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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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00:00:42,909 --> 00:00:44,257
and headspace for sponsoring

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00:00:44,257 --> 00:00:45,531
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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00:00:51,919 --> 00:00:54,028
to help you be kind to your mind.

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00:00:54,028 --> 00:00:56,288
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

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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,
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! [laughs]

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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'm 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,

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and they switch up 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,

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because here are the three things
that you actually need to know

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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 
theres a lot of nuance in the details,

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especially when you're 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

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very simple things 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,

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set up time limits for
the apps I use way too much,

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(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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[laughs] 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
only puts, like, events in my calendar,

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- a normal person,

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however, a lot of the books
that I've been reading

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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, 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 gonna 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 buzzes,
while audiobook plays]

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but listening to audiobooks or animating...
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,

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or even continuing to do them
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,

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and it'll show me an order
that I can drag into my calendar.

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00:08:10,664 --> 00:08:12,946
I found it useful,
and if you want to give it a try,

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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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00:08:24,893 --> 00:08:26,586
[suspenseful sound effect]

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00:08:26,586 --> 00:08:28,428
It was amazing.

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00:08:28,516 --> 00:08:31,385
I was using my phone less
and getting more done.

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00:08:32,518 --> 00:08:34,277
My brain was lighting up.

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00:08:34,277 --> 00:08:37,829
I was way more engaged 
in everything I did.

201
00:08:37,829 --> 00:08:41,287
I found different soundtracks
to make it easier to get in the zone,

202
00:08:41,287 --> 00:08:43,188
and life was great...

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00:08:43,587 --> 00:08:44,696
until it wasn't.

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00:08:45,154 --> 00:08:47,488
[uuhhhhh]

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00:08:47,689 --> 00:08:50,281
It is... 12.

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00:08:50,281 --> 00:08:51,839
I haven't left bed yet.

207
00:08:51,839 --> 00:08:54,239
I've just been using my phone, full color.

208
00:08:54,239 --> 00:08:59,473
Every 15 minutes I hit
"remind me in 15 minutes."

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00:08:59,473 --> 00:09:00,874
[sighs]

210
00:09:00,874 --> 00:09:03,366
And then 15 minutes later I do it again.

211
00:09:03,501 --> 00:09:05,941
Just feels like we're 
back where we started.

212
00:09:05,941 --> 00:09:08,716
I ended up using my phone
for 7 hours that day -

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00:09:08,716 --> 00:09:11,041
more than I had all week prior.

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00:09:11,183 --> 00:09:12,600
I had things I could do.

215
00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:14,217
Things I should do.

216
00:09:14,350 --> 00:09:17,719
But I just... couldn't 
bring myself to get up.

217
00:09:19,195 --> 00:09:22,662
I am kind of proud that I managed to 
pull up my code on my phone

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00:09:22,662 --> 00:09:24,759
and see if there were any clues in my data

219
00:09:24,759 --> 00:09:26,599
that could explain what went wrong.

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00:09:26,599 --> 00:09:28,211
[laughs]
I know, it's pathetic!

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00:09:28,211 --> 00:09:31,990
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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00:09:34,654 --> 00:09:38,946
led to days where I felt more distracted 
and picked up my phone more often.

224
00:09:38,946 --> 00:09:41,938
I learned in an old video
how important sleep could really be,

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00:09:41,938 --> 00:09:44,823
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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00:09:51,238 --> 00:09:55,034
[sighs]

228
00:09:55,534 --> 00:09:56,982
aaaAAAHHH!

229
00:09:57,141 --> 00:09:59,774
[phone call answered]
I feel like I'm drowning.

230
00:09:59,774 --> 00:10:02,024
It's like I'm not doing 
anything hard, right?

231
00:10:02,024 --> 00:10:05,717
I'm just doing my stuff.
I'm just trying to focus on it more.

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00:10:05,717 --> 00:10:13,577
Except, I'm trying so hard to focus,
that everything is making me on edge.

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00:10:13,577 --> 00:10:16,343
Like, my cat will try and get my attention

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00:10:16,343 --> 00:10:20,027
and I'll be annoyed at him
for wanting pats.

235
00:10:20,027 --> 00:10:25,667
It's like there's sand falling,
and I'm trying to catch all of the sand.

236
00:10:25,667 --> 00:10:26,945
And you can't do it!

237
00:10:26,945 --> 00:10:29,145
Am I making any sense?

238
00:10:29,145 --> 00:10:32,621
I really need to make 
every grain of sand count,

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00:10:32,621 --> 00:10:38,130
by, like, doing everything on target,
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.

