Hannah’s Story: Where Your Attention Goes, Results Follow

 

Careful What You Pay Attention To

The Morning Everything Changed

I sat in my broken-down Honda on Route 22, watching the dashboard warning lights blink like angry fireflies. Steam curled from under the hood. My phone showed 7:43 AM — seventeen minutes until a strategy review with our newest client.

Not today, I thought. Please, not today.

Six months earlier, I would’ve handled this differently. Back then, I ran a small marketing consultancy with three employees and more anxiety than profit. Every setback felt like a catastrophe. Every problem consumed my entire field of vision.

But that morning on Route 22, something shifted.

The Old Hannah

Let me back up. Six months before that breakdown, I’d lost my largest client — a retail chain worth forty percent of our revenue. The news came on a Tuesday afternoon. By Wednesday morning, I’d convinced myself we were finished.

“We’re done,” I told Marcus, my operations manager, pacing our cramped office. “Forty percent gone. We can’t recover from this.”

Marcus watched me spiral. “What about the Peterson proposal? The one for their website redesign?”

“Who cares about Peterson?” I snapped. “They’re worth maybe five thousand. We just lost sixty thousand a year.”

I spent the next three days obsessing over the loss. I replayed every client meeting, searching for where I’d gone wrong. I calculated our runway — four months, maybe five if we cut salaries. I drafted termination letters for my team.

Meanwhile, I ignored seventeen emails. I postponed the Peterson meeting twice. I showed up late to a networking event and left early, too distracted to connect with anyone.

By Friday, Peterson had hired another agency. Two other prospects went cold. My team started updating their resumes.

I’d been so focused on what we’d lost that I couldn’t see what remained.

The Insight

The turning point came from an unexpected source — my daughter’s soccer coach.

Emma had missed a goal during practice. She stood at midfield, head down, replaying the miss while the game continued around her. Her coach called timeout.

“Emma,” he said, loud enough for parents to hear. “The ball’s over there now. Not back there where you missed. Over there. Where are your eyes?”

She pointed at the ground.

“And where’s the game?”

She looked up, pointed downfield where her teammates were defending.

“Right. You can’t play where the ball was. Only where it is.”

That night, I couldn’t stop thinking about Emma standing still while the game moved on. The parallel to my business was obvious. Painful, but obvious.

Choosing What to See

Monday morning, I tried something different. Instead of opening my laptop to our P&L statement — my daily ritual of doom-scrolling through red numbers — I opened our CRM. I filtered for active prospects.

Twelve names appeared.

Twelve potential clients I’d been ignoring while mourning one lost client.

I called Janet first. She ran a local restaurant group and had asked about social media management two weeks earlier. I’d never followed up.

“Hannah!” she said. “I thought you’d forgotten about us.”

We met that afternoon. While I’d been catastrophizing, her restaurants had launched a delivery service. They needed help announcing it. The contract wasn’t huge — about eight thousand — but it was immediate revenue.

That evening, Marcus stopped by my office. “You seem different today.”

“I made a sale,” I said.

“That’s great, but it’s something else. You’re actually here. Like, mentally here.”

He was right. For the first time in weeks, I’d spent a full day focused on possibilities instead of problems.

The Pattern Emerges

Over the next month, I noticed a pattern. My morning focus set the tone for everything that followed.

If I started by reviewing problems — outstanding invoices, difficult clients, competition — I spent the day in defensive mode. I’d write terse emails. Skip lunch to worry. Leave exhausted but unproductive.

But if I started by reviewing opportunities — warm leads, creative projects, team wins — I operated differently. I’d make calls with enthusiasm. Notice solutions during lunch walks. Leave energized with a clear plan for tomorrow.

Same business. Same challenges. Different focus, different outcomes.

The numbers reflected the shift. In three months, we’d replaced the lost revenue. Not through one massive client but through eight smaller ones — including Janet’s restaurants and, surprisingly, Peterson, who came back after their first agency dropped the ball.

Back to Route 22

Which brings me back to that morning on Route 22, steam rising from my Honda, seventeen minutes until our strategy review.

Old Hannah would’ve called the client to reschedule, voice tight with panic, probably losing their confidence in the process. She would’ve spent the tow truck ride calculating repair costs. She would’ve arrived at the office defeated before the day began.

But I’d learned something in those six months: Attention is a choice. Where you point it determines where you go.

I called Tom, our newest client, a manufacturer who’d hired us to revamp their trade show presence.

“Tom, I’m going to be ten minutes late. My car picked today to protest. But I’ve got our presentation ready, and I’m actually excited to share what we’ve built.”

“No problem,” he said. “We’ve got coffee. Take your time.”

I ordered an Uber, used the ride to review my notes one final time, and walked into their conference room at 8:11 AM — composed, prepared, and fully present.

The Meeting That Almost Wasn’t

Tom’s team had assembled in their conference room — six decision-makers who controlled a potential thirty-thousand-dollar expansion of our contract.

“Before we start,” Tom said, “I have to ask — you seem remarkably calm for someone whose car just died.”

