We can learn to focus more deeply, but it requires daily practice and discipline.

In this video, I'll share with you the mental tools and practices I use to develop my abilities

to focus.

Question: how do you 10x your focus?

I've personally settled on one answer: eliminate distraction.

There are two types of distractions: external and internal.

If I'm writing at my desk and I hear voices in the back preventing me from working, that's

an external distraction.

On the other hand, if I'm struggling between two decisions, that's an internal distraction.

At home, do I watch Netflix or do my homework?

In my career, do I work as an engineer or a writer?

If we're out to eat, do I listen to your words or think about what I'm going to say

next?

All of these are internal distractions.

And I developed two practices for eliminating distractions: memento distractio and memento

passio.

If you're wondering why I used latin phrases that sound like spells from Harry Potter,

it's because I wanted to, as much as I could, connect the practices to their linguistic

roots

and to another ancient practice: memento mori.

I won't waste your time explaining memento mori in this video, but you can look it up

in your free time if you're curious.

So let's jump right into the practices.

The first practice is memento distractio.

Memento translates to “remember” and distractio, which eventually became the word distraction,

essentially means to be “pulled apart”, “separated”, or “divided”.

Imagine that your focus is a beam of light.

You direct this light onto an object, your computer for work, for example.

An external distraction is something that pulls the light towards itself, like people

speaking in the background.

There are two simple solutions to this problem.

The first is to remove the distraction.

Let's say the voice in the background is coming from the TV.

You can just shut the TV off obviously, and this removes the obstacle to your focus, the

thing that is pulling at your beam of light.

The second solution is, if the obstacles is immovable, to remove yourself from the distraction.

Let's say the noise is coming from your family talking in the background.

Well you can leave your house and go work in a library.

All external distractions resolve the same way.

Either you remove the source or you remove yourself from the source.

So here's the daily practice.

Start a list where you keep track of and notice the things that pull your attention away from

whatever you're trying to focus on, whether that's conversations, the TV, the computer,

your phone, music, or whatever.

Write down the things that divide and attract your attention.

Then find a way to eliminate these distractions from your workspace or remove yourself from

them.

Here's an example of a bunch of common problems and solutions.

(1) If you get distracted by background noise, either go to a library or some other quiet

place, buy ear plugs or headphones, and/or shut off the sources of noise (such as the

TV).

(2) If you get distracted by your phone, put it on do not disturb or airplane mode, turn

off notifications, use accessibility settings to make the screen black and white so that

it's less appealing to look at, place it in another room, or give it to a friend or

family member while you work.

(3) If you get distracted by the internet, use an app like SelfControl to block apps

on your computer, or make sure you study in a place where you don't have access to technology.

(4) And lastly, if you get distracted by silence, either go to a coffee shop, make a study playlist,

or find a study buddy.

Memento distractio is a daily practice where you systematically discover the things that

pull your attention away from your work and eliminate them.

And as your list gets longer and longer, you get better insight into the ideal working

environment for yourself.

The second practice is memento passio.

Again, memento translates to “remember” and passio, which eventually became the word

passion, translates to “suffering” and “enduring”.

Imagine again that your focus is a beam of light, and you direct this light onto your

homework.

Internally, the homework represents your value of duty.

And right now your phone is pulling your attention away from your homework.

Internally, the phone represents fun.

So your attention is torn between doing your duty or having fun, and this is an internal

distraction.

Internal distractions are difficult to overcome because they can't be eliminated.

One value , either duty or fun, has to end up taking a higher priority over the other.

Here's a clearer example.

Imagine it's Friday night and Sally is torn between studying for an upcoming final on

Monday and going to her best friend's birthday party.

She's torn between work and friendship.

These values, or priorities, are having a conflict inside of her, and until she resolves

the conflict, she'll have trouble focusing.

Now there are two options.

The first one is that there is no right way to choose which value or priority is higher.

If this is true, then it shouldn't matter which one she picks.

But most people don't live life this way.

The second option is that there is a right way to choose which value or priority should

be higher than the other.

Whether it's money, friendship, or love, how do we decide which one of our values should

be higher than the others?

Values acts as a compass, guiding us through life and giving meaning to our world.

If we value art, we'll find it meaningful to go to a museum and look at paintings all

day.

And the more we value art, the higher that value is for us, the more meaningful this

experience will be.

If we don't value art however, we might find it boring to go to a museum, at least

relative to other things we value more and could be doing instead.

In other words, if our values and priorities are in the perfect order, this would lead

to the most meaningful life we could live.

So internal distractions occur when two values are in conflict inside of us, and the way

to eliminate this distraction is by placing the values in their correct order, or in other

words, prioritizing them correctly.

And the second practice, memento passio, which I'll explain now, is a tool meant to help

with this ordering process.

Now imagine a set of dots.

These dots represent the moments of your life, some good and some bad.

The final dot represents death, or in latin, mori.

And one dot will represent the worst day of your life, and this day we will call the passio.

We have to get imaginative with the passio, and imagine the worst, unavoidable sufferings

we can for ourselves, physical and psychological.

In such a time, with nothing else to help us, the only thing that will likely get us

through it is meaning.

We would likely need ultimate meaning to get through ultimate suffering.

And the idea is, if you can find meaning in the worst potential day of your life, you've

correctly structured your values and priorities to maximize the meaning of your life.

And so the next time we have two internal values in conflict, we can use memento passio

as a tool to help us find the path of greater meaning for us.

Which path will be more likely to help us endure future suffering?

So in summary, focus must be cultivated.

And I've given you two practices that I use to cultivate my focus and eliminate distractions.

And I think of both tools like the hammer and chisel which I have to consistently use

to sculpt my character.

Memento distractio is a daily practice that helps us discover and eliminate external distractions,

allowing us to create our ideal work environment.

And memento passio helps us resolve internal distractions by giving right order to our

values and priorities, helping us discover the path

of greatest meaning.