241
00:10:42,773 --> 00:10:44,889
Hold on, hold on, hold on.

242
00:10:44,889 --> 00:10:46,092
What did you just say?

243
00:10:46,092 --> 00:10:48,100
"Have you ever thought about just

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

245
00:10:52,526 --> 00:10:55,072
Taking a step back away from 
the thing that you're working on

246
00:10:55,222 --> 00:10:57,355
and... not working?

247
00:10:57,355 --> 00:10:58,743
Like taking a break?"

248
00:11:02,393 --> 00:11:04,296
Maybe it was because I was desperate.

249
00:11:04,296 --> 00:11:06,901
Actually, it is totally because I was desperate.

250
00:11:06,901 --> 00:11:09,129
But, I decided to try meditation.

251
00:11:09,129 --> 00:11:10,637
The only issue is...

252
00:11:10,637 --> 00:11:12,347
I have no idea how.

253
00:11:12,347 --> 00:11:14,425
Luckily, I have headspace.

254
00:11:14,425 --> 00:11:17,245
I should probably turn the color on
just so that you guys can see

255
00:11:17,245 --> 00:11:18,674
what the app actually looks like.

256
00:11:18,674 --> 00:11:20,704
When I asked headspace 
to sponsor a portion of this video,

257
00:11:20,704 --> 00:11:24,159
I genuinely thought I was only going to
use their focus music and white noise,

258
00:11:24,159 --> 00:11:26,366
because I love listening to
those to the point that

259
00:11:26,366 --> 00:11:29,346
it is ruining my YouTube recommendations
and Spotify Wrapped.

260
00:11:29,346 --> 00:11:31,644
So it's just great to have access
to headspace's collection.

261
00:11:31,644 --> 00:11:36,278
But headspace also has stretches, 
workouts, podcasts, and meditation.

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00:11:36,278 --> 00:11:38,601
They have content specifically
for beginners, like me,

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00:11:38,601 --> 00:11:41,158
who don't know where to start.
It's in their basics course.

264
00:11:41,158 --> 00:11:44,078
But if you don't wanna commit to that,
they also have shorter exercises

265
00:11:44,078 --> 00:11:47,134
including my favourite thing 
that I discovered on this app,

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

267
00:11:51,101 --> 00:11:54,931
It's a 1-minute breathing exercise,
and Yoda's just sitting there, levitating rocks.

268
00:11:54,931 --> 00:11:55,961
I love it.

269
00:11:55,961 --> 00:11:58,331
However, they also have 
longer, less structured stuff

270
00:11:58,331 --> 00:11:59,754
for people with more experience.

271
00:11:59,754 --> 00:12:03,797
Just the sheer amount of variety is 
probably my favorite thing about headspace.

272
00:12:03,797 --> 00:12:07,677
They bring together so many resources 
to help you be kind to your mind;

273
00:12:07,677 --> 00:12:11,602
so, even if meditation doesn't
end up helping, maybe movement will.

274
00:12:11,602 --> 00:12:15,604
Or, another cool thing that I found 
- this is so sick - they have ASMR

275
00:12:15,604 --> 00:12:19,100
and there's like a thing at the bottom
that lets you control the balance

276
00:12:19,100 --> 00:12:21,905
between voice and, like,
environmental noise.

277
00:12:21,905 --> 00:12:23,543
Headspace, do more of this!

278
00:12:23,543 --> 00:12:26,844
If you want to try out headspace,
completely for free for 60 days,

279
00:12:26,844 --> 00:12:30,811
you can sign up using the link in the
description, or scan the QR code.

280
00:12:30,811 --> 00:12:33,110
Okay, lets learn how to meditate.

281
00:12:33,110 --> 00:12:35,365
"Hi, and welcome to-"
"-Hi"

282
00:12:35,365 --> 00:12:39,428
My first experience with meditation
was... strange?

283
00:12:39,428 --> 00:12:42,797
Now, the voice kept telling me to
focus on my breathing,

284
00:12:42,797 --> 00:12:44,999
but, I might have focused
a little too hard,

285
00:12:44,999 --> 00:12:48,160
because I was worried 
I forgot how to breathe.

286
00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,299
I should wear my head 
scanner thing for this!

287
00:12:50,299 --> 00:12:51,678
Back to breathing. [exhales]

288
00:12:51,678 --> 00:12:53,778
But eventually,
I think I got the hang of it,

289
00:12:53,778 --> 00:12:55,908
and, after 10 minutes...

290
00:12:55,908 --> 00:12:56,913
[phone call answered]

291
00:12:56,913 --> 00:13:00,334
How am I supposed to know if
meditation is working?