I laughed. “Six months ago, I would’ve been a wreck. But I’ve learned something running this business. Every hour spent staring at problems is an hour not spent finding solutions. My car’s getting fixed. I can’t change that. But I can choose to be fully here with you.”

“That’s exactly the mindset we need,” said their marketing director. “We’ve been so focused on what our competitors are doing that we’ve forgotten what makes us unique.”

The next ninety minutes flew. We mapped out a trade show strategy that highlighted their innovations instead of reacting to competitors. We identified three quick wins they could implement before the next event.

They approved the expansion on the spot.

Pressure Builds

Two weeks later, the lesson got its real test.

Friday afternoon. Three things happened within one hour:

• Our biggest client requested a complete campaign revision by Monday
• Marcus gave notice — his wife got a job offer in Seattle
• Our office landlord announced a twenty percent rent increase

Old Hannah would’ve worked all weekend in panic mode, probably making poor decisions from exhaustion.

Instead, I stopped. Took a walk around the block. Asked myself: Where’s the game right now?

Not in Marcus’s resignation — that was decided. Not in the rent increase — that was just math to figure out. The game was in the client revision.

I called the client. “Help me understand what’s not working.”

Turns out, they didn’t want a complete revision. Their CEO had made one comment about the color scheme. They’d panicked and overreacted — just like I would have six months earlier.

“Let’s adjust the palette,” I said. “Everything else stays. I’ll have samples Monday morning.”

Two hours of work, not forty-eight.

With that solved, I had mental space for the real challenges. I called Marcus.

“I’m happy for you,” I said, and meant it. “Let’s talk transition. What do you need? What can you teach Sarah before you go?”

We built a four-week handoff plan. Sarah, hungry for growth, jumped at the expanded role.

The rent increase? I ran the numbers. We could absorb it with our new revenue, or I could find cheaper space. Neither option was catastrophic. Just choices to make.

Choosing Contribution

The shift in attention changed more than just crisis management. It transformed how we pursued growth.

Instead of fixating on competitors’ wins, we focused on client problems we could solve. Instead of lamenting budget constraints, we found creative workarounds. Instead of dwelling on lost pitches, we refined our approach for the next one.

Example: We pitched a wellness company and lost to a larger agency. Old me would’ve spent days dissecting the loss. New me called the prospect.

“Congratulations on finding your agency,” I said. “Quick question — what did they offer that we didn’t?”

“Video capabilities,” she said. “Your strategy was actually stronger, but they can execute video in-house.”

That afternoon, instead of sulking, I called three video freelancers. Within a month, we’d built a reliable video partnership. We won the next two pitches that required video.

The wellness company? They called six months later. The big agency had been too busy to give them attention. We got the contract.

What Changed

Looking back over that year, our revenue doubled. We went from three employees to five. We moved to a better office (yes, even with higher rent, it made sense).

But none of that was the real change.

The real change was this: attention became the lever for everything else. In practice, what you consistently pay attention to tends to be what grows.

Every morning, you wake up with a finite amount of attention. You can spend it on:

• Problems or opportunities
• Past losses or future possibilities
• What’s broken or what’s working
• Competitors’ strengths or your unique value

The choice seems small in the moment. But days become weeks, weeks become months, and months become years. Where you point your attention becomes the story of your business.

The Science Behind the Shift

I later learned there’s research behind what I’d discovered through trial and error. Psychologists call it “selective attention” — our brain literally filters reality based on what we focus on.

When you focus on problems, your brain becomes expertly tuned to spot more problems. When you focus on opportunities, you develop pattern recognition for possibilities.

It’s not positive thinking. It’s strategic thinking. You’re not ignoring problems — you’re choosing to engage with them productively instead of obsessively.

Three Simple Bullets

Here’s what I implemented after that year of learning:

• Morning Prime: Start each day by reviewing opportunities, not obstacles. Open your CRM before your bank statement. Check testimonials before complaints.
• The Route 22 Question: When crisis hits, ask “Where’s the game now?” Focus on the next playable move, not the last missed shot.
• Attention Audit: Every Friday, review where your attention went that week. Did you spend more time on problems or solutions? Adjust the next week accordingly.

The Caveat

This approach has one critical limitation: it requires genuine problems to have genuine solutions.

If your business model is fundamentally broken, if you’re in a dying industry, if you’ve lost product-market fit — shifting attention won’t fix structural issues. Sometimes you need to stare hard at the problem until you understand it completely.

But in my experience, ninety percent of daily business challenges aren’t structural. They’re situational. And situational challenges respond remarkably well to shifts in attention.

Today

It’s been three years since that morning on Route 22. The business has grown to twelve employees. We’ve opened a second office. Our client retention rate sits at ninety-two percent.

But I still start each morning the same way: by choosing where to point my attention.

This morning, Marcus called from Seattle. His new company wants to hire us for a project. “You taught me something,” he said. “That whole thing about focusing on where the game is, not where it was. I use it every day.”

“Funny,” I said. “I learned it from a soccer coach.”

“Yeah, but you lived it. That’s what made me believe it.”

Your Next Move

Stop right now and audit your last hour. What did you pay attention to? Problems or possibilities? Past failures or future opportunities?

