November 15, 2024 • 26 mins
Do you ever try focusing on just one thing at a time?
What’s one way you avoid distractions?
Today, Jay’s diving into a struggle we all know too well: distraction. If you’ve ever found yourself scrolling on your phone without even thinking about it, you’re definitely not alone. Jay breaks down why it’s so hard to stay focused in a world full of constant notifications and packed schedules. But this episode isn’t about making us feel guilty—instead, it’s about giving us simple, doable strategies to actually make focus easier.
Jay’s packed this episode with practical tips, like creating “no-phone zones” at home and setting tech-free times during the day to really be present. One of the standout strategies he shares is the Pomodoro Technique—working in short, focused bursts with breaks in between to keep your brain sharp and productive. Jay’s main message? Real productivity isn’t about doing more, faster—it’s about doing things better. He even shares some unique Ayurvedic advice, like chewing each bite 32 times (yes, really!) to emphasize how slowing down can improve our lives.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How to Slow Down for Better Productivity
How to Stay Present in Conversations
How to Find Calm by Unplugging
How to Build Stronger Focus Habits
How to Reclaim Your Attention
By setting intentional boundaries, slowing down, and practicing mindfulness, we can take back our attention in a way that enhances productivity, deepens our relationships, and brings peace to our daily lives.
With Love and Gratitude,
Jay Shetty
What We Discuss:
00:00 Intro
01:46 Have You Been Feeling More Distracted?
04:03 What Research Says About the Decline in Focus
06:12 Majority of Us Can’t Multitask
09:00 Doing Things Slower Makes Better Progress
11:43 #1: The Pomodoro Technique
13:38 #2: No Tech Zones, No Tech Times
15:56 #3: Go For a Walk, Stay Off Your Phone
20:34 #4: Finish What You Start
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey everyone, it's Jay here. My wife and I have
had so much fun creating our own sparkling tea Juni,
and I've got big news for you. It's at Target
and we'd love your support. If you can go out
grab a Juny, You'll be adding adaptagens and new tropics
into your life with mood boosting properties aimed at promoting
a balanced and happy mind. Through our commitment to our
(00:24):
wellness journey and striving to fuel our bodies with the
healthiest ingredients, It's been our purpose to make healthy choices
accessible for all, which is why Juni is now on
shelves at Target. So head to our store locator at
Drinkjuni dot com and find Juny at a Target near you.
We feel so productive when we're doing lots of things.
(00:46):
We feel good when we feel busy. We feel valuable
when we feel busy. So much of the reason why
we enjoy being distracted is because we think we're doing
more when we're actually doing less. What's required is a
chain shift in our mindset and recognizing that sometimes when
you're doing things slower, you actually might be doing them better.
(01:08):
The number one Health and Well in the podcast Jay
Setty Jay Setty. Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose.
I'm your host, Jay Shetty, and I'm so grateful that
you've decided to tune in. I have been thinking about
this a lot lately, and it's because I find that
(01:31):
our attention diminishes so gradually and so subtly, that it
can often take months or years to realize that there's
been an incredible decline. Now, I want to ask you
an honest and vulnerable question. How many of you are
feeling distracted? How many of you look at your phone
(01:56):
for no reason whatsoever. Studies show we grab our phone
out of our pocket around two hundred times per day.
And the truth is a lot of us won't have
seen the time, won't have checked anything specific, won't have
done that intentionally. It will have been a completely unconscious, unintentional,
(02:21):
potentially unnecessary action. So let me ask you again, are
you feeling more distracted? Are you feeling like you're struggling
to pay attention? Are you feeling challenged being present? Maybe
you struggle in a meeting to really be there with
everyone else that you're around. Maybe when someone's giving a
(02:42):
presentation on a zoom call, you see yourself just drifting
in and out, or maybe sometimes the meeting ends and
then you finally realize that you weren't present at all.
Maybe it's your partner who's pointed it out a few times,
telling you, Hey, are you really listening to me? Hey,
I don't think you're always present with me. Hey did
(03:03):
you know what happened with the kids today? If you've
experienced any of this, I want you to know you're
not alone. It's not a weakness, it's somewhat not your fault,
and it's actually something that we're all struggling with. Listen
to this episode to get less distracted. Listen to this
episode to increase your focus, and listen to this episode
(03:25):
so that you can be more present in your life. Now,
tell me if this ever happened to you, or tell
me if it often happens to you. You're paying attention
to something or someone, maybe it's a speech, an activity,
and you get the urge to look at your phone.
You better believe I've been there regularly. In fact, I
think it's fair to say we all do this. As
(03:47):
technology is advanced, As distractions a multiplied, our ability to
focus has been shrinking. But I promise you, with some
conscious effort, you can build it back. This episode is
deadated to help you do just that. Now listen to
this research. Back in two thousand and four, researchers at
(04:08):
UC Irvine set out to understand how information workers divided
their focus. They looked at analysts, software engineers, and managers,
examining how quickly people pivoted between email, desk work and
their phones, and the results were kind of mind boggling.
