Subtitles section Play video
-
If you saw someone who was really really out of shape.
-
And if I were to ask you – how do you think this happened?
-
You'd most likely say, “hmm they probably didn't get enough exercise and they probably
-
ate to much junk food”
-
Well - the same thing applies to focus.
-
If you're someone who can barely focus for more than 5 minutes.
-
If you're getting urges to click away from this video already.
-
Then you're basically in the same position.
-
But instead of your body that's in an unhealthy state, it's your mind.
-
If you want to fix this – all you have to do is take care of your mind the same way
-
you would take care of your body in order to get in shape.
-
There are essentially only 2 things that you have to do.
-
___________________________________________________________________________________
-
The first is to get regular exercise for your mind.
-
Just like how when you go to the gym you have to lift heavy weights to increase your physical
-
strength.
-
When you want to improve your mental strength, you must force yourself to do something that
-
requires a lot of focus and mental energy.
-
Such as reading a book / studying / working / writing / or even practicing a skill.
-
It varies from person to person, but the rule of thumb is that any task that you are currently
-
having issues focusing on is a task that you can train with.
-
Once you've decided which task to train with you need to figure out your current strength
-
level for this task.
-
Let's say you decide to train by reading a book.
-
Your next step is to set a timer and see how long you can read, before you start getting
-
extreme urges to check your phone or to do something else.
-
Once that happens, stop the timer and make a note of that time.
-
This is your current focus strength level.
-
Let me know where you currently stand in the comments down below – I'm a bit curious.
-
Now that you know where your current level is at, you need to start working out your
-
mind on a regular basis.
-
You need to set aside a block of time everyday just for this focus training.
-
Just like how you would set aside a block of time just to workout at the gym.
-
Your job is to try to do 5 sets of this task everyday, and try to do it for slightly longer
-
than your current strength level.
-
So if you're currently getting urges at 5 minutes when reading then just aim to read
-
for 5 and a half minutes or even six minutes.
-
Once you do, you can take a little break and play on your phone for like one or two minutes
-
– just like how you would rest a bit between doing sets in the gym – and then you would
-
go back to reading for the next set.
-
And you repeat the process over at least 5 times.
-
Do this everyday – and at the end of the week, test your focus strength level again
-
– test to see how long you can read before getting strong urges to do something else.
-
You should see a gradual increase in this number over time if you are consistent with
-
your workouts.
-
You should also change the exercises from time to time.
-
Instead of reading you can choose to focus on studying or writing or if you really want
-
to strengthen those focus muscles you can try and solve some problems.
-
Which is why today's episode was brought to you with the help of the guys at Brilliant.
-
Brilliant offers a wide range of content from interactive courses on mathematical fundamentals
-
to scientific thinking to programming and even machine learning.
-
They teach by putting a focus on problem solving where you solve fun and interactive problems
-
by yourself to drill in the lessons.
-
Personally I've been learning by using the Logic section of their platform.
-
I have a strong belief that one should hone their logic skills as it makes it easier to
-
make the right choices in life and to see the truth that exists in the world.
-
Brilliant's logic course helps you develop the critical skills necessary to discern the
-
truth.
-
If you're looking for a great way to strength train your focus and also to improve your
-
skills then I highly suggest you to go to www.Brilliant.org/improvementpill to sign
-
up for a free trial - the first 200 people to sign up will get 20% off the annual Premium
-
subscription.
-
Now back to the topic at hand.
-
The best way to train your focus muscles is by building a habit that automatically does
-
it for you.
-
For example: I don't need to set aside time everyday to go to the mental gym because I'm
-
writing everyday for roughly 3 hours.
-
I'll usually write for 30 minutes or so and then take a break and then go back to writing.
-
So basically I am training and maintaining the health of my focus muscles because of
-
this habit.
-
This is something that you should consider doing when you get your focus strength level
-
to at least 10 minutes.
-
Because at that point you can start getting work done.
-
_________________________________________________________________________________
-
The second thing you have to do to improve your focus is to fix your diet.
-
See we consume food with our bodies – but we consume content with our minds.
-
Delicious, high calorie, extra sweet foods are the junk foods of the physical world.
-
Which means that short, extra stimulating, fun to watch pieces of content are the junk
-
foods of the mental world.
-
It's fine to enjoy it every once in a while, you could even do it everyday.
-
But if it's the ONLY thing that you consume – then your attention span will shrink to
-
mere seconds.
-
The primary source of this junk food is social media.
-
A study found that on average people only spend about 10 seconds on each post on Instagram.
-
Other social media platforms like twitter, facebook, tiktok, and even reddit probably
-
fare the same.
-
It's all content that we spend mere seconds on.
-
Even longer form content like videos on YouTube fall victim to this.
-
Although the problem here is stimulation.
-
Many of the videos that go viral have tons of edits and sound effects, they cut to a
-
new scene every 5 seconds, these are videos that we watch because of the stimulation it
-
brings – the endless novelty releases a ton of dopamine in our brain causing us to
-
want to watch more all while decreasing our ability to focus on less stimulating things
-
in general.
-
What you want to do is consume content that is long with little stimulation.
-
A great example of this are education videos like Ted-Talks and interviews.
-
These are pieces of content that are slow paced and focus on only a few topics throughout
-
their entirety which make them a good addition to your mental diet.
-
Other variations of content such as audio books, blog posts, podcasts, and even documentaries
-
are healthy as well.
-
What you want to do is make sure that you are consuming some content in these forms
-
on a daily basis and slowly try to aim for it to be at least half of what you consume
-
over time.
-
Again it's totally fine to use social media on a daily basis, but you need to balance
-
it with some healthier content consumption.
-
Another important thing to add – is when consume content you have to try your best
-
not to multi-task.
-
Because checking social media on your phone while watching a Ted-Talk is equivalent to
-
eating a cake while eating a salad.
-
It's not going to help at all.
-
And when you consume content you should try your best to finish whatever you start.
-
Make a habit of reading the entire article.
-
Or watching the entire video.
-
Or finishing the entire chapter.
-
This will allow you to train those focus muscles even outside of the mental gym.
-
And that's it, the solution to improving your focus depends on how much you train your focus
-
muscles and also what sort of content you consume on a daily basis.
-
There really isn't a shortcut, just like how there isn't a shortcut with losing weight
-
– it's an ongoing battle and a lifestyle change that you have to make.
-
I hope this video was helpful and besides that guys stay tuned.