1. Accept that you can’t pay attention to everything you “should.”Because the information explosion is so recent, we still have beliefs left over from a time when there was much less competition for our attention. We believe we should be able to stay on top of everything. Your first step in effective attention management is to jettison this exaggerated sense of what you should be able to process. Get it through your head: There is too much information for you to handle! Good. Now that we’ve cleared that up, you can relax and deal with the reality of living in a world packed with attention demands.

2. Make prioritizing a priority.If you start a day without a clear plan about how you’re going to spend your attention, you’ll end up wasting most of it. Your first priority should be to take a little undisturbed time each day to evaluate the various demands on your attention before they show up. Do your prioritizing whenever you typically think most clearly (most people do best in the morning, but I like to take five minutes before I go to bed to preview the upcoming day). Rank tasks in order of importance and write them down. That way, when you’re being hounded for attention you’ll have a visual cue to help you focus on the most significant task first, leaving less necessary items for later—or for never.  Cheers to more simplicity.

You don’t need a map or an itinerary to experience a personal journey; you simply need a sense of adventure and maybe this reminder:  That breathless, soul-quenching feeling of awe you get when you catch a beautiful sunset. To grow, you may have to step outside your comfort zone.  Whether you want to walk farther, pedal faster, love harder or simply embrace the scenery more appreciatively, cross every bridge with a brave and open heart.  And remember you might have to cross that same bridge to get back to some part of your journey!

Life and moving forward are simply matters of the heart.  Cheers!

Listen to your inner voice. It takes practice to hear your true desires. Your passion will often come as a whisper or serendipitous event that reminds you of what’s important and what makes you happy.  This is similar to what is meant by trusting your gut or listening to your intuition.

“Everyone has an inner voice; you just have to listen to it and trust it in order to be led by it,”. “I did that, and it gave me the ability to live a life that’s true to who I am and what I really wanted.”  Cheers!