how to fix your attention span

imagine this you go to the movies with your friends you buy some snacks you find your seats and you sit down and wait for the show to start your friend is bubbling with excitement he's telling you all about the movie he's telling you who stars in it but then he tells you something that you're not too happy about it's 3 hours long you're not sure if you have the attention span for that the movie begins and 30 minutes in you feel this weird sensation you feel this strong urge to go on your phone you try

to resist you know your friend wouldn't like that you know that would make him upset but the movie is just moving so incredibly slowly so you cave in you grab your phone and you start scrolling through social media and finally your brain has that Rush of dopamine it's been craving all night long look I genuinely believe your focus is one of the most precious resources that you have and unfortunately we're living in an era where that resource is scarcer than ever I often have people telling me that they not only struggle to work but that

they struggle to watch movies that they struggle to read books that they struggle to do anything that requires their attention for a prolonged period of time now listen I have some good news and I have some bad news the bad news is is that it's impossible to be 100% laser focused all the time I don't have that ability nobody has that ability but there are steps you can take to get pretty close so here are a few of my tips tip number one set your intentions while we're working many of us don't even even realize

when we get distracted we might be doing our work for 1 minute and then end up scrolling through Tik Tok for the next 10 and then when we look up from our phones we're kind of like what just happened this usually happens because our intentions don't line up with what we actually do for example we'll go on our phone to look up a word but we'll somehow end up scrolling through Tik Tok we'll go to grab a snack because we're hungry but we'll end up chatting with our siblings for 30 minutes usually while we're working

we'll have these impulses to go on our phone to grab a snack to even go to the bathroom and we'll be very fast to justify these feelings we'll convince ourselves that we have a very valid reason for stepping away from our work but you need to observe these impulses and not be too quick to act on them for example if you catch yourself reaching for your phone ask yourself one question why this sounds silly but actually ask yourself why am I reaching for my phone because when you have to confront and acknowledge the reason nine

times out of 10 you'll realize you might be looking for an out that you're trying to find a way to escape your work and just having this awareness can help you stay on track for example over the past few months I've realized I have a bad habit of grabbing a snack or getting water even though I'm not hungry or thirsty most of the time I just want a reason to stop my work so I can go outside and bother mahad okay but let's say your intention is legitimate let's say you have to look up a

word or respond to an email in this case I recommend you clearly articulate your intention either in your head out loud or even on a piece of paper to lower are the chances of you getting distracted for example if you have to go on your phone to do something work related tell yourself I'm going to do X Y and Z and then put my phone down setting these intentions explicitly will help you cut any distractions that come your way tip number two let them come and go while you're working you might have random thoughts pop

up out of nowhere and these thoughts are going to do all they can to take you away from your work but you cannot let them win most of the time these thoughts won't even be related to your work for example out of nowhere you might start thinking about your favorite TV show or about your weekend plans the key here is to let these intrusive thoughts come and go observe and acknowledge them maybe even write them down if you want to come back to them later but ultimately do not engage with them of course this is

easier said than done this is a skill you're going to have to practice but there are a few ways you can make it easier first practice meditation a huge part of meditation is literally just becoming an observer of your mind and letting these intrusive thoughts and ideas come and go and more broadly meditating is also a great way to relieve the stress of being a student and Escape all the chaos I'll be honest I don't meditate that often anymore I feel like I've gotten relatively good at managing my thoughts and stress but during my senior

year of college when I was locked home during covid there was this one month period when I would meditate every single day and doing so helped a ton with my academics and you know what else will help with your academics the sponsor of this video course hero course hero is an AI study tool that'll help you tackle challenging homework problems and understand your course material let me show you how it works let's say this right here is a study document I made for one of my classes I've tried solving these problems but still need some

