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I kind of feel like

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my attention span is dying.

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<i>knocks on the door</i>

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It's just like

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whenever I try and do anything,

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I start craving some sort of distraction.

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I can't just focus on one thing at a time,

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even if that thing is sleeping.

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But I have things I wanna do,

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things I want to focus on.

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I just don't

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because refreshing Instagram

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is always gonna be easier...

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and it's a problem!

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And I'm tired of it.

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I am tired of feeling like my life is
so far out of my own control.

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So today,

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we are figuring out how to stop scrolling,

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and how to start paying attention.

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Thank you to our Patrons for 
supporting the channel,

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and headspace for sponsoring

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a portion of this video.

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With focus music, motivational exercises,

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guided meditations, and more,

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Headspace has over a thousand 
pieces of content

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to help you be kind to your mind.

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If you wanna see how Headspace
might be helpful to you,

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you can try it out completely for free
for 60 days.

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All you have to do is sign up
with our link in the description

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or scan the QR code on screen.

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[slam]

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So, what's in the box?

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[box opening]

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This is an electroencephalogram, 
or an EEG.

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It measures electrical activity in the brain

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which are associated with certain
performance metrics

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like attention, excitement and stress.

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Does that look good?
How's that - How do I look?

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Now these things usually look
a little bit more threatening and wire-y,

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however, I reached out to this brand
called Emotiv

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that creates more simplified
consumer options.

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They gave me a little discount

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so I could actually afford this
for the video.

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And I look like a cyborg.

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I think it looks cute.

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Okay, so these are my brainwaves,

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and if I focus on it...really hard...

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it should be able to translate these

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into more understandable metrics,
like... attention!

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Look at that!

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You see the building attention
and spike in excitement;

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that's my brain!

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I kinda feel like a videogame character
and these are my stats.

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This is cool.

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Now I should note that EEG data
can be pretty noisy

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and things like movement 
can really impact the results.

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However, I think that having any level of 
recording is an improvement

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because I basically never pay attention
to my attention.

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It only every really comes up when
I'm feeling guilty about my screentime,

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or I realise that 
I've done nothing all day.

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And only having these really infrequent
and negative interactions with my problem

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makes it really hard to be 
objective about the whole thing,

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to understand how bad it actually is

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and see if it's getting better or worse.

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But now, with the help of this brainscanner,

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I finally got to measure a 
baseline for my attention span

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without getting bogged down by guilt,

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or forgetting to focus on my focus.

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[typing]

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I wore the EEG while I worked, ate,
exercised and relaxed.

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I did take it off a few times
because it could get pretty uncomfortable

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after really long stretches.

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Woah!

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But, overall, 
it was pretty easy to ignore

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while I just lived my life 
for the rest of the week.

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Alongside the EEG, I installed
a program to automatically track

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how often I switched tasks on my computer,

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and I recorded 
how many times I picked up my phone.

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Did you know that you can't actually
export your screentime data!

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Then I wrote a quick script
to compile all this data and visualize it.

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Here is my life for the past three days.

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Ooh.

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The x-axis is the number of hours in a day.

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These blue bars represent the 
number of times I picked up my phone.

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This grey line tracks how productive
I was at my computer,

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and these coloured lines are the median
performance metrics from my EEG.

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Now, some highlights include this moment

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where I picked up my phone to start 
debugging the app that I was using to scan my brain,

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and then I ended up [uh] opening Instagram
and spending the next two hours on it.

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[laughs]

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However, during my meetings the next day

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I was like super interested and attentive,

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right? Great? No.

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It's because I kept picking up my phone!

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I was supposed to be on a call!

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I kept opening up Instagram!

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But it's not all bad news:

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there are these instances 
where I put down my phone,

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I get into the zone,
and my brain just lights up.

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The only issue is that in my 8-hour work
day, it only happens for, like, an hour.

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It's over here at like 2 o'clock, 
or 5 o'clock, or 10 o'clock!

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Now something similar does happen
to my brain when I am working out,

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but... how often am I doing that?

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All this is to say, is that for 
the 16-ish hours that I am awake,

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I am only engaged 
and focused for like 12% of it.

