0:00:06.575,0:00:08.256
A few years ago,

0:00:08.256,0:00:12.542
I began to observe[br]something in my own behavior

0:00:12.542,0:00:16.645
that made me a bit uncomfortable.

0:00:16.645,0:00:22.527
And that was that from the moment[br]that I woke up to the end of the day,

0:00:22.527,0:00:25.788
my life was a series of screens.

0:00:25.788,0:00:26.957
I started the day

0:00:26.957,0:00:30.147
with the thing that woke me up[br]first thing in the morning, my phone,

0:00:30.147,0:00:34.407
and so I sat there in bed watching[br]various cooking videos on Instagram

0:00:34.407,0:00:37.457
and bouncing around between a bunch[br]of different applications.

0:00:37.457,0:00:41.808
But then it was time[br]to get out of bed and cook breakfast,

0:00:41.808,0:00:43.962
and so the thing that I focused then on,

0:00:43.962,0:00:46.488
in addition to the omelette in the pan,

0:00:46.488,0:00:49.408
was the iPad that was[br]right next to the oven.

0:00:49.408,0:00:51.574
And then it was time to do some work,

0:00:51.574,0:00:53.695
and so I went to a different screen

0:00:53.695,0:00:55.745
which was attached[br]to another screen itself.

0:00:55.745,0:00:56.748
All the while,

0:00:56.748,0:00:58.608
this little devil on my wrist

0:00:58.608,0:01:02.782
was tapping and beeping[br]and blooping and distracting me

0:01:02.782,0:01:06.465
as I was trying[br]to get important stuff done.

0:01:07.954,0:01:14.148
But there was one particular offender[br]out of all of these different devices

0:01:14.148,0:01:17.789
that I wasted more time on[br]than anything else.

0:01:17.789,0:01:21.107
That was this dastardly thing: my phone.

0:01:21.107,0:01:24.767
I could spend hours[br]on this thing every single day.

0:01:24.767,0:01:27.891
And so I decided to essentially,[br]for all intents and purposes,

0:01:27.891,0:01:30.379
get rid of the thing for a month.

0:01:30.379,0:01:31.727
As an experiment, I thought,

0:01:31.727,0:01:35.455
"I'm going to live on this thing[br]for just 30 minutes every single day

0:01:35.455,0:01:37.224
at a maximum."

0:01:37.224,0:01:39.554
And so this is the amount[br]of time I have for maps,

0:01:39.554,0:01:41.647
this is the amount of time[br]to call my mother,

0:01:41.647,0:01:43.218
this is the amount of time I have

0:01:43.218,0:01:45.459
for everything that I could[br]possibly want to do,

0:01:45.459,0:01:47.824
to listen to music, to listen to podcasts,

0:01:47.824,0:01:52.367
and I observed what happened[br]during this time.

0:01:52.837,0:01:54.917
It took about a week

0:01:55.162,0:02:00.047
to adjust downward into a new,[br]lower level of stimulation,

0:02:00.047,0:02:02.009
but once I did,

0:02:02.009,0:02:08.081
I noticed that three[br]curious things began to happen.

0:02:08.483,0:02:11.313
First, my attention span grew.

0:02:11.313,0:02:13.322
It was like I could focus on things,

0:02:13.322,0:02:14.632
not effortlessly,

0:02:14.632,0:02:20.313
but with much more ease than I could[br]before this experiment started.

0:02:20.313,0:02:23.764
In addition to this, though,[br]as I was going about the world

0:02:23.764,0:02:25.895
and especially when my mind[br]wandered a bit,

0:02:25.895,0:02:29.375
I had more ideas that my mind arrived at,

0:02:29.375,0:02:31.092
and on top of this,

0:02:31.092,0:02:35.764
I had more plans and thoughts[br]about the future.

0:02:35.764,0:02:41.484
Getting rid of one simple device[br]led to these three effects.

0:02:42.203,0:02:43.215
Why?

0:02:45.114,0:02:50.024
Noticing this a few years back[br]led me on this long journey

0:02:50.024,0:02:55.454
to get to the bottom of what it takes[br]to focus in a world of distraction.

0:02:55.454,0:03:00.152
I pored over hundreds of research papers[br]from front to back at my office.

0:03:00.152,0:03:02.957
I don't know if you've ever watched[br]one of those crime shows

0:03:02.957,0:03:04.772
where somebody's solving a murder.

0:03:04.772,0:03:06.682
And so they have this big Bristol board,

0:03:06.682,0:03:08.443
and there's string attached to papers

0:03:08.443,0:03:10.825
attached to memos[br]attached to newspaper clippings -

0:03:10.825,0:03:12.925
this is like what the state[br]of my office was.

