9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I kind of feel like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 my attention spam is dying 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 knocks on the door 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's just like 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 whenever I try and do anything, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I start craving some sort of distraction 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can't just focus on one thing at a time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 even if that thing is sleeping. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I have things I wanna do, things I focus on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I just don't 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because refreshing Instagram is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 always going to be easier 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 ... and it's a problem! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I'm tired of it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am tired of feeling like my life is [br]so far out of my own control. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So today, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we are figuring out how to stop scrolling, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how to start paying attention. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Thank you to our Patreons for [br]supporting the channel, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and headspace for sponsoring 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a portion of this video. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 With focused music, motivational exercises, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 guided meditations, and more, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 headspace has over a thousand [br]pieces of content 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to help you be kind to your mind. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If you want to see how headspace[br]might be helpful to you, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you can try it out completely for free[br]for 60 days. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All you have to do is sign up 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with our link in the description 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or scan the QR code on screen. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [slam] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, what's in the box? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [box opening] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This is an electroencephalogram, [br]or an EEG. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It measures electrical activity in the brain 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 which are associated with certain[br]performance metrics 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like attention, excitement and stress. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Does that look good?[br]How's that - How do I look? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now these things usually look[br]a little bit more 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 threatening and wire-y,[br]however 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I reached out to this brand[br]called Emotiv 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that creates more simplified[br]consumer options. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They gave me a little discount 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I could actually afford this[br]for the video. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I look like a cyborg. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I think it looks cute. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Okay, so these are my brainwaves 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if I focus on it 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 really hard 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it should be able to translate these 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 into more understandable metrics... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like attention![br]Look at that! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You see the building of tension[br]and spike in excitement; 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that's my brain! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I kind of feel like a videogame character[br]and these are my stats. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's cool. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now I should note that EEG data[br]can be pretty noisy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and things like movement [br]can really impact the results. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, I think that having any level of [br]recording is an improvement 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 because I basically never pay attention[br]to my attention. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It only every really comes up when[br]I'm feeling guilty about my screentime, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or I realise that [br]I've done nothing all day. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And only having these really infrequent[br]and negative interactions with my problem 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 makes it really hard to be [br]objective about the whole thing, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to understand how bad it actually is 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and see if it's getting better or worse. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But now, with the help of this brainscanner, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I finally got to measure a [br]baseline for my attention span 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 without getting bogged down by guilt, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or forgetting to focus on my focus. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [typing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wore the EEG while I worked, ate,[br]exercised and relaxed. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I did take it off a few times[br]because it gets pretty uncomfortable 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 after really long stretches. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Woah! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But, overall, [br]it was pretty easy to ignore 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while I just lived my life [br]for the rest of the week. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Alongside the EEG, I installed[br]a program to automatically track 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how often I switched tasks on my computer, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I recorded [br]how many times I picked up my phone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Did you know that you can't actually[br]export you screentime data! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then I wrote a quick script[br]to compile all this data and visualise it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Here is my life for the past three days. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Ooh. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The x-axis is the number of hours in a day. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These blue bars represent the [br]number of times I picked up my phone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This grey line tracks how productive[br]I was at my computer, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and these coloured lines are the median[br]performance metrics from my EEG. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, some highlights include this moment 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 where I picked up my phone to start [br]debugging the app that I was using to scan my brain, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then I ended up [uh] opening Instagram[br]and spending the next two hours on it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [laughs] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, during my meeting the next day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was like super interested and attentive, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 right? Great? No. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's because I kept picking up my phone! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was supposed to be on call! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I kept opening up Instagram! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But it's not all bad news: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there are these instances [br]where I put down my phone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I get into the zone,[br]and my brain just lights up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The only issue is that in my 8-hour work[br]day, it only happens for, like, an hour. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's over here at like 2 o'clock, [br]or 5 o'clock, or 10 o'clock! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now something similar does happen[br]to my brain when I am working out, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but... how often am I doing that? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 All this is to say, is that for [br]the 16-ish hours that I am awake, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am only engaged [br]and focused for like 12% of it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The rest of the time [br]- the 88% of the time - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm all over the place: [br]I'm checked out or I'm distracted. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This could be most of the rest of my life [br]unless we do something about it. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So let's do that. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, I started looking for any books[br]about attention, focus and distractions 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I found a lot of them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 There was just one problem[br]- they're all identical! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They invent different buzz words and 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and they switch out the personal anecdotes 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that they blend with legitimate science, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but fundamentally, [br]if you've read one, you've read them all. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Fortunately, you don't need to read any of them[br]because here are the three things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that you actually need to know[br]if you want to fix your focus. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 1: Attention and focus are different things. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Attention is a broad concept that [br]boils down to our general awareness, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 while focus is one process [br]that controls that awareness, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 concentrating it on something specific. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 2: Focus is a limited and exhaustible resource. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, you can only really [br]focus on one thing at a time 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and your ability to do that will [br]tire out the further you get from rest. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 3: Focus also filters out distractions. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The more there are,[br]the more of your focus is being wasted. