The Battle for Your Attention.

Who gets your attention these days, whether deservedly or not? Is it the huge billboard adjacent to the busy road or highway? Is it your smartphone, or iPad? Is it cable, Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Roku or some other sort of Television programming? Face it folks, the world, marketers, friends, families and businesses are all striving and yearning for your attention. Why? Mainly because of the money.

The bygone era of peaceful, non-digitally stimulating living and lifestyles may perhaps be over. There is a growing segment of society whom intrinsically wonder and would like to test living "off the grid." Do you currently live "off the grid". Would you ever consider living off the grid? If yes or maybe, how long of a duration do you honestly think you could make it sans digital, social media and entertainment? I predict it would challenging as hell for me, to completely abstain and go cold turkey on social media's constantly creating endorphin applications.

There's so much to do and to be stimulated by these days. I can personally barely get through a conversation with my friends, without being enticed by my latest AP, Twitter, USA Today, Facebook, Email, Video Game, and Notifications apps these days on my brand new Apple I-pad. I know I'm late to the I-pad purchasing game, but now that I own one, my eye-sight, brain and studio apartment boredom has been solved. Do you think you are overtly strained or addicted to technology, television, outside sources? Yes? No, Maybe?

What happened to humanity's quest for inner peace? Did you ever make it there?  I think I got sucked in by cable news and the latest political drama on the way there.

In today's modern times in both work and leisure surroundings, our devices always seem to be clamoring for our eyeballs and attention. The speed of news, new content creation, fresh information, entanglings drama, gifs, videos, memes and more on social media is spun out lightning fast. Do you have a case of F.O.M.O.? FOMO is an acronym for Fear Of Missing Out. Fear of Missing Out occurs, when a person has been detoxed from news and social media and is perhaps "out of the loop" when it comes to friends' recent life experiences, and worldly news. I think people have become overly glued to the world's recent news and reality tv. This week it's Pelosi Versus Trump. It is becoming more and more rare to have a friend or co-worker who is just out of it. You know what I mean by "out of it." An "out of it" person perhaps would not understand current technological devices, or not be aware of socially woke movements. Perhaps this individual is just not up to speed or does not care about today's current insta-changing world. In a previous era of old decades, it was acceptable to be oblivious to the changing world, society and times. Yet in today's widespread internet availability, mass media growth, and tech-savvy current times, it is too easy and simple to be caught up to speed with the push of a couple buttons.

In my opinion, I think the health, importance, and livelihood of a vacation,  technological day retreat, or human re-charging sabbatical is critical to your overall well being. When's the last vacation you took? Go Take another one! Can you recall how refreshed and wonderful you felt? Did your re-charge and break from work and society's notifications feel relaxing? I'm sure it did, and when you returned, I predict your energy spark and joy for business and friends increased too. Americans' too often wrongly consider vacations as a spout of laziness. Vacations and quick sabbaticals should be perceived as a much needed human reboot. You, just like your Laptop computer ought to sleep and be turned off occasionally.

As a working realtor, one of our largest job duties is that of client collector, business development, and real estate property marketing. Part of my job, just like yours is to battle for your attention, eyeballs, energy and yes, money! What is the most effective advertising and marketing? Hmm..well I'm open to and have tried numerous different outlets for my real estate clients and company. What works for you in the battle for attention? I personally pay for an email newsletter service called MailChimp. It is a software program that allows me to collect individual email address, and then through a template, craft and create a unique marketing email to be sent out in mass, via the MailChimp program. It is a similar marketing service, to my previous NYC Madison Avenue, Marketwire company job. This Mailchimp software and program like all others must adhere to the USA's Can-Spam Act of 2003.  From what I can tell, the Can-Spam Act while still allowing mass email marketing and news-flyers, permits the recipient to hit an "unsubscribe" button and be removed from your email list forever. I personally do enjoy the direct marketing aspect of email marketing. Supposedly, despite email marketing's advanced age, it is still one of the most cost-effective and proven sales and advertising strategies. It is definitely cheaper than a Billboard, Television Advertisement or Radio Ad. My most recent arrow in the marketing quiver toolbox is a software called BombBomb. Bombomb is a Gmail and video creating software that allows you to quickly and vividly send Video-Based emails. Thus no larger are my Gmail composed emails just text-based, but now they include personalized and human connecting video. A cool little wrinkle. When I was a kid, and in high school, I was a Big TV News Anchor and Sportscaster talent fan.  BombBomb is my chance to display any video messaging talents and persona within me. 

In the Battle for your Attention, a very current and annoying problem is the ROBO-Call. I absolutely detest and hate, yes I hate ROBO-CALLS. A Robo-call is when your personal phone device actually rings with a real phone number displaying on your screen. When and if you decide to answer this unsaved new number, it's either a vapid nothingness or a fixed computer-generated script voice. Robo-Calls are incredibly annoying and work deterring. Dear Congress, you passed Can-Spam, can you work on Can-Robo-Call? Thanks, sincerely me and the rest of the 50 United States regular and normal everyday citizens.

Moving forward, nowadays each individual person has "preferences" on how they want to be communicated with. It is up to us to tailor to those desired preferences. For example, some folks are text-me only type. Texting as communication, in my opinion, lacks feeling, intuition and often spell check. Some people still enjoy actual human voice direct phone calls and specific voicemails. Remember the land-line home phone? Some people email only, as they respond to email when it is convenient for them. This makes courteous sense. The younger generation responds to "DM's" on Social Media. A DM is a direct message. So as a recreational and professional working person, I have to discover and pinpoint each friend or clients preferred method of communication. It can be done, but you can feel and read the exasperation in my tone, I hope.

Who do you decide to give your attention to? How do you prioritize your personal attention? Is it given to your immediate family? Is your significant other or spouse number 1? Are you a dedicated businessperson and place clients as the top priority? Do you place yourself as the number 1, attention deserver? I'd bet there are mixed philosophies and answers to these above questions. I'd suggest maybe a spread the love philosophy when it comes to attention delegations. I think you should disperse and share your attention evenly. What do you think? Lastly thanks for your attention just now.