0:03:12.925,0:03:15.784
I flew out to meet experts[br]around the world who study focus;

0:03:15.784,0:03:17.673
I conducted more experiments on myself

0:03:17.673,0:03:22.421
until the point I had[br]25,000 words of research notes

0:03:22.421,0:03:25.457
about why this is the case.

0:03:25.457,0:03:31.144
How does technology influence[br]our attention and our ability to focus?

0:03:32.466,0:03:33.802
I want to start

0:03:33.802,0:03:36.952
with the attention spans that we have.

0:03:36.952,0:03:40.473
This is how we pay attention[br]to the world around us

0:03:40.473,0:03:43.471
and how much control[br]we have over our focus.

0:03:43.471,0:03:47.303
The research around[br]this particular area is fascinating.

0:03:47.303,0:03:50.595
It turns out that when we do work[br]in front of a computer,

0:03:50.595,0:03:53.309
especially when our phone is nearby,

0:03:53.309,0:03:56.762
we focus on one thing for just 40 seconds

0:03:56.762,0:04:00.534
before we switch to doing something else,

0:04:00.534,0:04:04.393
and when we have things like Slack open[br]as we're doing some work,

0:04:04.393,0:04:07.522
this lowers to 35 seconds.

0:04:08.532,0:04:12.745
But the reason that this is the case[br]is not what we might think,

0:04:12.745,0:04:14.304
after looking at the research.

0:04:14.304,0:04:19.033
We think the problem[br]is that our brains are distracted.

0:04:19.033,0:04:20.654
But after looking at the research,

0:04:20.654,0:04:25.233
this is what I've come to know[br]as a symptom for the deeper problem,

0:04:25.233,0:04:29.944
which runs much more deeply -[br]it's the root cause of this distraction.

0:04:29.944,0:04:34.865
It's not that we're distracted;[br]it's that our brains are overstimulated.

0:04:34.865,0:04:38.775
It's that we crave distraction[br]in the first place.

0:04:38.775,0:04:41.873
Our brains love these tiny little nuggets

0:04:41.873,0:04:45.883
of information and social media and email

0:04:45.883,0:04:48.845
and these things that we do[br]over the course of the day.

0:04:48.845,0:04:52.925
There's even a mechanism in our mind[br]called the "novelty bias,"

0:04:52.925,0:04:55.834
by which our mind rewards us[br]with a hit of dopamine,

0:04:55.834,0:04:58.405
one of those wonderful pleasure chemicals,

0:04:58.405,0:05:04.054
the same one we get when we eat and order[br]a whole medium pizza from Domino's,

0:05:04.054,0:05:06.573
you know, the same one[br]that we get when we make love.

0:05:06.573,0:05:10.255
We get that same stimulation[br]when we check Facebook.

0:05:10.255,0:05:12.446
We get this dopamine[br]coursing through our mind.

0:05:12.446,0:05:14.682
And so we not only crave distraction,

0:05:14.682,0:05:15.924
but our mind rewards us

0:05:15.924,0:05:22.022
for seeking out and finding[br]distraction in the first place.

0:05:23.865,0:05:27.705
So, this is the state of our minds today.

0:05:27.705,0:05:29.885
We're at this hyperstimulated state

0:05:29.885,0:05:31.133
where we bounce around

0:05:31.133,0:05:34.300
between these bunch[br]of different objects of attention

0:05:34.300,0:05:38.061
that are very, very[br]stimulating for our mind.

0:05:38.061,0:05:42.435
And so I thought, "Okay, if the phone[br]had this impact on my attention span,

0:05:42.435,0:05:47.684
what if I lowered how stimulated[br]I was even more, still?"

0:05:47.934,0:05:52.145
And so, you know,[br]this feeling that we experience

0:05:52.145,0:05:55.315
when we go from being[br]in a state of high stimulation

0:05:55.315,0:05:56.844
into a state of low stimulation,

0:05:56.844,0:05:58.485
it has a name.

0:05:58.485,0:06:01.083
That name is called "boredom,"

0:06:01.083,0:06:02.077
(Laughs)

0:06:02.077,0:06:05.694
you know, this restlessness that we feel[br]when we have this super busy week

0:06:05.694,0:06:08.795
and then we're lying on the couch[br]on a Sunday afternoon, thinking,

0:06:08.795,0:06:10.934
"Alright, well, what am I doing now?"

0:06:11.474,0:06:15.639
So, I put out a call to the readers[br]of my website and I asked them,

0:06:15.639,0:06:19.584
"What is the most boring thing[br]that you can think of doing?

