

theproveder havem.

lop the

ch new

unt of

agingme at us

an interruption compounding effect.reasing, the amount of time in betweepoints we are sacrificing increases as

Interruption Curve which clearly shoeased to the public, we become stupid

xt time you start feeling the impulse toanyone, at anytime from anywhere. Kearning potential even more than its sl

eniuss Secretne elses work and marveled at how int you may not have, hopefully now you

porter interviewed a number of recenterwhelming number of them said theyay when in transit so that they could u

r Withse

Meaning thethem isell.

s us why, withr and stupider.

buy the next wiz-ep in mind it willwer predecessors.

attention age doctrine

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