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The rest of the time 
- the 88% of the time -

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I'm all over the place: 
I'm checked out or I'm distracted.

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This could be most of the rest of my life 
unless we do something about it.

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So let's do that.

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So, I started looking for any books
about attention, focus, and distractions

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and I found a lot of them.

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There was just one problem
- they're all identical!

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They invent different buzz words and

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and they switch out the personal anecdotes

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that they blur with legitimate science,

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but fundamentally, 
if you've read one, you've read them all.

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Fortunately, you don't need to read any of them,
because here are the three things

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that you actually need to know
if you want to fix your focus.

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1: Attention and focus are different things.

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Attention is a broad concept that 
boils down to our general awareness,

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while focus is one process 
that controls that awareness,

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concentrating it on something specific.

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2: Focus is a limited and exhaustible resource.

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So, you can only really 
focus on one thing at a time

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and your ability to do that will 
tire out the further you get from rest.

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3: Focus also filters out distractions.

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The more there are,
the more of your focus is being wasted.

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Now some research exists suggesting that
certain forms of cognitive training

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can increase your capacity 
and ability to focus.

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But the type of training and the 
effectiveness has varying results.

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The brain is complicated and 
there is a lot of nuance in the details -

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especially when you are trying 
to find things that work for you

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and your specific circumstances.

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So to fix my focus, I'm actually only going
to do a handful of very simple things

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that support what we know about focus.

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Here's the plan.

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First I need to manage my distractions, 
starting with the obvious: my phone.

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I deleted the apps that I never use, 
set up time limits for the apps I use

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way too much 
(everything except for my wallet)

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and muted basically all of my notifications.

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I also installed this app
that replaces icons with text.

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So now I need to put in a little
more effort before I open anything.

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I also changed my display to grey scale.

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I have never wanted to use my phone less.

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God, this sucks.

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I wasn't kidding.

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Almost immediately, my phone pick-ups
and screen time dropped dramatically.

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However, the silence made me 
notice the sheer number of

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internal distractions I have, too.

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These passing thoughts that 
just take me off task,

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like wondering if I need 
to buy more toilet paper,

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wishing I learned 
a musical instrument as a kid

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or thinking about what 
I'm gonna have for dinner.

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They were rarely urgent,

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but often important enough that 
I didn't want to ignore or forget them.

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So, I dedicated a page in my notebook 
to quickly write them down for later.

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When later came,

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I sorted through those thoughts based on 
action, importance and time-sensitivity,

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and kept it in mind when I was building
my schedule which got way more specific.

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Now, I'm usually the type of person who

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only puts, like, events in my calendar 
- a normal person - however,

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a lot of the books that I've been reading 
have recommended time-blocking

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or time-boxing. I don't know.

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It's just setting aside 
time to do individual tasks.

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Apparently, it helps you avoid 
the temptation to multitask.

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[alarm beeps]

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So, every morning, I took all of my work,

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chores, exercises and hobbies

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and plugged them into my calendar.

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Now, I found that the secret is that

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it's not as simple as just 
putting an hour aside for each thing.

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Since focus is an exhaustible resource,

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I need to take into account 
my energy levels throughout the day

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and how much effort 
each task is going to take.

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Like, reading research papers and writing
takes a lot of focus for me.

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It's just really boring.

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[vacuum cleaner with audiobook playing]

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but listening to audiobooks or animating,

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I'm locked in.

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I actually find it really hard to disengage 
from the tasks that I really enjoy.

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So I find myself thinking about them 
or even continuing to do them

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past their allotted time.

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Which means that I should 
probably think about those switching costs

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when I'm building my 
schedule out for the day.

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Eventually, I realised this process 
could be a little more automated,

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so I got Taha to put the process together
in a notion template.

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Now I can input tasks, tag them
and it will show me an order

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that I can drag into my calendar.

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I found it useful,

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and if you want to give it a try, 
I'll include it in our next newsletter.

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But once I controlled my 
external and internal distractions,

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and built out a schedule 
that minimised multitasking

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and optimised for my energy levels,

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all that was left was actually focusing.

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It was amazing.

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I was using my phone less
and getting more done.

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My brain was lighting up.

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I was way more engaged 
in everything I did.

