How I Fixed My Attention Span

I kind of feel like

my attention span is dying.

knocks on the door

It's just like

whenever I try and do anything,

I start craving some sort of distraction.

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

even if that thing is sleeping.

But I have things I wanna do,

things I want to focus on.

I just don't

because refreshing Instagram

is always gonna be easier...

and it's a problem!

And I'm tired of it.

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

So today,

we are figuring out how to stop scrolling,

and how to start paying attention.

Thank you to our Patrons for
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and headspace for sponsoring

a portion of this video.

With focus music, motivational exercises,

guided meditations, and more,

Headspace has over a thousand
pieces of content

to help you be kind to your mind.

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

you can try it out completely for free
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All you have to do is sign up
with our link in the description

or scan the QR code on screen.

[slam]

So, what's in the box?

[box opening]

This is an electroencephalogram,
or an EEG.

It measures electrical activity in the brain

which are associated with certain
performance metrics

like attention, excitement and stress.

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

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

however, I reached out to this brand
called Emotiv

that creates more simplified
consumer options.

They gave me a little discount

so I could actually afford this
for the video.

And I look like a cyborg.

I think it looks cute.

Okay, so these are my brainwaves,

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

it should be able to translate these

into more understandable metrics,
like... attention!

Look at that!

You see the building attention
and spike in excitement;

that's my brain!

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

This is cool.

Now I should note that EEG data
can be pretty noisy

and things like movement
can really impact the results.

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

because I basically never pay attention
to my attention.

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

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

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

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

to understand how bad it actually is

and see if it's getting better or worse.

But now, with the help of this brainscanner,

I finally got to measure a
baseline for my attention span

without getting bogged down by guilt,

or forgetting to focus on my focus.

[typing]

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

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

after really long stretches.

Woah!

But, overall,
it was pretty easy to ignore

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

Alongside the EEG, I installed
a program to automatically track

how often I switched tasks on my computer,

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

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

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

Here is my life for the past three days.

Ooh.

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

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

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

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

Now, some highlights include... this moment,

where I picked up my phone to start
debugging the app

that I was using to scan my brain,

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

[laughs]

However, during my meetings the next day

I was like super interested and attentive,
right? Great? No.

It's because I kept picking up my phone!

I was supposed to be on a call!

I kept opening up Instagram! [laughs]

But it's not all bad news:

there are these instances
where I put down my phone,

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

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

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

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

but... how often am I doing that?

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

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

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

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

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

So let's do that.

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

and I found a lot of them.

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

They invent different buzz words,

and they switch up the personal anecdotes

that they blur with legitimate science,

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

Fortunately, you don't need
to read any of them,

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

if you want to fix your focus.

1: Attention and focus
are different things.

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

while focus is one process
that controls that awareness,

concentrating it on something specific.

2: Focus is a limited
and exhaustible resource.

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

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

3: Focus also filters out distractions.

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

Now some research exists suggesting that
certain forms of cognitive training

can increase your capacity
and ability to focus.

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

The brain is complicated and
theres a lot of nuance in the details,

especially when you're trying
to find things that work for you

and your specific circumstances.

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

very simple things that support
what we know about focus.

Here's the plan.

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

I deleted the apps that I never use,

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

(everything except for my wallet)

and muted basically
all of my notifications.

I also installed this app
that replaces icons with text.

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

I also changed my display to grey scale.

[laughs] I have never wanted
to use my phone less.

God, this sucks.

I wasn't kidding.

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

However, the silence made me
notice the sheer number of

internal distractions I have, too.

These passing thoughts that
just take me off task,

like wondering if I need
to buy more toilet paper,

wishing I learned
a musical instrument as a kid,

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

They were rarely urgent,

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

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

When later came,

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

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

Now, I'm usually the type of person who
only puts, like, events in my calendar,

- a normal person,

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

have recommended time-blocking.

Or time-boxing? I don't know.

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

Apparently, it helps you avoid
the temptation to multitask.

[alarm beeps]

So, every morning I took all of my
work, chores, exercises and hobbies

and plugged them into my calendar.

Now, I found that the secret is that

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

Since focus is an exhaustible resource,

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

and how much effort
each task is gonna take.

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

It's just really boring.

[vacuum cleaner buzzes,
while audiobook plays]

but listening to audiobooks or animating...
I'm locked in!

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

So, I find myself thinking about them,

or even continuing to do them
past their allotted time.

Which means that I should probably
think about those switching costs

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

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

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

Now I can input tasks, tag them,

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

I found it useful,
and if you want to give it a try,

I'll include it in our next newsletter.