(04:29):
The researchers found that, on average, people spend about two
and a half minutes concentrating on a task before turning
their attention elsewhere. That's not long at all, right, because
that original study came before smartphones, before social media, before
twenty four to seven notifications, and always access scrolling. So
(04:54):
in twenty twelve, some of the researchers ran another study.
This time they found that the average time spent on
a task had dropped to seventy five seconds, and even
more recently, one research discovered that the average attention span
on computers and smartphones was a mere forty seven seconds.
(05:19):
That's a whole another level of mind boggling. To make
the point really clear, if you look at platforms like TikTok,
platforms like meta platforms like Instagram, a lot of them
count an eight second view as a view, So when
you look at views, it's really someone who's watched it
for eight seconds. Eight seconds is considered presence, and I
(05:43):
think if you look at yourself scrolling on social media,
you find yourself spending one to two, maybe three seconds
on a video before you scroll past it, which is
why eight seconds is seen as such a significant number.
That's what it takes to keep or loose use our
attention eight seconds. All of the social media world knows
(06:06):
that if you don't grab someone's attention in eight seconds,
you've already lost it. Now, this probably isn't the first
you're hearing about this precipitous decline in focus, and at
the very least, you definitely feel it. And even if
multitasking may seem efficient, it actually has a negative impact
(06:27):
on cognitive performance, on productivity and mood. Listen to this.
Studies show that only two percent of people can actually multitask.
And the funny thing is when ninety eight percent of
us here that we all think we're in that two percent,
the truth is the majority of us cannot multitask. Monotasking
(06:51):
or solo tasking is the art of focusing on one
thing at a time, the ability to dedicate that moment,
your conscious effort, and your mind space to that time.
One of the things I've been practicing to help me
with that is leaving my phone outside of the room.
(07:13):
Sometimes I'd have my phone in my pocket. Sometimes I'd
have my phone on my desk. Now, if you have
it in your pocket, you have the urge to take
it out. If you leave it face up on your desk,
you see notifications popping through. If you leave it face
down on your desk, you may have the urge to
flip it over. Just it being there causes attention and
(07:34):
a distraction between you and the person you're with. Leaving
it outside of the room has allowed me to create
that space to truly monotask or solo task. I also
started to realize how much I've been losing the ability
to immerse myself. I remember being able to really sit
with something rather and I took a trip a couple
(07:54):
of weekends ago to Big Sir. Big Sir is around
and you know, I think about like seven or eight
hours drive away from LA and it's known to be
a really peaceful place, a very spiritual place where you can,
you know, bathe in the trees, you can go for hikes,
you can, you know, be in nature. And so rather
(08:17):
than I took a break, and I noticed how my
entire nervous system switched off by being there. And when
we were there, it was so natural to just be
present with the trees, or when we'd go on hikes
and we'd see deer, to just be present, when we'd
be on a walk through these winding pathways and bridges,
(08:38):
to just be present. And if you've ever experienced deep
presence or deep rest in that way, you start to
value it. And I think often what we've done is
we feel so productive when we're doing lots of things.
We feel good when we feel busy, we feel valuable
(08:59):
when we feel busy. So much of the reason why
we enjoy being distracted is because we think we're doing
more when we're actually doing less. So what's required is
a change in our values. What's required is a change
and shift in our mindset and recognizing that sometimes when
you're doing things slower, you actually might be doing them better.
(09:20):
Think about that for a second. It's a really random thought, right,
It's kind of counterintuitive. There are a lot of things
in the world that if you did them slower, you'd
be doing them better. I'll give you give you an example.
Iravader talks about how when you're eating food, each morsel
should be chewed thirty two times. Now, I know that
(09:41):
may sound ridiculous, but if you try and do it,
there's a reason why when you bite your food. And
the example or the irradic language around it is you
should drink your food to your drinks. Now, I know
that sounds complicated, but let me break it down for you.
So you should drink your food. Does that mean if
you've broken your food down, if you've chewed it enough
(10:04):
down to feeling like liquid, it becomes easier on your digestion.
If you've been able to chew your drinks, or you
don't just gulp it down, but you take a moment
with it, you actually make it easier to digest. So
when you change the pace of how quickly you eat,
how quickly you bite, how intentionally you digest food, it
(10:26):
becomes easier for your gut. There are so many things
that would be better if we did them slower. So
I want to ask you to reflect. What is it
that you could do more slowly. What is it that
you could do more present that you think would improve it.
Maybe the flusteredness that you feel in a meeting or
the stress you feel in a meeting is because you're
(10:46):
allowing your mind to jump from place to place. What
if it was just in that meeting. What if you
just listen to what that person was saying. What if
you'd actually achieve more, You'd make better decisions, you'd make
better long term decisions. How many times have you had
it where someone said something, you go, yeah, sure, that's fine,
and then a month later you're like, wait a minute,
I don't remember even saying that I had this happened
(11:08):
to me recently, And it's just I mean, my team
will probably tell you it happens more often than not.
And I started to realize how we don't make good decisions.