292
00:13:00,334 --> 00:13:02,133
Is there a light? 
Like what happens?

293
00:13:02,133 --> 00:13:04,231
"I don't think there's 
an exact science to it.

294
00:13:04,231 --> 00:13:06,817
It's just - You're supposed 
to just feel better.

295
00:13:06,817 --> 00:13:09,118
Or feel... changed.

296
00:13:10,357 --> 00:13:12,097
Did it do anything?"

297
00:13:12,097 --> 00:13:14,227
I don't know!
[laughs]

298
00:13:14,227 --> 00:13:16,179
Do you just keep doing it?

299
00:13:16,179 --> 00:13:17,591
"That's kind of it.

300
00:13:18,126 --> 00:13:20,789
I know that's probably not
what you wanted to hear, but-"

301
00:13:20,789 --> 00:13:22,942
So I just trust the process?

302
00:13:23,022 --> 00:13:24,409
So, for the next few days,

303
00:13:24,409 --> 00:13:27,238
I continued with my focus 
schedule and wore my EEG.

304
00:13:27,238 --> 00:13:30,365
But I also tried to meditate in 
the morning, or evening,

305
00:13:30,365 --> 00:13:32,798
or just random moments
when I felt like it.

306
00:13:32,798 --> 00:13:34,046
[inhales]

307
00:13:35,852 --> 00:13:38,820
And then, something kind of wild happened.

308
00:13:39,353 --> 00:13:41,250
Meditation works!

309
00:13:41,250 --> 00:13:43,155
And I wish I could tell you this because

310
00:13:43,155 --> 00:13:46,218
I've achieved enlightenment or
I have a new found sense of peace,

311
00:13:46,218 --> 00:13:51,147
but, no... I just feel... normal.

312
00:13:51,147 --> 00:13:52,364
About as normal...

313
00:13:52,364 --> 00:13:55,695
as the distribution of the sample means
of my experimental populations,

314
00:13:55,695 --> 00:13:59,123
justifying the use of a two-sample t-test
resulting in... these p-values.

315
00:13:59,123 --> 00:14:01,348
Ooo! How significant!

316
00:14:01,348 --> 00:14:03,256
This EEG has seriously paid off

317
00:14:03,256 --> 00:14:05,540
because, even though
I don't feel that different,

318
00:14:05,540 --> 00:14:08,209
I was able to use its
measurements to do some statistics,

319
00:14:08,209 --> 00:14:12,374
and find that meditation has improved 
basically all of my performance metrics:

320
00:14:12,374 --> 00:14:16,034
engagement, excitement, interest!

321
00:14:16,034 --> 00:14:18,620
Also, stress... but that might be
because I was wearing this

322
00:14:18,620 --> 00:14:21,530
when you guys sold out our
last merch drop in less than 24 hours.

323
00:14:21,530 --> 00:14:22,688
Thank you for that.

324
00:14:22,688 --> 00:14:23,919
So, good stress!

325
00:14:23,919 --> 00:14:27,355
The coolest thing is that all of this is 
on top of what I already gained

326
00:14:27,355 --> 00:14:30,062
by minimising distractions 
and avoiding multitasking.

327
00:14:30,062 --> 00:14:32,073
At least according to these
regressions I ran.

328
00:14:32,073 --> 00:14:34,787
But the benefits of meditation 
came at a surprising cost.

329
00:14:34,787 --> 00:14:36,599
You see these peaks of intense focus?

330
00:14:36,599 --> 00:14:38,253
Yeah, those stopped happening.

331
00:14:38,253 --> 00:14:41,928
But I also stopped experiencing these
huge dips. Now I'm just fine.

332
00:14:41,928 --> 00:14:45,583
This whole thing is just... fine.

333
00:14:45,583 --> 00:14:49,631
Y'know, I started this video because I wanted
to feel more in control of my attention.

334
00:14:49,631 --> 00:14:53,324
I didn't want to have to rely on
being distracted every single second.

335
00:14:53,324 --> 00:14:54,973
And you know what?

336
00:14:54,973 --> 00:14:55,734
Done!

337
00:14:55,734 --> 00:14:58,607
I am literally, statistically more engaged!

338
00:14:58,607 --> 00:15:01,348
And anecdotally, I was doing 
the dishes the other day

339
00:15:01,348 --> 00:15:03,449
and I started playing
a podcast out of habit,

340
00:15:03,449 --> 00:15:07,401
and then I realized...
I'd rather just clean in silence.