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now some research exists suggesting that[br]certain forms of cognitive training 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 can increase your capacity [br]and ability to focus. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the type of training and the [br]effectiveness has varying results. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The brain is complicated and [br]there is a lot of nuance in the details - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 especially when you are trying [br]to find things that work for you 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and your specific circumstances. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So to fix my focus, I'm actually only going[br]to do a handful of very simple things 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that support what we know about focus. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Here's the plan. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First I need to manage my distractions, [br]starting with the obvious: my phone. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I deleted the apps that I never use, [br]set up time limits for the apps I use 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 way too much [br](everything except for my wallet) 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and muted basically all of my notifications. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I also installed this app[br]that replaces icons with text. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So now I need to put in a little[br]more effort before I open anything. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I also changed my display to grey scale. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have never wanted to use my phone less. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 God, this sucks. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I wasn't kidding. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Almost immediately, my phone pick-ups[br]and screen time dropped dramatically. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, the silence made me [br]notice the sheer number of 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 internal distractions I have, too. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These passing thoughts that [br]just take me off task, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 like wandering if I need [br]to buy more toilet paper, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 wishing I learned [br]a musical instrument as a kid 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or thinking about what [br]I'm going to have for dinner. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They were rarely urgent, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but often important enough that [br]I didn't want to ignore or forget them. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, I dedicated a page in my notebook [br]to quickly write them down for later. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When later came, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I sorted through those thoughts based on [br]action, importance and time-sensitivity, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and kept it in mind when I was building[br]my schedule which got way more specific. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I'm usually the type of person who 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 only puts, like, events in my calendar [br]- a normal person - however, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 a lot of the books that I've been reading [br]have recommended time-blocking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 or time-boxing. I don't know. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's just setting aside [br]time to do individual tasks. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Apparently, it helps you avoid [br]the temptation to multitask. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [alarm beeps] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, every morning, I took all of my work, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 chores, exercises and hobbies 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and plugged them into my calendar. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I found that the secret is that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 it's not as simple as just [br]putting an hour aside for each thing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Since focus is an exhaustible resource, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I need to take into account [br]my energy levels throughout the day 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and how much effort [br]each task is going to take. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like, reading research papers and writing[br]takes a lot of focus for me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's just really boring. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [vacuum cleaner with audiobook playing] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but listening to audiobooks or animating, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm locked in. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I actually find it really hard to disengage [br]from the tasks that I really enjoy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So I find myself thinking about them [br]or even continuing to do them 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 past their allotted time. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Which means that I should [br]probably think about those switching costs 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 when I'm building my [br]schedule out for the day. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Eventually, I realised this process [br]could be a little more automated, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I got Taha to put the process together[br]in a notion template. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now I can input tasks, tag them[br]and it will show me an order 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that I can drag into my calendar. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I found it useful, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and if you want to give it a try, [br]I'll include it in our next newsletter. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But once I controlled my [br]external and internal distractions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and built out a schedule [br]that minimised multitasking 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and optimised for my energy levels, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all that was left was actually focusing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was amazing. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was using my phone less[br]and getting more done. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 My brain was lighting up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I was way more engaged [br]in everything I did. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I found different soundtracks[br]to make it easier to get in the zone, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and life was great... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 until it wasn't. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [uuhhhhh] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It is... 12. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I haven't left bed yet. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I've just been using my phone, full color. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Every 15 minutes I hit[br]"remind me in 15 minutes." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [uhh] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then 15 minutes later I do it again. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Just feels like we're [br]back where we started. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I ended up using my phone[br]for 7 hours that day - 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 more than I had all week prior. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I had things I could do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Things I should do. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But I just couldn't [br]bring myself to get up. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I am kind of proud that I managed to [br]pull up my code on my phone 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and see if there were any clues in my data 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that could explain what went wrong. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I know, it's pathetic, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it was a small victory that [br]led to an interesting discovery: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the nights that I used [br]my phone past midnight 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 led to days where I felt more distracted [br]and picked up my phone more often. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I learned in an old video[br]how important sleep could really be, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 so I decided to just give up on the day, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 get some sleep, and try again tomorrow. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [sigh] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [aaaAAAHHH] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I feel like I'm drowning. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's like I'm not doing [br]anything hard, right? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm just doing my stuff. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm just trying to focus on it more. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Except, I'm trying so hard to focus 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that everything is making me on edge. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like, my cat will try and get my attention 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'll be annoyed [br]at him for wanting pats. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's like there's sand falling 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I'm trying to catch all of the sand. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And you can't do it! 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Am I making any sense? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I really need to make [br]every grain of sand count 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by like doing everything on target 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and even if I'm enjoying something, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I can't because I need to move [br]and catch different grains of sand. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Hold on, hold on, hold on. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What are you going to day? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Have you ever thought about 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just meditating and doing nothing? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Taking a step back away from [br]the thing that you're working on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and not working? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Like taking a break?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Maybe it was because I was desperate. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Actually, it is totally because I was desperate 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but I decided to try meditation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The only issue is... 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I have no idea how. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Luckily, I have headspace. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I should probably turn the colour on 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 just so you guys can see [br]what the app actually looks like.