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I found different soundtracks
to make it easier to get in the zone,

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and life was great...

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until it wasn't.

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[uuhhhhh]

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It is... 12.

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I haven't left bed yet.

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I've just been using my phone, full color.

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Every 15 minutes I hit
"remind me in 15 minutes."

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[uhh]

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And then 15 minutes later I do it again.

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00:09:03,501 --> 00:09:05,941
Just feels like we're 
back where we started.

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I ended up using my phone
for 7 hours that day -

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more than I had all week prior.

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I had things I could do.

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Things I should do.

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But I just couldn't 
bring myself to get up.

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I am kind of proud that I managed to 
pull up my code on my phone

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00:09:22,662 --> 00:09:24,753
and see if there were any clues in my data

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that could explain what went wrong.

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I know, it's pathetic,

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but it was a small victory that 
led to an interesting discovery:

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the nights that I used 
my phone past midnight

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led to days where I felt more distracted 
and picked up my phone more often.

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I learned in an old video
how important sleep could really be,

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so I decided to just give up on the day,

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get some sleep, and try again tomorrow.

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[sigh]

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[aaaAAAHHH]

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I feel like I'm drowning.

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It's like I'm not doing 
anything hard, right?

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I'm just doing my stuff.

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I'm just trying to focus on it more.

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Except, I'm trying so hard to focus

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that everything is making me on edge.

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Like, my cat will try and get my attention

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and I'll be annoyed 
at him for wanting pats.

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It's like there's sand falling

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and I'm trying to catch all of the sand.

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And you can't do it!

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Am I making any sense?

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I really need to make 
every grain of sand count

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by like doing everything on target

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and even if I'm enjoying something,

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I can't because I need to move 
and catch different grains of sand.

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Hold on, hold on, hold on.

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What did you just say?

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"Have you ever thought about just

246
00:10:48,100 --> 00:10:52,526
meditating and doing... nothing?

247
00:10:52,526 --> 00:10:55,072
Taking a step back away from 
the thing that you're working on

248
00:10:55,222 --> 00:10:57,355
and not working?

249
00:10:57,355 --> 00:10:58,743
Like taking a break?"

250
00:11:02,563 --> 00:11:04,372
Maybe it was because I was desperate.

251
00:11:04,372 --> 00:11:06,981
Actually, it is totally because I was desperate

252
00:11:06,981 --> 00:11:09,209
but I decided to try meditation.

253
00:11:09,209 --> 00:11:10,717
The only issue is...

254
00:11:10,983 --> 00:11:12,583
I have no idea how.

255
00:11:12,684 --> 00:11:14,755
Luckily, I have headspace.

256
00:11:14,755 --> 00:11:16,289
I should probably turn the colour on

257
00:11:16,289 --> 00:11:18,715
just so you guys can see 
what the app actually looks like.

258
00:11:18,715 --> 00:11:20,631
When I asked headspace 
to sponsor a portion of this video,

259
00:11:20,631 --> 00:11:24,247
I genuinely thought I was only going to use
their focus music and white noise,

260
00:11:24,247 --> 00:11:26,229
because I love listening to those 
to the point that

261
00:11:26,229 --> 00:11:29,095
it is ruining my YouTube recommendations
and Spotify Wrapped.

262
00:11:29,095 --> 00:11:31,480
So it is just great to have access to 
headspace's collection.

263
00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:36,282
But headspace also has stretches, 
workouts, podcasts and meditation.

264
00:11:36,282 --> 00:11:38,732
They have content 
specifically for beginners, like me,

265
00:11:38,732 --> 00:11:40,132
who don't know where to start.

266
00:11:40,132 --> 00:11:41,248
It's in their basics course.

267
00:11:41,248 --> 00:11:42,749
But if you don't want to commit to that,

268
00:11:42,749 --> 00:11:43,866
they also have shorter exercises

269
00:11:43,866 --> 00:11:47,134
including my favourite thing 
I discovered on this app,

270
00:11:47,134 --> 00:11:51,101
which is "Star Wars: Breathe with Yoda."

271
00:11:51,101 --> 00:11:52,470
It's a 1-minute breathing exercise

272
00:11:52,470 --> 00:11:56,042
and Yoda's just sitting there levitating rocks.
I love it.

