Alertness Overview

Are You Ready?

Attentiveness refers to a person's focus on a specific responsibility, such as operating a riveting machine. Alertness, however, refers to a person's awareness of circumstances beyond that immediate focus—circumstances which may modify the situation, such as a supply shortage, machine maintenance, or technological advances.

Alertness to surrounding circumstances gives us warning of approaching dangers and notice of emerging opportunities. Careless individuals are frequently caught by surprise and overwhelmed by problems they could have resolved if only the problem had not gone unnoticed for so long.

Index Information

Our minds create a general list of objects and opportunities that pass within reach of our attention. However, we can give conscious attention to only a relative few of these, so many details are either ignored or filed away in memory.

Alertness makes effective use of this natural "information indexing." It is exercising our ability to notice and file away information for future reference as needed.

Get Involved

When driving, we may run out of gas if we do not periodically glance at our fuel gauge. Eventually, these glances become second nature.

Similarly, we must develop alertness to each area for which we are responsible. Knowing how to stay involved and recognizing which areas need support are important aspects of alertness.

Respond to Needs

There are needs all around us, constantly vying for our attention. In the midst of this, we must distinguish between the most important and the most pressing needs.

It is dangerous to respond only to the most pressing needs and overlook others. Work demands may become so demanding that a parent neglects the needs of children. When these needs at home finally "explode," work responsibilities may then go unattended, resulting in damage in every area of life.

Once you are alerted to needs within your jurisdiction, take responsibility to address them. Since you cannot address every need at once, prioritize and begin responding to each one as systematically as possible.

Alertness does not require omniscience, but it does require constant awareness and disciplined preparation. Develop alertness in your life and practice it every day.