We're just making decisions in the moment, strung between two decisions. Right,
you're choosing what to order to eat at the same
time as making a decision at work. You're choosing where
to go out for dinner tonight, while you're deciding what
(11:31):
to wear. Right, you're choosing you know, whatever it is, right,
There's just so many things like that, So let's talk
about what else we can do to combat this wavering attention. Now,
one of my favorite techniques is called the Pomoduro technique.
The way this works is you focus on a single task,
(11:51):
usually for twenty five minutes. Then you take a short
break around five to ten minutes, and then repeat that cycle.
After four or cycles, you've earned yourself a longer break
to reset. During each period of focus, you silence your phone,
turn off notifications, and clear your workspace of distractions. The
(12:14):
idea is that if you know a break is coming
and you only have to put your head down for
a manageable interval, then you can truly commit to the
task at hand. And I mean that that social media
notification can wait for twenty five minutes, right And by
the way, when your mind knows that it's only twenty
(12:34):
five minutes away, you can actually resist the urge for
checking it. This is often the techniques that apply to children.
When children know that there's a reward at the end
of a challenge, they're more likely to sit through it.
Now that said, if initially this makes you feel uneasy
to disconnect like that, you can start with shorter intervals
and gradually increase your focus blocks. Ultimately, with diligent practice,
(13:00):
you'll naturally rebuild your concentration muscle. You'll naturally increase your
attention span, which will serve you in the long run.
And I think you really have to look at it
like a muscle. If you haven't lifted a weight in
a long time, you don't just go into the gym
and lift the biggest weights there. So if you haven't
focused and concentrated for consecutive hours for a long time,
(13:20):
don't just force yourself to do what's ideal, what seems perfect.
Take your time with it. And look, I'm not saying
the Pomodora technique is the be all and end or
it's just one of many tools that could potentially help
you to concentrate to single task to perform at your best. Right,
we live in a connected world. I'm not saying anything
you haven't heard before, And at any moment we can
(13:43):
be texting or checking emails or laughing at cat videos,
which can be fine if you're waiting in line or
lazing on the couch, but it's not so great when
you're doing more active stuff like hanging out with friends,
getting work done or simply walking around, which is why
I highly recommend you also set no technology zones and
(14:04):
no technology times in your home and in your workplace.
One of the things I've done is I've disconnected my
social media apps from my laptop. So if I'm on
my laptop, I'm fully there for work, I'm there for email,
I'm there for my documents, I'm there for my spreadsheets,
but I'm not connected to social media. So when it
comes to no technology times, it's like saying no technology
(14:27):
in the house before eight am and then no technology
being used after eight pm. What you're doing is you're
creating barriers and boundaries, healthy points of contact so that
now you're not constantly absorbed, and the whole house has
rules so that you can both follow them or however
many of you are at home now. This also applies
(14:48):
to no technology zones in the home, for example, the
dining table no need for technology, the bedroom, no need
for technology. How can you find a way to make
sure whenever you're going out to dinner having friends over
for dinner, no technology. It's creating these habits that everyone
can subscribe to in order to limit distraction. What we
(15:10):
don't realize is inattention bleeds when we want attention. So
what happens is we want to be really attentive when
we're with our family and our friends, but we want
to be inattentive at work. It doesn't work like that.
You can't be absent at work and be present at home.
(15:30):
Inattention bleeds into all areas of your life. If you're
not present in each moment, it's hard to be present
in any moment. And what's really important for me to
say about these no technology times and zones is just
creating barriers, boundaries, and healthy habits to protect your mind
(15:54):
and the mind of others. Now, the other thing I
want to discuss is we talk about distraction, is we
don't realize how we can also be distracted even when
we're moving. Now, let me explain what I mean by that. Obviously,
it's quite common to walk around while looking at your phone.
In fact, in twenty fourteen, it was estimated that twenty
(16:18):
five percent of pedestrians in Manhattan had their rise glued
to their devices. I'm guessing it's even worse today. I
remember Arianna Huffington telling a great story about how she
was walking through New York and she saw this building
and she said to her team, she was like, oh
my god, this building's beautiful, Like how long has it
been there? When was it made? And they were like
(16:39):
nineteen twenty nine or something like that, And she said,
she walks down this street every day. It's right near
our office and she hadn't seen it. It's so common
for us. I mean, I'm sure if you're a driver,
you get angry at the people are walking across the
street with their head down looking at their phone. Now,
we all know that our phones can distract us from
the present moment, but a team of researchers in New
(17:02):
Zealand wondered if it affected us in other ways as well,
so they devised a study. Participants were asked to stroll
around a park. Half of them were given smartphones with
instructions to read about the park while they were walking.
This phone group was told it was important to stay
focused on what they were reading. The other half ambled
(17:25):
about phone free with instructions to pay attention to the environment.