273
00:11:56,042 --> 00:11:58,121
However, they also have 
longer, less structured stuff

274
00:11:58,121 --> 00:11:59,735
for people with more experience.

275
00:11:59,735 --> 00:12:03,837
Just the sheer amount of variety is 
probably my favorite thing about headspace.

276
00:12:03,837 --> 00:12:07,777
They bring together so many resources 
to help you be kind to your mind; so,

277
00:12:07,777 --> 00:12:11,602
even if meditation doesn't end up helping,
maybe movement will.

278
00:12:11,602 --> 00:12:15,743
Or, another cool thing that I found 
- this is so sick - they have ASMR

279
00:12:15,743 --> 00:12:19,196
and there's like a thing at the bottom
that lets you control the balance between

280
00:12:19,196 --> 00:12:21,946
voice and, like, environmental noise.

281
00:12:21,946 --> 00:12:23,593
Headspace, do more of this!

282
00:12:23,593 --> 00:12:25,045
If you want to try out headspace,

283
00:12:25,045 --> 00:12:26,844
completely for free for 60 days,

284
00:12:26,844 --> 00:12:30,612
you can sign up using the link in the
description, or scan the QR code.

285
00:12:30,612 --> 00:12:33,097
Okay, lets learn how to meditate.

286
00:12:33,097 --> 00:12:34,780
"Hi, and welcome to-"
"-Hi"

287
00:12:34,780 --> 00:12:38,197
My first experience with meditation was...

288
00:12:38,197 --> 00:12:41,265
strange? Now, the voice kept telling me to

289
00:12:41,265 --> 00:12:42,797
focus on my breathing,

290
00:12:42,797 --> 00:12:44,731
but I might have focused a little too hard

291
00:12:44,731 --> 00:12:48,280
because I was worried 
I forgot how to breathe.

292
00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,399
I should wear my head 
scanner thing for this!

293
00:12:50,399 --> 00:12:51,882
Back to breathing. [exhales]

294
00:12:51,882 --> 00:12:53,706
But eventually, I think I got the hang of it

295
00:12:53,706 --> 00:12:56,883
and after 10 minutes

296
00:12:56,883 --> 00:13:00,334
-How am I supposed to know if
meditation is working?

297
00:13:00,334 --> 00:13:02,517
Is there a light? 
Like what happens?

298
00:13:02,517 --> 00:13:04,170
"I don't think there is 
an exact science to it.

299
00:13:04,170 --> 00:13:06,817
It's just - you're supposed 
to just feel better.

300
00:13:06,817 --> 00:13:09,118
Or feel changed.

301
00:13:09,118 --> 00:13:12,137
Did it do anything?"

302
00:13:12,137 --> 00:13:14,491
I don't know!

303
00:13:14,491 --> 00:13:16,468
Do you just keep doing it?

304
00:13:16,468 --> 00:13:18,386
"That's kind of it.

305
00:13:18,386 --> 00:13:21,136
I know that's probably not
what you wanted to hear, but-"

306
00:13:21,136 --> 00:13:23,470
So I just trust the process?

307
00:13:23,470 --> 00:13:24,487
So, for the next few days,

308
00:13:24,487 --> 00:13:27,238
I continued with my focus 
schedule and wore my EEG.

309
00:13:27,238 --> 00:13:30,225
But I also tried to meditate in 
the morning, or evening,

310
00:13:30,225 --> 00:13:32,691
or just random moments when I felt like it.

311
00:13:35,997 --> 00:13:38,820
And then, something kind of wild happened.

312
00:13:39,386 --> 00:13:41,487
Meditation works!

313
00:13:41,487 --> 00:13:42,952
And I wish I could tell you this because

314
00:13:42,952 --> 00:13:46,051
I have achieved enlightenment or I have a new found sense of peace,

315
00:13:46,051 --> 00:13:51,269
but, no. I just feel normal .

316
00:13:51,269 --> 00:13:53,419
About as normal as the distribution of

317
00:13:53,419 --> 00:13:56,038
the sample means of my experimental 
populations, justifying the use of

318
00:13:56,038 --> 00:13:59,103
a two-sampled t-test 
resulting in these p-values.

