Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Most People Aren't Paying Attention


I'm not here
Originally uploaded by aknacer

Most people aren’t paying attention.

Jay Leno exploits this fact and we all laugh along.

Go up to people on the street and ask who the finalists are on American Idol and most will be able to tell you. Walk into a grocery store and ask the cashiers the latest on Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, or Paris Hilton and many would be able to give you some information.

Ask someone who the vice president of the U.S. is and you may get a plethora of answers. Ask someone why they go to the church they go to and they may not be able to provide an answer other than they just always have. Ask someone who Abraham Lincoln was and what he accomplished and you may hear all kinds of clueless answers.

It's not because of a lack of information. Human beings have never ever had so much information available to them at their finger tips. The Internet is full of information. Libraries are easily accessible. Books are being printed on anything and everything you could imagine.

So what's the deal? Most people aren't paying attention. At least when it comes to some of the more important things in life. What Britney Spears does tomorrow isn't going to have an impact on your life. Yet half a million people follow her on Twitter and watch the shows that tell you where she is and what she's doing every waking moment.

What makes you think people are paying attention to you? Are you getting through the distractions and noise? Is your business something people are paying attention to? Is your congregation being active in getting through all the noise? Are you providing a service people want and need?

Most people aren't paying attention. You've got to realize that, then change it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Human nature is intriguing, isn't it? We complain about our problems but as you say, we don't pay much attention to them. We're more interested in the failures/quirks/happenings of others.

I suppose it all goes back to our curious nature?

Andrew Weaver said...

Tim, thanks for stopping by.

I suppose you could chalk some of it up to that, but I'm afraid sometimes it's just an unwillingness to take care of the things that actually matter. We permit ourselves to be distracted far too easily. As a result we spend too much time paying attention to things that truly do not matter.