But, once I controlled my
external and internal distractions,

and built out a schedule
that minimised multitasking

and optimised for my energy levels,

all that was left was...
actually focusing.

[suspenseful sound effect]

It was amazing.

I was using my phone less
and getting more done.

My brain was lighting up.

I was way more engaged
in everything I did.

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

and life was great...

until it wasn't.

[uuhhhhh]

It is... 12.

I haven't left bed yet.

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

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

[sighs]

And then 15 minutes later I do it again.

Just feels like we're
back where we started.

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

more than I had all week prior.

I had things I could do.

Things I should do.

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

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

and see if there were any clues in my data

that could explain what went wrong.

[laughs]
I know, it's pathetic!

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

the nights that I used
my phone past midnight

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

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

so I decided to just give up on the day,

get some sleep, and try again tomorrow.

[sighs]

aaaAAAHHH!

[phone call answered]
I feel like I'm drowning.

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

I'm just doing my stuff.
I'm just trying to focus on it more.

Except, I'm trying so hard to focus,
that everything is making me on edge.

Like, my cat will try and get my attention

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

It's like there's sand falling,
and I'm trying to catch all of the sand.

And you can't do it!

Am I making any sense?

I really need to make
every grain of sand count,

by, like, doing everything on target,
and even if I'm enjoying something,

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

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

What did you just say?

"Have you ever thought about just

meditating and doing... nothing?

Taking a step back away from
the thing that you're working on

and... not working?

Like taking a break?"

Maybe it was because I was desperate.

Actually, it is totally because I was desperate.

But, I decided to try meditation.

The only issue is...

I have no idea how.

Luckily, I have headspace.

I should probably turn the color on
just so that you guys can see

what the app actually looks like.

When I asked headspace
to sponsor a portion of this video,

I genuinely thought I was only going to
use their focus music and white noise,

because I love listening to
those to the point that

it is ruining my YouTube recommendations
and Spotify Wrapped.

So it's just great to have access
to headspace's collection.

But headspace also has stretches,
workouts, podcasts, and meditation.

They have content specifically
for beginners, like me,

who don't know where to start.
It's in their basics course.

But if you don't wanna commit to that,
they also have shorter exercises

including my favourite thing
that I discovered on this app,

which is "Star Wars: Breathe with Yoda."

It's a 1-minute breathing exercise,
and Yoda's just sitting there, levitating rocks.

I love it.

However, they also have
longer, less structured stuff

for people with more experience.

Just the sheer amount of variety is
probably my favorite thing about headspace.

They bring together so many resources
to help you be kind to your mind;

so, even if meditation doesn't
end up helping, maybe movement will.

Or, another cool thing that I found
- this is so sick - they have ASMR

and there's like a thing at the bottom
that lets you control the balance

between voice and, like,
environmental noise.

Headspace, do more of this!

If you want to try out headspace,
completely for free for 60 days,

you can sign up using the link in the
description, or scan the QR code.

Okay, lets learn how to meditate.

"Hi, and welcome to-"
"-Hi"

My first experience with meditation
was... strange?

Now, the voice kept telling me to
focus on my breathing,

but, I might have focused
a little too hard,

because I was worried
I forgot how to breathe.

I should wear my head
scanner thing for this!

Back to breathing. [exhales]

But eventually,
I think I got the hang of it,

and, after 10 minutes...

[phone call answered]

How am I supposed to know if
meditation is working?

Is there a light?
Like what happens?

"I don't think there's
an exact science to it.

It's just - You're supposed
to just feel better.

Or feel... changed.

Did it do anything?"

I don't know!
[laughs]

Do you just keep doing it?

"That's kind of it.

I know that's probably not
what you wanted to hear, but-"

So I just trust the process?

So, for the next few days,

I continued with my focus
schedule and wore my EEG.

But I also tried to meditate in
the morning, or evening,

or just random moments
when I felt like it.

[inhales]

And then, something kind of wild happened.

Meditation works!

And I wish I could tell you this because

I've achieved enlightenment or
I have a new found sense of peace,

but, no... I just feel... normal.

About as normal...

as the distribution of the sample means
of my experimental populations,

justifying the use of a two-sample t-test
resulting in... these p-values.

Ooo! How significant!

This EEG has seriously paid off

because, even though
I don't feel that different,

I was able to use its
measurements to do some statistics,

and find that meditation has improved
basically all of my performance metrics:

engagement, excitement, interest!

Also, stress... but that might be
because I was wearing this

when you guys sold out our
last merch drop in less than 24 hours.

Thank you for that.

So, good stress!

