Stickman Charles — Attention
2026/3/20 GMT-4
Hello, I’m Stickman Charles.
What is your most valuable asset?
In the course The Path to Financial Freedom, there is a question: “What is your most valuable asset?” People give different answers—time, money, knowledge, relationships.
All of these make sense. But Li Xiaolai argues that the answer is attention—the thing you use every moment of your life.
“Money is not the most important, because it can be regenerated. Time is not the most important either, because it does not truly belong to you—you can only try to work with it. Your attention is the most important and most valuable resource you actually own.”
Only by controlling your attention can you acquire knowledge efficiently. Only when your knowledge reaches a certain level—when others can see your potential—can you build truly valuable relationships.
Have you ever picked up your phone, opened a short video app, and before you realized it, the sky had turned dark—yet you had done nothing, and a sense of anxiety appeared?
Have you ever tried to control yourself, telling your hand not to open those apps again, but still found yourself opening them, scrolling, and then regretting it?
Have you noticed that, whether listening to others or reading, your mind drifts more easily than before?
If your answer is yes, then you are likely caught in the “Tittytainment” effect.
What is the Tittytainment effect?
The Tittytainment effect refers to a social phenomenon where large amounts of low-cost, low-quality but highly stimulating content keep people immersed, reducing dissatisfaction while also weakening their ability to think.
Neuroscience has shown that high-frequency, unpredictable rewards—such as endlessly refreshing short videos—activate the brain’s dopamine reward system.
Long-term fragmentation of attention leaves you with no time to improve your cognition.
It weakens your ability to think and filter out noise.
It gradually leads to addiction.
How do you protect your attention?
First, recall my earlier article on Metacognition.
Before you click on an app, use metacognition. Remind yourself of the consequences of fragmented attention—your past anxiety, your sense of regret, and the effects described above. This is far more effective than simply telling yourself, “I won’t use my phone today.”
Second, in Soft Skills, Dr. Wu Jun points out that compared to fragmented time, long, uninterrupted blocks of time are far more effective for attention. To protect these blocks, remove your devices completely—put them somewhere out of sight. This is not for appearance; it requires a real internal shift.
Third, distinguish between deep work and shallow work.
Deep work requires full concentration—studying, reading, making decisions.
Shallow work includes tasks like checking emails, running, or cleaning—things you can do while listening to music.
In our context, middle school teachers often ask whether students want to listen to music while doing homework. This actually blurs the boundary between deep and shallow work.
In The Seven Habits of a Super Brain, Michihito Sugawara also notes that combining music with deep work is harmful to the brain.
How I train my attention
From last February to this March, I have consistently read, trying to process text word by word. Skimming and skipping fail to capture key information and do not train attention.
After reading five million words, I can clearly feel an improvement in my attention.
Of course, what you read matters. Web novels or purely entertaining fiction require little effort. Nonfiction forces you to think—improving both attention and metacognition.
Finally, thank you for your patience—or your attention.
If you have any thoughts or suggestions about attention, feel free to contact me at charlesisworkinghard@gmail.com. I look forward to your ideas.
Keep thinking, and take care.