319
00:13:59,103 --> 00:14:01,424
Ooh! How significant.

320
00:14:01,424 --> 00:14:03,256
This EEG has seriously paid off

321
00:14:03,256 --> 00:14:05,639
because even though I 
don't feel that different,

322
00:14:05,639 --> 00:14:08,189
I was able to use its 
measurements to do some statistics

323
00:14:08,189 --> 00:14:12,374
and find that meditation has improved 
basically all of my performance metrics:

324
00:14:12,374 --> 00:14:16,341
engagement, excitement, interest.

325
00:14:16,341 --> 00:14:17,941
Also, stress, but that might be because

326
00:14:17,941 --> 00:14:19,176
I was wearing this when you guys

327
00:14:19,176 --> 00:14:22,460
sold out our last merch drop in 
less than 24 hours. Thank you for that.

328
00:14:22,460 --> 00:14:24,159
So good stress.

329
00:14:24,159 --> 00:14:27,314
The coolest thing is that all of this is 
on top of what I already gained

330
00:14:27,314 --> 00:14:30,221
by minimising distractions 
and avoiding multitasking.

331
00:14:30,221 --> 00:14:31,654
At least according to these regressions

332
00:14:31,654 --> 00:14:32,331
I ran.

333
00:14:32,331 --> 00:14:34,792
But the benefits of meditation 
came at a surprising cost.

334
00:14:34,792 --> 00:14:36,525
You see these peaks of intense focus?

335
00:14:36,525 --> 00:14:38,310
Yeah, those stopped happening.

336
00:14:38,310 --> 00:14:41,928
But I also stopped experiencing these
huge dips. Now I'm just fine.

337
00:14:41,928 --> 00:14:45,876
This whole thing is just... fine.

338
00:14:45,876 --> 00:14:49,601
You know, I started this video because 
I wanted to feel more in control of my attention.

339
00:14:49,601 --> 00:14:55,246
I didn't want to rely on being distracted
every single second. And you know what?

340
00:14:55,246 --> 00:14:55,795
Done.

341
00:14:55,795 --> 00:14:58,462
I am literally, statistically more engaged

342
00:14:58,462 --> 00:15:01,563
and anecdotally, I was doing 
the dishes the other day and

343
00:15:01,563 --> 00:15:04,914
I started playing a podcast 
out of habit, then I realised:

344
00:15:04,914 --> 00:15:07,564
I'd rather just clean in silence.

345
00:15:07,564 --> 00:15:08,881
Who am I?

346
00:15:08,881 --> 00:15:10,182
I know I should be happy.

347
00:15:10,182 --> 00:15:12,815
Happy that for folks 
without attention disorders,

348
00:15:12,815 --> 00:15:14,834
fixing your focus is as simple as

349
00:15:14,834 --> 00:15:18,067
minimising distractions, 
avoiding multitasking,

350
00:15:18,067 --> 00:15:20,397
and maybe meditating 
if it all gets too much.

351
00:15:20,397 --> 00:15:21,781
I should be happy.

352
00:15:21,781 --> 00:15:22,824
But I'm not.

353
00:15:22,824 --> 00:15:25,642
Like I think it's really cool 
that meditation can work

354
00:15:25,642 --> 00:15:27,791
even if you don't know how it works,

355
00:15:27,791 --> 00:15:30,180
but I'm me...

356
00:15:30,180 --> 00:15:31,769
and I need to know how.

357
00:15:31,769 --> 00:15:34,044
So I guess if you only cared 
about fixing your focus,

358
00:15:34,044 --> 00:15:35,026
the video is done.

359
00:15:35,026 --> 00:15:35,893
You heard my advice.

360
00:15:35,893 --> 00:15:37,100
But, if you're like me

361
00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:38,526
and you want to know why,

362
00:15:38,526 --> 00:15:41,079
come with me 'cause we're gonna find out.

363
00:15:41,079 --> 00:15:43,496
It was strange getting 
to the bottom of this.

364
00:15:43,496 --> 00:15:47,145
because I was looking for an answer 
when I didn't really have a question.