The coolest thing is that all of this is
on top of what I already gained

by minimising distractions
and avoiding multitasking.

At least according to these
regressions I ran.

But the benefits of meditation
came at a surprising cost.

You see these peaks of intense focus?

Yeah, those stopped happening.

But I also stopped experiencing these
huge dips. Now I'm just fine.

This whole thing is just... fine.

Y'know, I started this video because I wanted
to feel more in control of my attention.

I didn't want to have to rely on
being distracted every single second.

And you know what?

Done!

I am literally, statistically more engaged!

And anecdotally, I was doing
the dishes the other day

and I started playing
a podcast out of habit,

and then I realized...
I'd rather just clean in silence.

Who am I?

I know I should be happy.

Happy that for folks
without attention disorders,

fixing your focus is as simple as
minimizing distractions,

avoiding multitasking, and maybe
meditating if it all gets too much.

I should be happy!
But I'm not.

Like, I think it's really cool
that meditation can work

even if you don't know how it works,

but I'm me...

and I need to know how.

So I guess if you only cared about
fixing your focus, the video's done!

You heard my advice.

But, if you're like me,
and you wanna know why...

come with me, 'cause we're gonna find out.

It was strange getting to the
bottom of this,

because I was looking for an answer
when I didn't really have a question.

I just had a sense of unease because
I had solved my original problem,

without understanding how or why
my solution really worked.

It was only after
spending the day in the library,

flipping through any book
I could find about meditation,

when I realized my question,
and its answer.

You see, earlier we learned
how focus works according to science,

and the tips I found in those
productivity books were in line with that.

They should have helped me stay focused.

But they didn't,
not in the long run.

However, when I added meditation
to the mix, it all worked.

The question is how?

Specifically, how did meditation

influence my focus differently
than productivity tips?

Okay. So, meditation as we know it
originated in India with...

Theravada Buddhism.

However, it's since evolved
into a wide range of practices

used throughout the world,

including more securlarised
and intrumentalised forms

that became popular in the west with
books like Wherever You Go There You Are.

This approach to meditation became
known as mindfulness based interventions

and has two main forms:

open monitoring, where you observe your
experiences in real time without reacting

you just recognise things as they are;

and focused attention, where you concentrate
on something specific like breathing.

Now the interesting thing is that

this religiously informed framework,

with origins from thousands of years ago,

has a lot of surprising parallels

with our modern scientific
understanding of attention.

In fact, some Buddhist practitioners have

been found to out-perform the norm
at attention-related tasks,

suggesting that meditation is,

at least in part,
helping them focus.

Now, I should probably say that

a lot of this research, while promising,

is still inconclusive.

Meditation, and even attention,
are still kind of nebulous concepts

that make it difficult to achieve
rigourous, scientific consensus.

However, despite the similarities
I found between religious theory

and these pop science attention books,

I did notice, one key difference:

how they manage distractions.

You see, the pop science and
productivity books I read

emphasized cutting out distractions

and building walls in your space
and schedule to protect your focus.

This is straight forward in concept

but really difficult to maintain

if have a lot of responsibilities
that are outside your control.

In contrast, the mindfulness approach
targets your focus directly,

cultivating it to be easier to command
and resilient to distractions.

This forms a sort of spectrum

where you either reshape your environment
to restore your attention, or

reinforce your attention
to endure the world.

Now here's the thing,

when you feel your attention span

slipping through your fingers,

that pop science, productivity
approach is really tempting.

But only because it's unavoidable,

like, a lot of the content around
reclaiming your focus

is for the sake of
using it on something else.

But it is also tempting
because the advice is so tangible.

You turn off your notifications,

you build out a schedule,

you get rid of the distractions

and see it replaced with
things you do care about.

Compare that to meditation

which is so subtle that,

if I wasn't wearing
an EEG for three weeks,

I would have just
assumed that it did nothing.

However, the average person like you or I,

can never fully control our environments.

And the supports we use to try
are shockingly fragile.

So if they break,

when they break,

all we're left with
is our core ability to focus.

And if that sucks,

we end up where we started.

That's why I think
meditation helped me out.

The whole exercise is realising
that your mind naturally wanders,

but you also have the power

to nudge it back to where
you want it to be.

Now, I'm obviously not
going to go full tilt

and become a Buddhist Monk
because - to be honest -

I can't pull off orange.

However,

the great thing about a spectrum is

that we can find ourselves
somewhere in the middle:

structuring our days more thoughtfully

and lowering the noise,

not to a silence,

but to a gentle hum

that we can enjoy at our own pace.

But either way,

have a lovely day.