0:06:19.584,0:06:22.535
I'm going to make myself bored[br]for an hour a day, for a month."

0:06:22.535,0:06:28.461
And so I did some stuff that I still am[br]upset about from my readers, to this day.

0:06:28.461,0:06:31.744
Day one, I read the iTunes[br]terms and conditions for one hour.

0:06:31.744,0:06:32.935
(Laughter)

0:06:32.935,0:06:35.964
It's actually shorter and more readable[br]than you might think.

0:06:35.964,0:06:40.114
Day four, I waited on hold with[br]Air Canada's baggage claims department.

0:06:40.114,0:06:41.564
It's very easy -

0:06:41.564,0:06:42.559
This is the trick:

0:06:42.559,0:06:44.225
if you want to make yourself bored,

0:06:44.225,0:06:47.463
don't call the reservations department,[br]call the baggage claim people

0:06:47.463,0:06:50.606
because you're going to wait hours,[br]if you ever get through at all.

0:06:50.606,0:06:53.230
Day 19, I counted[br]all the zeroes that I could

0:06:53.230,0:06:56.492
in the first 10,000 digits of pi.

0:06:57.647,0:06:58.683
Ugh.

0:06:58.683,0:07:00.973
Day 24, I watched a clock

0:07:01.813,0:07:04.443
tick, tick

0:07:04.443,0:07:06.673
for one hour.

0:07:06.673,0:07:10.684
And 27 other activities this month.

0:07:10.684,0:07:11.785
Jeez.

0:07:11.785,0:07:13.045
I still think back.

0:07:13.045,0:07:15.224
But curiously,

0:07:15.224,0:07:21.135
I noticed the exact same effects[br]as I did during the smartphone experiment.

0:07:21.135,0:07:24.674
It took about a week[br]for my mind to adjust downward

0:07:24.674,0:07:27.737
into a newer, lower level of stimulation,

0:07:27.737,0:07:29.785
and this maps, curiously,[br]on top of research

0:07:29.785,0:07:32.155
that shows that it takes[br]our mind about eight days

0:07:32.155,0:07:34.955
to fully calm down and rest,

0:07:34.955,0:07:37.645
like when we're on vacation,[br]as an example.

0:07:37.645,0:07:41.055
Our vacations need to be longer[br]than they are today.

0:07:41.055,0:07:45.177
But I also noticed[br]that my attention span expanded.

0:07:45.177,0:07:47.964
I was able to focus[br]even more effortlessly

0:07:47.964,0:07:52.525
because I wasn't surrounded[br]by fewer distractions,

0:07:52.525,0:07:54.874
but my mind was so much less stimulated

0:07:54.874,0:07:58.824
that it did not seek the distraction[br]in the first place.

0:07:58.824,0:08:02.704
But the fun part were these ideas[br]and plans that struck me

0:08:02.704,0:08:05.406
that didn't before,

0:08:05.406,0:08:07.245
and the reason that this is the case

0:08:07.245,0:08:11.265
is because my mind had a chance[br]to wander more often.

0:08:12.195,0:08:15.443
There's a great quote that I love[br]that you might be familiar with

0:08:15.443,0:08:17.155
from J. R. R. Tolkien,

0:08:17.155,0:08:20.935
where he says that[br]"not all those who wander are lost,"

0:08:21.235,0:08:26.873
and the exact same thing is true,[br]it turns out, with regard to our focus,

0:08:26.873,0:08:29.196
with regard to our attention.

0:08:29.196,0:08:34.725
If you think back to when your best,[br]most brilliant ideas strike you,

0:08:34.725,0:08:37.525
you're rarely focused on something.

0:08:37.525,0:08:41.414
Maybe this morning[br]you were taking a shower,

0:08:41.414,0:08:43.042
or maybe some morning in the past,

0:08:43.042,0:08:47.962
and then your mind had a chance to connect[br]several of the constellations of ideas

0:08:47.962,0:08:50.245
that were swirling around in your mind

0:08:50.245,0:08:53.984
to create an idea that would[br]never have materialized otherwise

0:08:53.984,0:08:56.975
if you were focused on something else,

0:08:56.975,0:09:00.175
on your phone, for example.

0:09:00.182,0:09:01.175
This is a mode,

0:09:01.175,0:09:05.030
especially when we do this deliberately,[br]when we deliberately let our mind wander;

0:09:05.030,0:09:06.745
I call this mode "scatter focus."

0:09:06.745,0:09:07.923
And the research shows

0:09:07.923,0:09:11.260
that it lets our mind come up with ideas,[br]it lets our mind plan

0:09:11.260,0:09:15.244
because of where our mind wanders to.

