Time and attention are a knowledge worker’s most precious and irreplaceable natural resources. And, yet, most of us find our lives riddled with attention leaks that sap hours from every week. What can we do to understand where those leaks are coming from? And how we can start to command greater respect for time and attention — as well as ensuring that we respect that of our colleagues?

2. HELLO.

3. WHO MOVED
MY BRAIN?
REVALUING
TIME & ATTENTION
MERLIN MANN
43FOLDERS.COM
Who Moved My Brain? by Merlin Mann is ©2010 Merlin Mann.
It is licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License.
Based on a work at www.43folders.com.

4. MIKE
MULEDESIGN.COM

7. http://flic.kr/p/3u3hFj

9. YOU ARE A
BIG
BARGAIN.

10. YEAH.
BUT, WHY?

11. KNOWLEDGE WORK
IS MOSTLY
IN YOUR HEAD
&
INVISIBLE

12. KNOWLEDGE
WHUH, NOW?

14. BLACK BOX CAREER

15. {}
specs
meetings
email
pizza
etc.
(thing you do)
plop!
Flawless
Work jo b!
re at
G

16. REMEMBER
RICHARD
SCARRY?

17. Copyright © Random House, Inc.

18. Copyright © Random House, Inc.

19. Copyright © Random House, Inc.

20. Copyright © Random House, Inc.

21. Copyright © Random House, Inc.

22. (A DRAMATIZATION)

25. EXHIBIT A
6
BERRY WATSON, CA. 197

26. GRANDPA’S JOB
1933 1940 1950 1960 1966

27. Boss
Grandpa
Deadbeat Deadbeat Deadbeat

28. Other
Main Boss
Boss
Old Boss
HR with Questions
Committee
Primary
You Team
Secondary
Team
Sr. Engineer
Programming Who Hates You
Partner
That Marketing Tech
Person Committee

30. OPPORTUNITY COST

31. ∞

32. SELFISH?
HARD-LY.

33. FINITE TIME,
FINITE ATTENTION
Concept: Joel Spolsky / JoelOnSoftware.com

34. SO?

36. FIVE PATTERNS
(THINGS THAT TEND TO WORK)

37. FIVE PATTERNS
1 Identify Leaks
2 Govern Access
3 Minimize Notifications
4 Work in Dashes
5 Renegotiate

38. IDENTIFY LEAKS

39. GOVERN ACCESS

40. WHO GETS ACCESS NOW?

41. MINIMIZE
NOTIFICATIONS

43. “DING!”

44. WORK IN
DASHES

47. TRAINING:
10/50 DASH
10 min Collect & Process
50 min Work
10 min Collect & Process
Etc...

48. RENEGOTIATE

49. QUALIFYING
“YES”

50. QUALIFYING
“YES”
• Kinda
• Maybe
• Later
• A Little

51. FIVE PATTERNS
1 Identify Leaks
2 Govern Access
3 Minimize Notifications
4 Work in Dashes
5 Renegotiate

53. HERE’S YOU:
OK, GENIUS,
SO, WHO DID
MOVE MY BRAIN?

54. HERE’S ME:
ANYONE WHOM
YOU’VE LET
MOVE YOUR BRAIN.

55. BE A DAD

56. THANKS.
(NOW, YOU.)

57. REALLY. THANKS.

58. WHO MOVED
MY BRAIN?
REVALUING
TIME & ATTENTION
MERLIN MANN
43FOLDERS.COM
Who Moved My Brain? by Merlin Mann is ©2010 Merlin Mann.
It is licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License.
Based on a work at www.43folders.com.