All the participants wore fitness trackers and at the end,
they performed self evaluations about mood and comfort, as well
as their feelings of power and connectedness to nature. Here's
what the researchers found. The phone group walked with a
(17:46):
more stooped posture and a slower gate. They felt less
physically comfortable. They also experienced more negative emotions and fewer
positive ones, and they felt less powerful. Our own free group,
on the other hand, felt positive, powerful, and connected to nature. Intuitively,
(18:07):
this makes sense. It does feel better to stroll through
a park disconnected, and clearly that would help you get
in tune with nature. But what surprised me was the
depth of those differences. The researchers even stated that phone
use effectively reverses all the beneficial effects of a jaunt
(18:27):
in the park. As Professor Elizabeth Broadbent told The New
York Times, instead of feeling more positive after walking, people
felt less positive, less excited, less happy, less relaxed. So
the takeaway is clear, go for a walk, but stay
off your phone. And you know, this isn't only about walking.
(18:49):
This insight holds for parties and events, lunchtime with colleagues
and dinner with friends. And I get it. We reach
for our phones to stay on top of things, but
there are tangible benefits your mood and health if you
can resist the urge. Really take a moment to think
about what you can do and what you can change,
(19:11):
because what I don't want to happen after this episode
is that you feel guilty and you shame yourself because
this is something we're all dealing with. This isn't a
you problem. This is a twenty twenty four, twenty twenty
five and the rest of our life problem that each
and every one of us is living with, struggling with,
and being challenged by. And so we can either sit
(19:33):
here and guilt ourselves and make ourselves feel bad, or
we can look at it and go this is something
we'd have to deal with in our lifetime. Let's create
effective strategies and steps to get ourselves out of it. Okay,
I am so excited about this because we've got the
first ever merch drop for on Purpose. It's finally here
(19:57):
and for world Mental health. Today, we're doing an exclusive
limited edition drop with all the proceeds going to the
National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI. So now you can
wear your on Purpose merch, listen to the podcast and
know that you two are having an impact. I want
to thank you so much in advance. I can't wait
to see all of your pictures wearing the merch their sweatshirts,
(20:20):
a hat, t shirts. Check it out on our website
jshetdyshop dot com. That's jshettishop dot com and remember one
hundred percent of the proceeds go to Nami. Another technique
I love is finish what you start. Don't start a
new task before the current one is complete. I think
(20:41):
we've got into this habit of starting multiple things at
the same time, doing everything we possibly can at the
same time, doing anything and everything at the same time,
because it feels more fun, it feels more exciting. And
what do we realize our completion rate drops. What happens
when our completion rate drops, our distraction increases because now
we feel we become someone who doesn't complete things. I
(21:04):
want to read you something that I read from a
book by tik Nat Hahn, an amazing Tibetan Budhist monk
called How to Walk, and one of the things he
writes is invest your whole body. Invest one hundred percent
of yourself into making a step. Touching the ground with
your foot, you produce the miracle of being alive. You
(21:27):
make yourself real and the earth real with each step.
The practice should be very strong and determined. You are
protecting yourself from the habit energy that is always pushing
you to run and to get lost in thinking. Bring
all your attention down to the soles of your feet
(21:48):
and touch the earth as though you are kissing the
earth with your feet. Each step is like the seal
of an emperor on a decree. Walk as though you
print your solidity, your freedom, and your peace on the earth.
I mean, how beautiful is it to think that something
(22:09):
is simply walking could be that powerful, Something is simply
taking a step, could be that monumental. And that's really
what meditation is. Meditation is the ability to create meaning
through the most simple, ordinary things, the ability to find meaning,
(22:30):
to find value, to find the essence of what that does.
Every step can make a huge, huge difference. While I
was talking to a friend yesterday and he said something
amazing to me. He said, Jay, it was only when
I stopped I realized how many sensations they are in
the body. He said, I didn't realize this before today,
(22:51):
about how much is going on. And another thing Tik
Nahan says in How to Walk, which I love, is
he says one of the most profound is also the
shortest I have arrived. Our true home is in the
present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle.
When I breathe in and become fully alive, I see
(23:13):
myself as a miracle. When I look at an orange mindfully,
I see the orange as a miracle. When I peel
an orange mindfully, I see that eating an orange is
also a miracle. The fact that you are still alive
is a miracle. So miracles are the things that you
perform several times each day with the power of mindfulness.
(23:36):
The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle
is to walk on the green earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
I perform this miracle every time I walk. You two
can perform the miracle of walking any time you want.
These words from tik Nahn are so powerful because I
(23:58):
think our busy lives have made us see the ordinary
is nothing but ordinary. But if you think about your
favorite moments, weren't they when you took in the ordinary.
Maybe it was your friend's laugh, Maybe it was something
that you were both joking about. Maybe it was a
shared emotion or expression. Maybe it was a joint love
(24:20):
for food. It was something simple, It was something beautiful.
It was something tiny and organic and natural. It wasn't
something constructed, engineered and manufactured. If anything, when you were
trying to create something, it may not have had that.
So I hope this is your reminder to be more
in the present, to be more mindful, to live in
a way that we're not just allowing ourselves to get distracted,
(24:44):
that we recognize that just a few of these simple
tips can help us walk and live a better life.
