---
title: "Reclaiming My Attention | Soumya Goel"
url: https://soumyagoel.com/journal/reclaiming_attention
author: Soumya Goel
published: 2026-04-21
updated: 2026-07-30
language: en
---

# Reclaiming My Attention

Growth. April 21, 2026. 1 min read.

![Soumya Goel practicing golf at sunrise on a driving range](https://soumyagoel.com/images/reclaiming_attention.jpeg)

My screen time used to be embarrassing.

Evenings would just disappear into scrolling and the worst part was I wasn't even enjoying it. It just felt easy.

What got me out of it wasn't a productivity hack or some digital detox. It was picking up my hobbies again. The kind that actually asks for your full attention. The kind you just cannot do while scrolling.

And honestly, the spillover surprised me. I'm more patient at work. More present in conversations. Calmer when things don't go my way. It isn’t that “playing golf” or “attending a dance class” taught me some big life lesson, but that I had trained my attention somewhere else first.

So if you've been feeling a bit scattered, maybe pick something up. A sport, an instrument, coloring, anything that cannot be done with half a brain.

> Our attention is probably the most valuable thing we own right now. Worth holding on to a bit more of it.

Thanks for reading.

[View on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7452243747225944065/)

From the journal of Soumya Goel: https://soumyagoel.com/#journal