Tomorrow morning, before you check email, before you review finances, before you tackle your to-do list — spend ten minutes on one question: “What’s possible today?”

Then point your attention there and watch what grows.

Because your business — like your life — becomes what you pay attention to.

Choose carefully.

Lesson Insights – Choosing What to Pay Attention To

The Attention Economy in Your Mind

Estimates suggest your senses deliver roughly 11 million bits of input per second, while conscious processing handles only around 50 bits. In practice, that means you constantly filter reality—and what you choose to focus on strongly shapes your experience.

When you focus on obstacles, your brain activates threat-detection mode. You’ll spot more problems, feel more stress, and miss creative solutions. When you focus on possibilities, you activate opportunity-recognition patterns. You’ll see more options, feel more capable, and find unexpected resources.

The Compound Effect of Focus

Small attention choices multiply over time. Spending five minutes worrying versus five minutes planning seems trivial. But multiply that by every decision in a day, then by 365 days, and you’ve created two completely different years.

Research links persistent rumination and mind-wandering with lower momentary happiness. Solution-focused thinking, by contrast, is associated with better mood and a greater sense of progress—even when challenges are similar. (Specific percentages vary by study, so it’s best not to claim fixed figures.)

The Three Zones of Attention

Past Zone: Replaying what went wrong, what you should have done, what others did to you. This zone drains energy without creating change.

Future Anxiety Zone: Worrying about what might happen, imagining worst-case scenarios, preparing for disasters that rarely occur. This zone creates stress without improving readiness.

Present Action Zone: Focusing on what you can do now, what resources you have, what next step makes sense. This zone generates momentum and builds confidence.

Best Practices – Universal Attention Management

The 2-Minute Reset

When you catch yourself spiraling into problem-focus:

• Stop what you’re doing
• Take three deep breaths
• Ask: “What can I actually control right now?”
• Name one specific action you can take
• Take that action immediately

The Evening Download

Before bed, write down three things:

• What went well today (no matter how small)
• What you learned from any challenges
• One opportunity for tomorrow

This practice rewires your brain to scan for growth instead of threats.

The Focus Ladder Technique

When facing a big problem:

1. Acknowledge the problem (30 seconds)
2. Identify what you can’t control (30 seconds)
3. List what you can influence (2 minutes)
4. Choose your first actionable step (1 minute)
5. Schedule when you’ll take that step

This prevents endless problem analysis and forces solution focus.

Strategic Ignorance

Not everything deserves your attention. Practice deliberately ignoring:

• Other people’s drama that doesn’t involve you
• News you can’t act on
• Comparisons to others’ highlight reels
• Past decisions you can’t change
• Hypothetical problems that haven’t happened

Checklist – Daily Attention Audit

Morning Setup (5 minutes)

• [ ] Before checking messages, write one thing you’re grateful for
• [ ] Identify your single most important outcome for today
• [ ] Choose what you’ll tackle first (make it achievable)
• [ ] Decide what you won’t pay attention to today

Midday Check-in (2 minutes)

• [ ] Have I spent more time on problems or solutions so far?
• [ ] What’s one good thing that’s happened (however small)?
• [ ] What deserves my attention this afternoon?
• [ ] What can I safely ignore?

Evening Review (3 minutes)

• [ ] Did I focus more on what I could control or couldn’t?
• [ ] What pulled my attention unnecessarily?
• [ ] What did I handle well by choosing my focus?
• [ ] What will I pay attention to tomorrow?

Weekly Patterns (10 minutes)

• [ ] Which day did I manage attention best? Why?
• [ ] When did I lose focus to unproductive areas?
• [ ] What triggers pull me toward negative focus?
• [ ] What helps me maintain constructive attention?

FAQ Section

Q: Isn’t ignoring problems just denial?

Not at all. There’s a difference between ignoring and choosing when to engage. Acknowledging a problem takes seconds. Obsessing over it takes hours. The key is proportional attention — give problems exactly the focus they need to solve them, not endless mental energy that creates no progress.

Q: What if my situation really is mostly negative?

Even in genuinely difficult situations, you have choices about attention. Viktor Frankl survived Nazi concentration camps by choosing to focus on meaning and purpose rather than just suffering. You might have 90% challenges and 10% possibilities — but focusing on that 10% gives you leverage to improve the 90%.

Q: How do I stop my mind from automatically going negative?

Your brain has a negativity bias for survival reasons — it’s trying to protect you. Don’t fight it directly. Instead, acknowledge the negative thought (“Thanks, brain, for trying to keep me safe”), then deliberately shift to “What can I do about this?” Action-focus naturally moves you from negative to constructive.

Q: What if other people keep bringing negativity to me?

You can’t control others’ focus, but you can control your response. When someone brings you problems, immediately ask: “What do you think we should do about it?” This shifts the conversation from complaint to solution. If they persist in negativity, limit your exposure when possible.

Q: How long does it take to change attention habits?

Well-cited research suggests forming a habit takes about 66 days on average, with a wide range from ~18 to 254 days depending on the behavior and person. You may notice small improvements within the first week, but the full habit typically stabilizes over several weeks to months.