341
00:15:07,401 --> 00:15:08,833
Who am I?

342
00:15:08,833 --> 00:15:10,182
I know I should be happy.

343
00:15:10,182 --> 00:15:12,815
Happy that for folks 
without attention disorders,

344
00:15:12,815 --> 00:15:16,176
fixing your focus is as simple as
minimizing distractions,

345
00:15:16,176 --> 00:15:20,330
avoiding multitasking, and maybe
meditating if it all gets too much.

346
00:15:20,330 --> 00:15:22,904
I should be happy!
But I'm not.

347
00:15:22,904 --> 00:15:25,642
Like, I think it's really cool 
that meditation can work

348
00:15:25,642 --> 00:15:28,523
even if you don't know how it works,

349
00:15:28,523 --> 00:15:30,109
but I'm me...

350
00:15:30,109 --> 00:15:31,282
and I need to know how.

351
00:15:31,282 --> 00:15:34,614
So I guess if you only cared about
fixing your focus, the video's done!

352
00:15:34,614 --> 00:15:35,665
You heard my advice.

353
00:15:35,665 --> 00:15:39,080
But, if you're like me,
and you wanna know why...

354
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:41,372
come with me, 'cause we're gonna find out.

355
00:15:41,372 --> 00:15:43,597
It was strange getting to the
bottom of this,

356
00:15:43,597 --> 00:15:47,384
because I was looking for an answer 
when I didn't really have a question.

357
00:15:47,384 --> 00:15:51,839
I just had a sense of unease because
I had solved my original problem,

358
00:15:51,839 --> 00:15:56,740
without understanding how or why
my solution really worked.

359
00:15:56,740 --> 00:15:59,319
It was only after 
spending the day in the library,

360
00:15:59,319 --> 00:16:02,164
flipping through any book 
I could find about meditation,

361
00:16:02,164 --> 00:16:05,101
when I realized my question,
and its answer.

362
00:16:05,101 --> 00:16:08,857
You see, earlier we learned 
how focus works according to science,

363
00:16:08,857 --> 00:16:12,532
and the tips I found in those
productivity books were in line with that.

364
00:16:12,532 --> 00:16:14,497
They should have helped me stay focused.

365
00:16:14,497 --> 00:16:17,117
But they didn't,
not in the long run.

366
00:16:17,117 --> 00:16:21,030
However, when I added meditation 
to the mix, it all worked.

367
00:16:21,030 --> 00:16:22,693
The question is how?

368
00:16:22,693 --> 00:16:24,896
Specifically, how did meditation

369
00:16:24,896 --> 00:16:28,505
influence my focus differently
than productivity tips?

370
00:16:29,184 --> 00:16:33,242
Okay. So, meditation as we know it
originated in India with...

371
00:16:33,357 --> 00:16:35,191
Theravada Buddhism.

372
00:16:35,191 --> 00:16:37,953
However, it's since evolved 
into a wide range of practices

373
00:16:37,953 --> 00:16:39,203
used throughout the world,

374
00:16:39,203 --> 00:16:42,258
including more secularized 
and instrumentalized forms

375
00:16:42,258 --> 00:16:46,264
that became popular in the west with 
books like Wherever You Go There You Are.

376
00:16:46,264 --> 00:16:50,205
This approach to meditation became 
known as mindfulness based interventions

377
00:16:50,205 --> 00:16:51,849
and it has two main forms:

378
00:16:51,849 --> 00:16:56,729
open monitoring, where you observe your 
experiences in real time without reacting.

379
00:16:56,729 --> 00:16:59,224
You just recognize things as they are;

380
00:16:59,224 --> 00:17:03,437
and focused attention, where you concentrate
on something specific, like breathing.

381
00:17:03,437 --> 00:17:06,854
Now the interesting thing is that
this religiously informed framework,

382
00:17:06,854 --> 00:17:11,131
with origins from thousands of years ago,
has a lot of surprising parallels

383
00:17:11,131 --> 00:17:14,733
with our modern scientific 
understanding of attention.

384
00:17:14,733 --> 00:17:18,400
In fact, some Buddhist practitioners
have been found to out-perform the norm

385
00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:19,928
at attention-related tasks,

386
00:17:19,928 --> 00:17:24,373
suggesting that meditation is,
at least in part, helping them focus.

387
00:17:24,373 --> 00:17:26,495
Now, I should probably say that

388
00:17:26,495 --> 00:17:30,145
a lot of this research,
while promising, is still inconclusive.