365
00:15:47,145 --> 00:15:51,112
I just had a sense of unease because
I had solved my original problem

366
00:15:51,112 --> 00:15:56,380
without understanding how or why
my solution really worked.

367
00:15:56,380 --> 00:15:59,235
It was only after 
spending the day in the library,

368
00:15:59,235 --> 00:16:02,164
flipping through any book 
I could find about meditation,

369
00:16:02,164 --> 00:16:04,982
when I realised my question and its answer.

370
00:16:04,982 --> 00:16:08,898
You see, earlier we learned 
how focus works according to science,

371
00:16:08,898 --> 00:16:12,532
and the tips I found in those productivity 
books were in line with that.

372
00:16:12,532 --> 00:16:14,497
They should have helped me stay focused.

373
00:16:14,497 --> 00:16:15,816
But they didn't.

374
00:16:15,816 --> 00:16:17,117
Not in the long run.

375
00:16:17,117 --> 00:16:20,921
However, when I added meditation 
to the mix, it all worked.

376
00:16:20,921 --> 00:16:22,568
The question is how.

377
00:16:22,568 --> 00:16:26,052
Specifically, how did meditation 
influence my focus

378
00:16:26,052 --> 00:16:28,218
differently than productivity tips.

379
00:16:28,218 --> 00:16:31,151
Okay. So, meditation as we know it

380
00:16:31,151 --> 00:16:33,636
originated in India with

381
00:16:33,957 --> 00:16:35,336
Theravada Buddhism.

382
00:16:35,620 --> 00:16:37,869
However, it's since evolved 
into a wide range of practices

383
00:16:37,869 --> 00:16:39,203
used throughout the world,

384
00:16:39,203 --> 00:16:42,258
including more securlarised 
and intrumentalised forms

385
00:16:42,258 --> 00:16:46,455
that became popular in the west with 
books like Wherever You Go There You Are.

386
00:16:46,455 --> 00:16:50,205
This approach to meditation became 
known as mindfulness based interventions

387
00:16:50,205 --> 00:16:52,339
and has two main forms:

388
00:16:52,339 --> 00:16:56,793
open monitoring, where you observe your 
experiences in real time without reacting

389
00:16:56,793 --> 00:16:59,224
you just recognise things as they are;

390
00:16:59,224 --> 00:17:03,374
and focused attention, where you concentrate
on something specific like breathing.

391
00:17:03,374 --> 00:17:06,393
Now the interesting thing is that

392
00:17:06,393 --> 00:17:07,275
this religiously informed framework,

393
00:17:07,275 --> 00:17:08,941
with origins from thousands of years ago,

394
00:17:08,941 --> 00:17:11,174
has a lot of surprising parallels

395
00:17:11,174 --> 00:17:14,741
with our modern scientific 
understanding of attention.

396
00:17:14,741 --> 00:17:16,476
In fact, some Buddhist practitioners have

397
00:17:16,476 --> 00:17:19,928
been found to out-perform the norm
at attention-related tasks,

398
00:17:19,928 --> 00:17:21,712
suggesting that meditation is,

399
00:17:21,712 --> 00:17:24,577
at least in part, 
helping them focus.

400
00:17:24,577 --> 00:17:26,495
Now, I should probably say that

401
00:17:26,495 --> 00:17:28,679
a lot of this research, while promising,

402
00:17:28,679 --> 00:17:30,145
is still inconclusive.

403
00:17:30,145 --> 00:17:34,113
Meditation, and even attention, 
are still kind of nebulous concepts

404
00:17:34,113 --> 00:17:37,846
that make it difficult to achieve 
rigourous, scientific consensus.

405
00:17:37,846 --> 00:17:41,697
However, despite the similarities 
I found between religious theory

406
00:17:41,697 --> 00:17:44,314
and these pop science attention books,

407
00:17:44,314 --> 00:17:46,882
I did notice, one key difference:

408
00:17:46,882 --> 00:17:49,281
how they manage distractions.

409
00:17:49,281 --> 00:17:51,767
You see, the pop science and 
productivity books I read

410
00:17:51,767 --> 00:17:53,398
emphasized cutting out distractions

411
00:17:53,398 --> 00:17:57,965
and building walls in your space 
and schedule to protect your focus.