0:09:15.244,0:09:16.885
This is fascinating.

0:09:16.885,0:09:20.380
It turns out that when we just[br]let our attention rest,

0:09:20.380,0:09:23.504
it goes to three main places:

0:09:23.504,0:09:27.424
We think about the past,[br]we think about the present,

0:09:27.424,0:09:29.626
and we think about the future.

0:09:29.626,0:09:33.324
But we think about the past[br]less than we might think,

0:09:33.324,0:09:35.511
only about 12% of the time,

0:09:35.511,0:09:40.603
and often we're recalling ideas[br]in these thought-wandering episodes.

0:09:42.044,0:09:46.885
But the present, which is a much more[br]productive place to wander -

0:09:46.885,0:09:50.493
we wander to think[br]about the present 28% of the time.

0:09:50.493,0:09:54.486
And this is, you know, something[br]as simple as you're typing up an email

0:09:54.486,0:09:56.532
and you can't find a way[br]to phrase something

0:09:56.532,0:09:58.815
because it's very delicate,[br]maybe it's political,

0:09:58.815,0:10:02.286
you go and walk to another room,[br]to another room of the house, the office,

0:10:02.286,0:10:03.733
and the solution hits you

0:10:03.733,0:10:06.275
because your mind[br]had a chance to approach it

0:10:06.275,0:10:09.224
and prod at that problem[br]from different directions.

0:10:10.414,0:10:11.975
But here's the thing:

0:10:11.975,0:10:14.154
our minds wander[br]to think about the future

0:10:14.154,0:10:17.483
more than the past[br]and the present combined.

0:10:18.343,0:10:23.354
Whenever our mind is wandering,[br]we think about the future 48% of the time.

0:10:23.354,0:10:27.353
This is why when we're taking a shower,[br]we plan out our entire day,

0:10:27.353,0:10:29.503
even though it hasn't started yet.

0:10:30.753,0:10:33.354
This is called[br]our mind's prospective bias,

0:10:33.354,0:10:36.223
and it occurs when our mind wanders.

0:10:37.060,0:10:38.396
If you're good with math,

0:10:38.396,0:10:40.610
or maths, I should say -

0:10:40.610,0:10:42.024
not in Canada anymore -

0:10:42.024,0:10:43.683
these numbers don't add up to 100.

0:10:43.683,0:10:46.743
It's because the rest of the time,[br]our mind is dull, it's blank,

0:10:46.743,0:10:52.073
or it doesn't have an idea inside of it[br]that is rooted in time.

0:10:52.073,0:10:55.453
But whatever it is for you[br]that lets your mind wander,

0:10:55.453,0:10:56.746
something that's simple,

0:10:56.746,0:10:59.916
something that doesn't[br]consume your full attention.

0:10:59.916,0:11:01.275
Mine happens to be something

0:11:01.275,0:11:07.295
that is not necessarily stereotypic[br]of my age and gender demographic,

0:11:07.295,0:11:09.334
but I love to knit.

0:11:09.334,0:11:11.215
Knitting is one of my favorite hobbies;

0:11:11.215,0:11:14.594
I knit in planes, I knit on trains,[br]I knit in hotel rooms.

0:11:14.594,0:11:18.535
I was knitting in the hotel room[br]before this event today

0:11:18.535,0:11:21.526
because it helps calm you down,[br]it helps settle your nerves.

0:11:21.526,0:11:26.891
And I come up with so many ideas[br]when I knit, I have a notepad next to me.

0:11:26.891,0:11:28.254
But whatever it is for you -

0:11:28.254,0:11:31.804
it might be taking that extra long shower,[br]it might be taking a bath,

0:11:31.804,0:11:33.825
upgrading your shower to a bath

0:11:33.825,0:11:37.412
so you can soak not just with your body[br]but with your ideas as well.

0:11:38.998,0:11:40.001
It could be simple;

0:11:40.001,0:11:44.483
if you're at work walking[br]from one room to another in the office -

0:11:44.483,0:11:46.463
very simple change -

0:11:46.463,0:11:49.442
but if you don't use your phone[br]during that walk,

0:11:49.442,0:11:52.684
your mind will go to the meeting[br]that you're about to attend,

0:11:52.684,0:11:54.796
it'll go to the call[br]that you were just on,

0:11:54.796,0:11:57.690
it'll wander to the ideas[br]that are circulating,

0:11:57.690,0:12:00.835
and it'll make you[br]more creative in this way.