389
00:17:30,145 --> 00:17:34,113
Meditation, and even attention, 
are still kind of nebulous concepts

390
00:17:34,113 --> 00:17:37,870
that make it difficult to achieve 
rigourous, scientific consensus.

391
00:17:37,870 --> 00:17:41,570
However, despite the similarities 
I found between religious theory

392
00:17:41,570 --> 00:17:44,314
and these pop science attention books,

393
00:17:44,314 --> 00:17:46,558
I did notice, one key difference:

394
00:17:46,558 --> 00:17:48,866
how they manage distractions.

395
00:17:48,866 --> 00:17:51,438
You see, the pop science and 
productivity books I read

396
00:17:51,438 --> 00:17:53,394
emphasized cutting out distractions

397
00:17:53,394 --> 00:17:57,743
and building walls in your space 
and schedule to protect your focus.

398
00:17:57,743 --> 00:18:01,198
This is straight forward in concept,
but really difficult to maintain

399
00:18:01,198 --> 00:18:04,686
if have a lot of responsibilities 
that are outside your control.

400
00:18:04,686 --> 00:18:08,335
In contrast, the mindfulness approach 
targets your focus directly,

401
00:18:08,335 --> 00:18:12,415
cultivating it to be easier to command 
and resilient to distractions.

402
00:18:12,415 --> 00:18:14,068
This forms a sort of spectrum,

403
00:18:14,068 --> 00:18:18,479
where you either reshape your environment 
to restore your attention,

404
00:18:18,479 --> 00:18:21,694
or reinforce your attention 
to endure the world.

405
00:18:21,694 --> 00:18:22,694
Now here's the thing,

406
00:18:22,694 --> 00:18:26,993
when you feel your attention span
slipping through your fingers,

407
00:18:26,993 --> 00:18:31,096
that pop science, productivity 
approach is really tempting.

408
00:18:31,096 --> 00:18:32,716
Not only because it's unavoidable,

409
00:18:32,716 --> 00:18:35,349
like, a lot of the content around
reclaiming your focus

410
00:18:35,349 --> 00:18:37,928
is for the sake of 
using it on something else.

411
00:18:37,928 --> 00:18:41,072
But it is also tempting 
because the advice is so tangible.

412
00:18:41,072 --> 00:18:43,879
You turn off your notifications,
you build out a schedule,

413
00:18:43,879 --> 00:18:47,407
you get rid of the distractions,
and see it replaced with things

414
00:18:47,407 --> 00:18:48,882
that you do care about.

415
00:18:48,882 --> 00:18:51,158
Compare that to meditation,
which is so subtle

416
00:18:51,158 --> 00:18:54,249
that if I wasn't wearing 
an EEG for three weeks,

417
00:18:54,249 --> 00:18:56,620
I would have just 
assumed that it did nothing.

418
00:18:56,620 --> 00:18:58,811
However, the average person like you or I,

419
00:18:58,811 --> 00:19:01,109
can never fully control our environments.

420
00:19:01,109 --> 00:19:04,456
And the supports we use to try 
are shockingly fragile.

421
00:19:04,456 --> 00:19:05,873
So if they break,

422
00:19:05,873 --> 00:19:07,683
when they break...

423
00:19:07,683 --> 00:19:11,190
all we're left with 
is our core ability to focus.

424
00:19:11,190 --> 00:19:14,106
And if that sucks,
we end up where we started.

425
00:19:14,106 --> 00:19:16,298
That's why I think 
meditation helped me out.

426
00:19:16,298 --> 00:19:20,085
The whole exercise is realizing
that your mind naturally wanders,

427
00:19:20,085 --> 00:19:21,913
but, you also have the power

428
00:19:21,913 --> 00:19:24,419
to nudge it back
to where you want it to be.

429
00:19:24,419 --> 00:19:26,646
Now, I'm obviously not 
going to go full tilt

430
00:19:26,646 --> 00:19:29,905
and become a Buddhist Monk 
because, to be honest...

431
00:19:29,905 --> 00:19:31,755
I can't pull off orange.

432
00:19:31,755 --> 00:19:34,506
However, the great thing
about a spectrum is

433
00:19:34,506 --> 00:19:37,549
that we can find ourselves 
somewhere in the middle:

434
00:19:37,549 --> 00:19:40,628
structuring our days more thoughtfully,
and lowering the noise,

435
00:19:40,628 --> 00:19:43,773
not to a silence, but to a gentle hum

436
00:19:43,773 --> 00:19:46,673
that we can enjoy at our own pace.

437
00:19:46,673 --> 00:19:47,990
But either way,

438
00:19:47,990 --> 00:19:49,817
have a lovely day.