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Neuroscience research has demonstrated that the state of paying attention has measurable effects on our brain, and is essential for reorganizing neural circuits via neuroplasticity (see Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain for an excellent summary). This This simply confirms what any spiritual guru, developmental psychologist, or successful person can tell you: the ability to concentrate is one of the most valuable tools for success. Many of us cannot motivate ourselves to pay attention to a task that we consider pointless (which, for many of us, is our job). However, I argue that our motivation for paying attention can simply be for attention’s sake.

Around the world, people devote countless hours to the practice of meditation. They are training the mind to release distracting thoughts and to focus on a single point (such as their breathing, or a mantra). If this mental discipline is so valuable then it would be foolish to ignore opportunities to develop concentration in everyday life. The ability to rest the attention with an activity and be free from distracting thoughts brings benefits in all aspects of life.

If a task, or our job, is truly pointless and meaningless then there is a strong argument to change it. However, in the meantime, we must keep our attention engaged. We have all experienced days when we are plagued with distractions - those of us in office jobs may continually stop to check our e-mail, read the news, daydream, or chat with colleagues. We do anything to avoid focusing on the task in front of us. Although this may seem relaxing at first, we quickly develop a frustration with our life and job, and our motivation declines. By contrast, in meditation we are encouraged not to cling to passing thoughts, but instead to rest the attention with the object of meditation. We keep returning the attention to this point whenever it wanders. The more we do this in life, the easier it gets, and we observe our life becoming more and more satisfying.

Therefore, regardless of how meaningless or uninspiring our task, it is still a good opportunity to pay attention. We should practise doing this all of the time. The benefits are well worth it.