412
00:17:57,965 --> 00:17:59,467
This is straight forward in concept

413
00:17:59,467 --> 00:18:01,198
but really difficult to maintain

414
00:18:01,198 --> 00:18:04,686
if have a lot of responsibilities 
that are outside your control.

415
00:18:04,686 --> 00:18:08,335
In contrast, the mindfulness approach 
targets your focus directly,

416
00:18:08,335 --> 00:18:12,251
cultivating it to be easier to command 
and resilient to distractions.

417
00:18:12,251 --> 00:18:14,068
This forms a sort of spectrum

418
00:18:14,068 --> 00:18:18,619
where you either reshape your environment 
to restore your attention, or

419
00:18:18,619 --> 00:18:21,786
reinforce your attention 
to endure the world.

420
00:18:21,786 --> 00:18:22,835
Now here's the thing,

421
00:18:22,835 --> 00:18:25,053
when you feel your attention span

422
00:18:25,053 --> 00:18:27,003
slipping through your fingers,

423
00:18:27,003 --> 00:18:31,320
that pop science, productivity 
approach is really tempting.

424
00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:32,855
But only because it's unavoidable,

425
00:18:32,855 --> 00:18:35,204
like, a lot of the content around 
reclaiming your focus

426
00:18:35,204 --> 00:18:37,872
is for the sake of 
using it on something else.

427
00:18:37,872 --> 00:18:41,239
But it is also tempting 
because the advice is so tangible.

428
00:18:41,239 --> 00:18:42,906
You turn off your notifications,

429
00:18:42,906 --> 00:18:44,156
you build out a schedule,

430
00:18:44,156 --> 00:18:45,939
you get rid of the distractions

431
00:18:45,939 --> 00:18:48,957
and see it replaced with 
things you do care about.

432
00:18:48,957 --> 00:18:50,306
Compare that to meditation

433
00:18:50,306 --> 00:18:51,462
which is so subtle that,

434
00:18:51,462 --> 00:18:54,110
if I wasn't wearing 
an EEG for three weeks,

435
00:18:54,110 --> 00:18:56,446
I would have just 
assumed that it did nothing.

436
00:18:56,446 --> 00:18:58,811
However, the average person like you or I,

437
00:18:58,811 --> 00:19:01,109
can never fully control our environments.

438
00:19:01,109 --> 00:19:04,413
And the supports we use to try 
are shockingly fragile.

439
00:19:04,413 --> 00:19:05,693
So if they break,

440
00:19:05,693 --> 00:19:07,025
when they break,

441
00:19:07,025 --> 00:19:11,260
all we're left with 
is our core ability to focus.

442
00:19:11,260 --> 00:19:12,172
And if that sucks,

443
00:19:12,172 --> 00:19:14,214
we end up where we started.

444
00:19:14,214 --> 00:19:16,199
That's why I think 
meditation helped me out.

445
00:19:16,199 --> 00:19:20,013
The whole exercise is realising
that your mind naturally wanders,

446
00:19:20,013 --> 00:19:21,913
but you also have the power

447
00:19:21,913 --> 00:19:24,381
to nudge it back to where
you want it to be.

448
00:19:24,381 --> 00:19:26,746
Now, I'm obviously not 
going to go full tilt

449
00:19:26,746 --> 00:19:29,764
and become a Buddhist Monk 
because - to be honest -

450
00:19:29,764 --> 00:19:31,901
I can't pull off orange.

451
00:19:31,901 --> 00:19:32,882
However,

452
00:19:32,882 --> 00:19:34,630
the great thing about a spectrum is

453
00:19:34,630 --> 00:19:37,632
that we can find ourselves 
somewhere in the middle:

454
00:19:37,632 --> 00:19:39,346
structuring our days more thoughtfully

455
00:19:39,346 --> 00:19:40,681
and lowering the noise,

456
00:19:40,681 --> 00:19:42,199
not to a silence,

457
00:19:42,199 --> 00:19:43,863
but to a gentle hum

458
00:19:43,863 --> 00:19:46,683
that we can enjoy at our own pace.

459
00:19:46,683 --> 00:19:48,150
But either way,

460
00:19:48,150 --> 00:19:49,817
have a lovely day.