*Any attention is almost as strong a reinforcement as treats.* This reminds me of [[attention economy]], how merely paying attention is spending a resource. It's kind of like [[When a measure becomes a target it ceases to be a good measure]], attention on the thing in the moment as a goal means your attention on what you're really trying to achieve is split and reduced. [[Eliminate before optimize]], eliminate what's not important in the moment to pay best attention to what is before you. This is a way of thinking, ignore the bad instead of punishing the bad. This matters because if you can get yourself to ignore the bad, you will make more progress towards both the relationship and the behavior, as in the virtuous cycle of [[relational coordination]] ##### What would the opposite argument be? tags: #note/idea | #on/behavior | #on/attention ##### Sources: McConnell, P. B. (2003). _The other end of the leash: Why we do what we do around dogs_ (First trade paperback edition). Ballantine Books.