0:12:02.344,0:12:04.977
It could be something[br]as simple as waiting in line

0:12:04.977,0:12:08.084
and just, I don't know, waiting in line.

0:12:08.084,0:12:09.707
It could be getting a massage.

0:12:09.707,0:12:12.296
You know, whatever it is[br]that lets your mind -

0:12:12.296,0:12:14.376
I love this picture so much -

0:12:14.376,0:12:15.580
(Laughter)

0:12:15.915,0:12:17.695
whatever you love doing.

0:12:17.695,0:12:19.244
Here's a pro tip:

0:12:19.244,0:12:22.655
Ask your masseuse to let you[br]have a notepad in the session

0:12:22.655,0:12:25.954
because ideas always come to you[br]and you're always incubating things,

0:12:25.954,0:12:26.953
so capture them

0:12:26.953,0:12:28.697
so you can act upon them later.

0:12:29.603,0:12:33.563
But I think, after doing[br]this deep dive into the research,

0:12:33.563,0:12:36.966
we need to make two fundamental shifts

0:12:36.966,0:12:40.214
with regard to how we think[br]about our attention.

0:12:40.780,0:12:43.064
We think that we need to fit more in -

0:12:43.064,0:12:45.625
you know, there's all this talk[br]about "hustling."

0:12:45.625,0:12:47.825
I'm an anti-hustler.

0:12:47.825,0:12:50.023
I'm one of the laziest people[br]you'll ever meet,

0:12:50.023,0:12:53.711
and I think that's what gives me[br]so many ideas to talk and write about.

0:12:53.711,0:12:55.164
We don't need to fit more in.

0:12:55.164,0:12:57.883
We're doing enough; we're doing too much.

0:12:57.883,0:13:02.174
We're doing so much[br]that our mind never wanders anymore.

0:13:02.174,0:13:03.294
It's sad.

0:13:03.294,0:13:06.035
This is when our best ideas[br]and plans come to us.

0:13:06.035,0:13:08.026
We need more space.

0:13:09.005,0:13:14.624
If you look at what allows traffic[br]to move down a highway,

0:13:14.624,0:13:18.304
what allows it to move forward[br]isn't how fast cars are moving,

0:13:18.304,0:13:19.663
as you might expect,

0:13:19.663,0:13:23.885
it's how much space[br]exists between the cars

0:13:23.885,0:13:25.925
that allows traffic to move forward.

0:13:25.925,0:13:29.004
Our work and our life are the same way.

0:13:29.004,0:13:31.167
The second shift:

0:13:31.167,0:13:35.444
we like to think of distraction[br]as the enemy of focus.

0:13:35.444,0:13:36.725
It is not.

0:13:36.725,0:13:40.793
It is a symptom of why[br]we find it difficult to focus,

0:13:40.793,0:13:44.574
which is the fact[br]that our mind is overstimulated.

0:13:45.661,0:13:47.774
I have a challenge for you.

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It's a two-week challenge,

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but it's a challenge to make your mind[br]a bit less stimulated

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and simply notice:

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what happens to your attention?

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How many ideas do you get?

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How does your focus change?

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How many plans do you make?

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So, for two weeks,[br]make your mind less stimulated.

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There are so many great features[br]on phones, on devices

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that'll let us eliminate a lot of the time[br]we waste on our devices.

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Use those features,

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not only to become aware[br]of how you spend your time

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but how you can spend less[br]so you have more ideas.

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Have a disconnection ritual every evening.

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One of my favorite daily rituals:

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I disconnect from the Internet completely

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from 8pm to 8am.

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My fiancée and I, we have[br]a weekly disconnection ritual,

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a technology Sabbath every Sunday,

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so we can disconnect[br]from the digital world

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and reconnect with the physical world,[br]the real, actual world.

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Rediscover boredom -[br]you don't have to do it for an hour.

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Please don't call Air Canada.[br]It's just a world of hell.

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But rediscover boredom,[br]just for a few minutes.

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Lay on the couch,[br]and where does your mind go?

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And scatter your attention.

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You'll find some[br]remarkably fruitful things

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in that attentional zone.

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If there's one thing[br]that I have found to be true

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after doing this deep dive[br]into this world on how we focus,

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it's that the state of our attention[br]is what determines the state of our lives.

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If we're distracted in each moment,

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those moments of distraction[br]and overstimulation

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build up and accumulate

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to create a life that feels[br]more distracted and overwhelming,

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like we don't have a clear direction.

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But when we become less stimulated,[br]when we make our mind more calm,

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we get the benefits of added productivity[br]and focus and ideas and creativity,

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but we also live[br]a better life because of it.

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Thank you so much.

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(Applause)