I really hope you loved this episode. If you did,
please go and check out some of my meditations on
the Daily Jay on calmcom dot com forward slash j
and you'll be able to discover some really beautiful meditations
that you can practice. You can listen to as you
(25:05):
walk as you make your way to work, Rather than
filling all of our gaps with scrolling, where we only
feel more overwhelmed. Imagine we're consuming so much information in
such a short period of time. Our brains and our
mind deserve a bit of a break. You deserve deep rest,
And I hope this episode has helped you connect with it.
Thank you so much. Remember I'm always rooting for you,
(25:28):
and I'm forever in your corner. Thank you, Thank you
so much for listening to this conversation. If you enjoyed it,
you'll love my chat with Adam Grant on why discomfort
is the key to growth and the strategies for unlocking
your hidden potential. If you know you want to be
more and achieve more this year, go check it out
(25:49):
right now. You set a goal today, you achieve it
in six months, and then by the time it happens,
it's almost a relief. There's no sense of meaning and purpose.
You sort of expected it, and you would have been
disappointed it didn't happen.
Hey everyone, it's Jay here. My wife and I have
had so much fun creating our own sparkling tea Juni,
and I've got big news for you. It's at Target
and we'd love your support. If you can go out
grab a Juny, You'll be adding adaptagens and new tropics
into your life with mood boosting properties aimed at promoting
a balanced and happy mind. Through our commitment to our
(00:24):
wellness journey and striving to fuel our bodies with the
healthiest ingredients, It's been our purpose to make healthy choices
accessible for all, which is why Juni is now on
shelves at Target. So head to our store locator at
Drinkjuni dot com and find Juny at a Target near you.
We feel so productive when we're doing lots of things.
(00:46):
We feel good when we feel busy. We feel valuable
when we feel busy. So much of the reason why
we enjoy being distracted is because we think we're doing
more when we're actually doing less. What's required is a
chain shift in our mindset and recognizing that sometimes when
you're doing things slower, you actually might be doing them better.
(01:08):
The number one Health and Well in the podcast Jay
Setty Jay Setty. Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose.
I'm your host, Jay Shetty, and I'm so grateful that
you've decided to tune in. I have been thinking about
this a lot lately, and it's because I find that
(01:31):
our attention diminishes so gradually and so subtly, that it
can often take months or years to realize that there's
been an incredible decline. Now, I want to ask you
an honest and vulnerable question. How many of you are
feeling distracted? How many of you look at your phone
(01:56):
for no reason whatsoever. Studies show we grab our phone
out of our pocket around two hundred times per day.
And the truth is a lot of us won't have
seen the time, won't have checked anything specific, won't have
done that intentionally. It will have been a completely unconscious, unintentional,
(02:21):
potentially unnecessary action. So let me ask you again, are
you feeling more distracted? Are you feeling like you're struggling
to pay attention? Are you feeling challenged being present? Maybe
you struggle in a meeting to really be there with
everyone else that you're around. Maybe when someone's giving a
(02:42):
presentation on a zoom call, you see yourself just drifting
in and out, or maybe sometimes the meeting ends and
then you finally realize that you weren't present at all.
Maybe it's your partner who's pointed it out a few times,
telling you, Hey, are you really listening to me? Hey,
I don't think you're always present with me. Hey did
(03:03):
you know what happened with the kids today? If you've
experienced any of this, I want you to know you're
not alone. It's not a weakness, it's somewhat not your fault,
and it's actually something that we're all struggling with. Listen
to this episode to get less distracted. Listen to this
episode to increase your focus, and listen to this episode
(03:25):
so that you can be more present in your life. Now,
tell me if this ever happened to you, or tell
me if it often happens to you. You're paying attention
to something or someone, maybe it's a speech, an activity,
and you get the urge to look at your phone.
You better believe I've been there regularly. In fact, I
think it's fair to say we all do this. As
(03:47):
technology is advanced, As distractions a multiplied, our ability to
focus has been shrinking. But I promise you, with some
conscious effort, you can build it back. This episode is
deadated to help you do just that. Now listen to
this research. Back in two thousand and four, researchers at
(04:08):
UC Irvine set out to understand how information workers divided
their focus. They looked at analysts, software engineers, and managers,
examining how quickly people pivoted between email, desk work and
their phones, and the results were kind of mind boggling.
(04:29):
The researchers found that, on average, people spend about two
and a half minutes concentrating on a task before turning
their attention elsewhere. That's not long at all, right, because
that original study came before smartphones, before social media, before
twenty four to seven notifications, and always access scrolling. So
(04:54):
in twenty twelve, some of the researchers ran another study.
This time they found that the average time spent on
a task had dropped to seventy five seconds, and even
more recently, one research discovered that the average attention span
on computers and smartphones was a mere forty seven seconds.
(05:19):
That's a whole another level of mind boggling. To make
the point really clear, if you look at platforms like TikTok,
platforms like meta platforms like Instagram, a lot of them
count an eight second view as a view, So when
you look at views, it's really someone who's watched it
for eight seconds. Eight seconds is considered presence, and I
(05:43):
think if you look at yourself scrolling on social media,
you find yourself spending one to two, maybe three seconds
on a video before you scroll past it, which is
why eight seconds is seen as such a significant number.
