What it means to "pay attention"

When you learn to value your own time, you will learn to value other people’s time.
You may even put a dollar amount on the value of your time (though you are likely to choose too small of a number).
The reason that we use the expression “paying attention to N” is that out of respect for ourselves, and others, we give 100% focus to what we are doing.
To do anything else would be something akin to “throwing away money”.