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you can think of I mean just look at this list study smarter and get the help you need with course hero all right moving on to tip number three remove Alternatives sometimes it's hard to focus because you're aware of what you could be doing instead for example while you're doing your homework you're very aware that you can simply open up a new tab and watch some YouTube videos you're very aware that you can grab your phone and scroll through a couple Tik toks or many Tik toks knowing that these Alternatives exist and knowing that they're

easily accessible makes it hard to focus so my first tip here is to immediately set up time limits because that takes away your phone as an alternative but you might be saying gohart I've tried setting time limits but they don't work for me well you might be too aggressive with your limits for example if you spend an average of 4 hours per day on social media and suddenly limit your usage to 30 minutes you are going to have a very tough time you'll probably just dismiss the time limit notification whenever it pops up and go

about your day so instead I recommend you gradually reduce your limit take a look at your average screen time for your most used apps take 90% of those numbers and set those as your screen time limits a few days later set your limits to 80% of those numbers and keep working your way down until you're happy with your average phone usage you can also try to make your Alternatives less enticing for example a huge appeal of going on your phone is that dopamine rush you get from watching colorful and entertaining videos so what if those

videos were black and white it probably wouldn't be as fun anymore so as I've suggested before if you're struggling to stay off your phone try enabling grayscale mode on your iPhone you can do this by going to settings accessibility display and text size and color filters and enable grayscale on Android the steps might vary depending on the exact model of your phone so just search up your phone model's name followed by grayscale tip number four get emotionally invested okay so removing Alternatives is an effective way to enhance your focus but it feels like a forceful

way it almost feels like you're punishing yourself a much more effective and fulfilling way of staying focused is by getting emotionally invested and I mean like really getting into it because once you find that genuine passion or spark for whatever you're working on you won't even have to try to focus it'll just happen naturally okay so this might sound a little cringe but here's what I recommend you do take whatever subject you're working on and find a relevant soundtrack play that soundtrack while you're working and just imagine you're some mad scientist or genius on the

brink of a breakthrough if you're studying physics or chemistry throw on the Oppenheimer soundtrack if you're studying computer science throw on The Social Network soundtrack or even if you're just coding this is such a great soundtrack if you're studying history I've heard Lord of the Rings is pretty good though I haven't tried that one let me know if you like it I have a handful of other soundtracks and playlists I listen to while working which I'll link in the description of this video tip number five break down tasks if your to-do list only contains tasks

that are big and daunting you're going to run into two issues first you're going to have a hard time getting started because the tasks feel too overwhelming second when you start these tasks you're going to feel a little scatterbrained because you won't know which part to tackle first so to really reain in that Focus I recommend you take these bulky tasks and break them down into smaller chunks not only will the work feel more manageable but you'll be able to better concentrate on each individual piece and here's the most important part do not tackle multiple

Parts at once multitasking might feel like an effective way to put out more work and less time but ultimately it's just a way to divert your focus and put out lower quality stuff instead go from task to task in succession so you can give each one your full Focus also the benefits of this approach go beyond just focus breaking things down in general is a great way to understand the fundamentals and even improve your memory all right and then tip number six consume media intentionally look I think short form content isn't the best for our

attention spans we all now crave that instant gratification that comes from watching video after video after video and because the algorithms are so good at giving us these quick hits of dopamine we have no tolerance for Stillness that's why lately I've been trying to consume media more intentionally more specifically I've been trying to consume longer media media that requires me to think to listen and to engage media that doesn't just bombard me with an incessant stream of stimuli don't get me wrong I still watch short form content but maybe during dinner I'll throw on a

long firm video about history or science some of my favorite channels have been answer in progress when over production veritasium Mark robber also Tom Scott but it's so sad that he retired maybe on a walk I'll listen to a podcast I've actually been listening to Founders lately which is a super interesting podcast if you're interested in business or entrepreneurship or even history and sometimes and most importantly I won't consume any media at all on many of my walks I'll just try to be super present and enjoy the silence or the subtle Sounds of Nature and

doing this on a consistent basis has helped me feel like I've regained control of my mind and my focus all right guys that wraps up today's video join my Discord server if you want homework help check out next admit if you need college to help and I'll see you again next week