That's what it takes to keep or loose use our
attention eight seconds. All of the social media world knows
(06:06):
that if you don't grab someone's attention in eight seconds,
you've already lost it. Now, this probably isn't the first
you're hearing about this precipitous decline in focus, and at
the very least, you definitely feel it. And even if
multitasking may seem efficient, it actually has a negative impact
(06:27):
on cognitive performance, on productivity and mood. Listen to this.
Studies show that only two percent of people can actually multitask.
And the funny thing is when ninety eight percent of
us here that we all think we're in that two percent,
the truth is the majority of us cannot multitask. Monotasking
(06:51):
or solo tasking is the art of focusing on one
thing at a time, the ability to dedicate that moment,
your conscious effort, and your mind space to that time.
One of the things I've been practicing to help me
with that is leaving my phone outside of the room.
(07:13):
Sometimes I'd have my phone in my pocket. Sometimes I'd
have my phone on my desk. Now, if you have
it in your pocket, you have the urge to take
it out. If you leave it face up on your desk,
you see notifications popping through. If you leave it face
down on your desk, you may have the urge to
flip it over. Just it being there causes attention and
(07:34):
a distraction between you and the person you're with. Leaving
it outside of the room has allowed me to create
that space to truly monotask or solo task. I also
started to realize how much I've been losing the ability
to immerse myself. I remember being able to really sit
with something rather and I took a trip a couple
(07:54):
of weekends ago to Big Sir. Big Sir is around
and you know, I think about like seven or eight
hours drive away from LA and it's known to be
a really peaceful place, a very spiritual place where you can,
you know, bathe in the trees, you can go for hikes,
you can, you know, be in nature. And so rather
(08:17):
than I took a break, and I noticed how my
entire nervous system switched off by being there. And when
we were there, it was so natural to just be
present with the trees, or when we'd go on hikes
and we'd see deer, to just be present, when we'd
be on a walk through these winding pathways and bridges,
(08:38):
to just be present. And if you've ever experienced deep
presence or deep rest in that way, you start to
value it. And I think often what we've done is
we feel so productive when we're doing lots of things.
We feel good when we feel busy, we feel valuable
(08:59):
when we feel busy. So much of the reason why
we enjoy being distracted is because we think we're doing
more when we're actually doing less. So what's required is
a change in our values. What's required is a change
and shift in our mindset and recognizing that sometimes when
you're doing things slower, you actually might be doing them better.
(09:20):
Think about that for a second. It's a really random thought, right,
It's kind of counterintuitive. There are a lot of things
in the world that if you did them slower, you'd
be doing them better. I'll give you give you an example.
Iravader talks about how when you're eating food, each morsel
should be chewed thirty two times. Now, I know that
(09:41):
may sound ridiculous, but if you try and do it,
there's a reason why when you bite your food. And
the example or the irradic language around it is you
should drink your food to your drinks. Now, I know
that sounds complicated, but let me break it down for you.
So you should drink your food. Does that mean if
you've broken your food down, if you've chewed it enough
(10:04):
down to feeling like liquid, it becomes easier on your digestion.
If you've been able to chew your drinks, or you
don't just gulp it down, but you take a moment
with it, you actually make it easier to digest. So
when you change the pace of how quickly you eat,
how quickly you bite, how intentionally you digest food, it
(10:26):
becomes easier for your gut. There are so many things
that would be better if we did them slower. So
I want to ask you to reflect. What is it
that you could do more slowly. What is it that
you could do more present that you think would improve it.
Maybe the flusteredness that you feel in a meeting or
the stress you feel in a meeting is because you're
(10:46):
allowing your mind to jump from place to place. What
if it was just in that meeting. What if you
just listen to what that person was saying. What if
you'd actually achieve more, You'd make better decisions, you'd make
better long term decisions. How many times have you had
it where someone said something, you go, yeah, sure, that's fine,
and then a month later you're like, wait a minute,
I don't remember even saying that I had this happened
(11:08):
to me recently, And it's just I mean, my team
will probably tell you it happens more often than not.
And I started to realize how we don't make good decisions.
We're just making decisions in the moment, strung between two decisions. Right,
you're choosing what to order to eat at the same
time as making a decision at work. You're choosing where
to go out for dinner tonight, while you're deciding what
(11:31):
to wear. Right, you're choosing you know, whatever it is, right,
There's just so many things like that, So let's talk
about what else we can do to combat this wavering attention. Now,
one of my favorite techniques is called the Pomoduro technique.
The way this works is you focus on a single task,
(11:51):
usually for twenty five minutes. Then you take a short
break around five to ten minutes, and then repeat that cycle.
After four or cycles, you've earned yourself a longer break
to reset. During each period of focus, you silence your phone,
turn off notifications, and clear your workspace of distractions. The
(12:14):
idea is that if you know a break is coming
and you only have to put your head down for
a manageable interval, then you can truly commit to the
task at hand. And I mean that that social media
notification can wait for twenty five minutes, right And by
the way, when your mind knows that it's only twenty
(12:34):
five minutes away, you can actually resist the urge for
checking it. This is often the techniques that apply to children.
