The Attention War

In the chaos of running a small business, time management often feels like chasing smoke. Meetings, emails, marketing, customer service, accounting — everything demands attention. But underneath the surface of missed deadlines and mental fatigue is a less obvious culprit: the attention economy.

The attention economy refers to the modern marketplace where your attention is the most valuable currency — and it's being bought, sold, and manipulated daily. Social media platforms, news sites, and even productivity apps are designed to hijack your focus. Notifications aren’t neutral; they’re engineered distractions. Every ping pulls you away from high-value work and deposits you into low-return digital rabbit holes.

Warren Buffett, Investor & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said, "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

Many small business owners are overwhelmed not because they have too much to do, but because they give too much attention to the wrong things. Time management isn't just about calendars and to-do lists — it's about protecting your focus from an economy designed to steal it.

The Hidden Cost of Lost Focus

When you allow your attention to be fragmented, you don't just lose minutes — you lose momentum. Research shows it can take over 20 minutes to regain full concentration after an interruption. Multiply that across a workday, and it’s easy to see why you feel busy but unproductive.

Worse, attention residue builds up. Switching between tasks — say, jumping from budgeting to an Instagram comment — doesn’t let your brain reset. You end up doing everything half-engaged and nothing deeply.

Now consider that this is happening with everyone in your business. Your partners, peers, leaders, and staff – they’re all losing time, momentum, and effectiveness to the battle for their attention. Some research shows that workers lose at least 1-2 hours per day to non-work distractions. That’s 250-500 hours per year, per employee!

Take Back Control

Here’s how to start reclaiming your time in a world designed to waste it:

1. Audit Your Attention

Track where your time goes for one week — not just what you do, but what interrupts you. Look for patterns. Most of us underestimate how much time we spend in reactive mode.

2. Design for Focus

Set fixed times for checking email or social media — and stick to them. Turn off non-essential notifications. Better yet, delete the apps. Create blocks in your schedule for deep work: no meetings, no distractions, just focused execution on what actually moves your business forward.

3. Set Boundaries Ruthlessly

Every “yes” to a low-priority task is a “no” to something that matters more. Be deliberate about what you allow into your day. Delegate what you can. Automate what you should. Cancel what isn’t essential.

4. Protect Your Mental Bandwidth

Focus is a finite resource. If your mind is cluttered with low-level decisions and digital noise, you won’t have the clarity to solve real business problems. Take breaks. Go offline. Let your brain breathe.

Guard Your Time

A good friend of mine, Randy Brunson, said this, “Time is the only thing we spend without knowing the balance.” How are you spending your time? To what – or whom – are you giving your attention? The fight for your attention is constant — and the stakes are high. As a business owner, your time is your edge. Guard it like a resource under attack and being stolen from you, because it is.

Curious to go deeper? Reach out: brent.stromwall@eosworldwide.com.