The small economy of attention
essay · 2026-10-30T12:02:00Z
Before opening my messages, I opened a notebook. The difference was small enough to overlook and large enough to change the first half hour of the day.
One thing at a time
In the notebook there was only one unfinished sentence. On the screen there would be several people, several deadlines, and several things that looked urgent because they had arrived recently.
An empty margin is a kind of invitation.
The thing I choose to notice becomes part of the day I remember.
I am trying a modest experiment: giving the first few minutes to something I have chosen, before giving the rest to whatever appears. Some mornings this lasts. Other mornings the experiment ends immediately.
The outside world, still there when I look up.
These are personal observations rather than a theory of productivity. The notebook is not a solution. It is simply a place where a thought can finish before the next one begins.