When children know that there's a reward at the end
of a challenge, they're more likely to sit through it.
Now that said, if initially this makes you feel uneasy
to disconnect like that, you can start with shorter intervals
and gradually increase your focus blocks. Ultimately, with diligent practice,
(13:00):
you'll naturally rebuild your concentration muscle. You'll naturally increase your
attention span, which will serve you in the long run.
And I think you really have to look at it
like a muscle. If you haven't lifted a weight in
a long time, you don't just go into the gym
and lift the biggest weights there. So if you haven't
focused and concentrated for consecutive hours for a long time,
(13:20):
don't just force yourself to do what's ideal, what seems perfect.
Take your time with it. And look, I'm not saying
the Pomodora technique is the be all and end or
it's just one of many tools that could potentially help
you to concentrate to single task to perform at your best. Right,
we live in a connected world. I'm not saying anything
you haven't heard before, And at any moment we can
(13:43):
be texting or checking emails or laughing at cat videos,
which can be fine if you're waiting in line or
lazing on the couch, but it's not so great when
you're doing more active stuff like hanging out with friends,
getting work done or simply walking around, which is why
I highly recommend you also set no technology zones and
(14:04):
no technology times in your home and in your workplace.
One of the things I've done is I've disconnected my
social media apps from my laptop. So if I'm on
my laptop, I'm fully there for work, I'm there for email,
I'm there for my documents, I'm there for my spreadsheets,
but I'm not connected to social media. So when it
comes to no technology times, it's like saying no technology
(14:27):
in the house before eight am and then no technology
being used after eight pm. What you're doing is you're
creating barriers and boundaries, healthy points of contact so that
now you're not constantly absorbed, and the whole house has
rules so that you can both follow them or however
many of you are at home now. This also applies
(14:48):
to no technology zones in the home, for example, the
dining table no need for technology, the bedroom, no need
for technology. How can you find a way to make
sure whenever you're going out to dinner having friends over
for dinner, no technology. It's creating these habits that everyone
can subscribe to in order to limit distraction. What we
(15:10):
don't realize is inattention bleeds when we want attention. So
what happens is we want to be really attentive when
we're with our family and our friends, but we want
to be inattentive at work. It doesn't work like that.
You can't be absent at work and be present at home.
(15:30):
Inattention bleeds into all areas of your life. If you're
not present in each moment, it's hard to be present
in any moment. And what's really important for me to
say about these no technology times and zones is just
creating barriers, boundaries, and healthy habits to protect your mind
(15:54):
and the mind of others. Now, the other thing I
want to discuss is we talk about distraction, is we
don't realize how we can also be distracted even when
we're moving. Now, let me explain what I mean by that. Obviously,
it's quite common to walk around while looking at your phone.
In fact, in twenty fourteen, it was estimated that twenty
(16:18):
five percent of pedestrians in Manhattan had their rise glued
to their devices. I'm guessing it's even worse today. I
remember Arianna Huffington telling a great story about how she
was walking through New York and she saw this building
and she said to her team, she was like, oh
my god, this building's beautiful, Like how long has it
been there? When was it made? And they were like
(16:39):
nineteen twenty nine or something like that, And she said,
she walks down this street every day. It's right near
our office and she hadn't seen it. It's so common
for us. I mean, I'm sure if you're a driver,
you get angry at the people are walking across the
street with their head down looking at their phone. Now,
we all know that our phones can distract us from
the present moment, but a team of researchers in New
(17:02):
Zealand wondered if it affected us in other ways as well,
so they devised a study. Participants were asked to stroll
around a park. Half of them were given smartphones with
instructions to read about the park while they were walking.
This phone group was told it was important to stay
focused on what they were reading. The other half ambled
(17:25):
about phone free with instructions to pay attention to the environment.
All the participants wore fitness trackers and at the end,
they performed self evaluations about mood and comfort, as well
as their feelings of power and connectedness to nature. Here's
what the researchers found. The phone group walked with a
(17:46):
more stooped posture and a slower gate. They felt less
physically comfortable. They also experienced more negative emotions and fewer
positive ones, and they felt less powerful. Our own free group,
on the other hand, felt positive, powerful, and connected to nature. Intuitively,
(18:07):
this makes sense. It does feel better to stroll through
a park disconnected, and clearly that would help you get
in tune with nature. But what surprised me was the
depth of those differences. The researchers even stated that phone
use effectively reverses all the beneficial effects of a jaunt
(18:27):
in the park. As Professor Elizabeth Broadbent told The New
York Times, instead of feeling more positive after walking, people
felt less positive, less excited, less happy, less relaxed. So
the takeaway is clear, go for a walk, but stay
off your phone. And you know, this isn't only about walking.
(18:49):
This insight holds for parties and events, lunchtime with colleagues
and dinner with friends. And I get it. We reach
for our phones to stay on top of things, but
there are tangible benefits your mood and health if you
can resist the urge. Really take a moment to think
about what you can do and what you can change,
(19:11):
because what I don't want to happen after this episode
is that you feel guilty and you shame yourself because
this is something we're all dealing with. This isn't a
you problem. This is a twenty twenty four, twenty twenty
five and the rest of our life problem that each
and every one of us is living with, struggling with,
and being challenged by. And so we can either sit
(19:33):
here and guilt ourselves and make ourselves feel bad, or
we can look at it and go this is something
we'd have to deal with in our lifetime. Let's create
effective strategies and steps to get ourselves out of it. Okay,
I am so excited about this because we've got the
first ever merch drop for on Purpose. It's finally here
(19:57):
and for world Mental health. Today, we're doing an exclusive
limited edition drop with all the proceeds going to the
National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI. So now you can
wear your on Purpose merch, listen to the podcast and
know that you two are having an impact. I want
to thank you so much in advance. I can't wait
to see all of your pictures wearing the merch their sweatshirts,
(20:20):
a hat, t shirts. Check it out on our website
jshetdyshop dot com. That's jshettishop dot com and remember one
hundred percent of the proceeds go to Nami. Another technique
I love is finish what you start. Don't start a
new task before the current one is complete. I think
(20:41):
we've got into this habit of starting multiple things at
the same time, doing everything we possibly can at the
same time, doing anything and everything at the same time,
because it feels more fun, it feels more exciting. And
what do we realize our completion rate drops. What happens
when our completion rate drops, our distraction increases because now
we feel we become someone who doesn't complete things. I
(21:04):
want to read you something that I read from a
book by tik Nat Hahn, an amazing Tibetan Budhist monk
called How to Walk, and one of the things he
writes is invest your whole body. Invest one hundred percent
of yourself into making a step. Touching the ground with
your foot, you produce the miracle of being alive. You
(21:27):
make yourself real and the earth real with each step.
The practice should be very strong and determined. You are
protecting yourself from the habit energy that is always pushing
you to run and to get lost in thinking. Bring
all your attention down to the soles of your feet
(21:48):
and touch the earth as though you are kissing the
earth with your feet. Each step is like the seal
of an emperor on a decree. Walk as though you
print your solidity, your freedom, and your peace on the earth.
I mean, how beautiful is it to think that something
(22:09):
is simply walking could be that powerful, Something is simply
taking a step, could be that monumental. And that's really
what meditation is. Meditation is the ability to create meaning
through the most simple, ordinary things, the ability to find meaning,
(22:30):
to find value, to find the essence of what that does.
Every step can make a huge, huge difference. While I
was talking to a friend yesterday and he said something
amazing to me. He said, Jay, it was only when
I stopped I realized how many sensations they are in
the body. He said, I didn't realize this before today,
(22:51):
about how much is going on. And another thing Tik
Nahan says in How to Walk, which I love, is
he says one of the most profound is also the
shortest I have arrived. Our true home is in the
present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle.
When I breathe in and become fully alive, I see
(23:13):
myself as a miracle. When I look at an orange mindfully,
I see the orange as a miracle. When I peel
an orange mindfully, I see that eating an orange is
also a miracle. The fact that you are still alive
is a miracle. So miracles are the things that you
perform several times each day with the power of mindfulness.
(23:36):
The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle
is to walk on the green earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
I perform this miracle every time I walk. You two
can perform the miracle of walking any time you want.
These words from tik Nahn are so powerful because I
(23:58):
think our busy lives have made us see the ordinary
is nothing but ordinary. But if you think about your
favorite moments, weren't they when you took in the ordinary.
Maybe it was your friend's laugh, Maybe it was something
that you were both joking about. Maybe it was a
shared emotion or expression. Maybe it was a joint love
(24:20):
for food. It was something simple, It was something beautiful.
It was something tiny and organic and natural. It wasn't
something constructed, engineered and manufactured. If anything, when you were
trying to create something, it may not have had that.
So I hope this is your reminder to be more
in the present, to be more mindful, to live in
a way that we're not just allowing ourselves to get distracted,
(24:44):
that we recognize that just a few of these simple
tips can help us walk and live a better life.
I really hope you loved this episode. If you did,
please go and check out some of my meditations on
the Daily Jay on calmcom dot com forward slash j
and you'll be able to discover some really beautiful meditations
that you can practice. You can listen to as you
(25:05):
walk as you make your way to work, Rather than
filling all of our gaps with scrolling, where we only
feel more overwhelmed. Imagine we're consuming so much information in
such a short period of time. Our brains and our
mind deserve a bit of a break. You deserve deep rest,
And I hope this episode has helped you connect with it.
Thank you so much. Remember I'm always rooting for you,
(25:28):
and I'm forever in your corner. Thank you, Thank you
so much for listening to this conversation. If you enjoyed it,
you'll love my chat with Adam Grant on why discomfort
is the key to growth and the strategies for unlocking
your hidden potential. If you know you want to be
more and achieve more this year, go check it out
(25:49):
right now. You set a goal today, you achieve it
in six months, and then by the time it happens,
it's almost a relief. There's no sense of meaning and purpose.
You sort of expected it, and you would have been
disappointed it didn't happen.
Host
Jay Shetty
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