No.1 Neuroscientist Reveals How To Unlock Superhuman Focus & Perfect Memory! - Dr. Sahar Yousef

Every single time you switch your. attention, you pay for it. >> Say multitasking is a myth. >> Yeah. So, what we are going to do is get. a sense of the amount of time and energy. that you essentially waste every single. time you switch your attention. >> Okay. Let's do this. >> All right. Are you ready? >> Yeah. >> Get ready. Go. >> Oh my gosh. This is a show. >> Done. >> Done. >> So, on a daily basis, theoretically, I'm. losing 60% of my productivity just by. switching between two different types of. tasks at once. >> Yeah. And over 2 hours a day is the. average now of how much time is being. wasted bouncing between screens and.

different tasks. If we stay this. distracted, we will live a life that we. don't like living. >> So what is in this book? >> We're going to go through the box. I'm. going to teach you all the science for. productivity and human performance. because I know that the default settings. of all of our technology are designed by. people like me to maximize engagement. For example, the infinite scroll is like. going to a buffet and just opening your. mouth and there's just an assembly line. of food and candy just going straight. in. There's no backs stop, but we can. use reverse neuroscience to reverse this. entire thing.

>> Where's the first place to stop? >> First, put your phone in gray. Research. from my lab shows grayscale makes the. phone less neurologically stimulating. And we saw on average people spent 1. hour less on their phones every single. day. That's 7 hours a week. Next is. choosing long form over short form. content. If we have too much short form, your attention span is shot. You. literally feel shittier and your brain. operates at a lower level. >> I can see in your productivity toolkit, there is a clock. >> Yeah, this is a huge huge game changer. in terms of productivity, but also there.

was a focus sprint to help people to do. up to two times as much as they would. otherwise do. And we can talk about. biological prototypes that dictate the. ideal time you should be doing your. focus sprints. But also, I have another. amazing thing to strengthen your mind. and make you better at focusing. So, I'm. going to teach you all this stuff. >> Okay? So, let's get into it. >> So, the first thing we ought to really. focus in on is. >> here is a strange fact. Most of the. people watching this right now, about. 58% of you, aren't yet subscribed to. this channel. Statistically, that is.

probably you. So, could I ask you a. small favor? If this channel has ever. given you any value at all, please could. you do me a favor and hit the subscribe. button? It costs nothing. It helps us. more than you could know. And the bigger. the channel gets, as you've seen, the. more we can invest in the guests and the. production. So, thank you so much and I. hope you enjoy this episode. Dr. Saha Ysef, what is the mission that you are on if. you had to try and capture it in a. couple of sentences and why does it.

matter to the people that are tuning in. and listening right now? The mission I. am on. is to first and foremost. bring science education to the world in. a way. that allows people to work more in line. with how their brains and their bodies. actually work best. This is my. philosophy that there are fundamental. laws of how the brain and the body. actually work. And I always liken these.

things to the laws of physics. There are. laws of physics. We don't question the. laws, >> gravity. I don't ever wake up one. morning and go, you know what? I want to. do away with it. And I know that there. are fundamental laws of biology, but we. blissfully ignore these laws of biology. We don't teach kids when they're in. school at an early age how their brains. work so that they might be able to study. a little bit easier, you know, find. flow, actually be able to manage things. like stress, physiological stress. We.

don't teach people the fundamentals of. sleep. And my area of expertise is. productivity. We focus so much on what. What's the deliverable? What's the. long-term goal? What's the annual goal? What's the quarterly goal? What what. what what? But not the how. >> How should we go about getting these. things done? What is the best way in. fact that a human being might sit down. and have an innovative thought? Like. truly like what's like let's for example. the neuroscience of innovation. We're all obsessed. I'm from Silicon.

Valley. We're obsessed with sort of. innovation, but we're doing that with. this. >> with our brains with our brains. >> This is a biological system. Isn't it a. good idea to take a step back and learn. how the system actually works? I just. feel like there's so much friction with. how we're working and living today. And. I would say the number one thing that. seems to be getting in the way of all of. this is at the moment technology which. is such a shame because it's also and. the most amazing piece of I would say. modern human invention.

>> You said innovation there. One of the. things that innovators often think about. is working backwards from the customer. I understanding the customer problem and. then reverse engineering a solution from. there. So I present you with the same. challenge with my audience today. Having. been out there as a public communicator, you've received a lot of feedback from. people as it relates to productivity on. what they're really struggling with and. how they like describe it in their own. words. How can they relate to everything. you've just said? Like what are the. words that in their head they're using. to describe the problem that your work. solves?

>> I hear a lot about brain fog. >> Okay, >> that's a big one. I remember working. with this female CEO. She said something. that's always stuck with me and she's. like, I can hear my own thoughts again. That's always stayed with me. I'm like, where were your thoughts before? And. that's the heartbreaking truth. I think. people aren't we're not listening. We. don't hear the inside of ourselves. anymore. I think there's some sort of. global discomfort with being with.

ourselves and we've been distracted. completely 24/7. Like every little. second and minute in between. all of our tasks and to-dos and meetings. and calls and this and that is filled in. with technology and scrolling. We're. just constantly consuming. And if you. put yourself into that sort of setup and. state, when is it that you your mind is. supposed to say, "Hey, what about this?

I can't cure cancer. That's not my area. I can't do some of the amazing things. that people right now are working on, the problems that they're working on to. make the world a better place. But in. some small part, if I can help unblock. people to go do the amazing things that. they want to do in the world, if I can. just bring the science. of productivity and performance, of. focus, energy management, attention, all.

of these things back into our lives, then this is my small part that I can. help people do all of the amazing things. that they want to do and still be happy. What is the experience and the reference. points that you you draw from? Where did. you study? What what is it you run now? What studies have you done? >> I'm the founder and managing director of. the Becoming Superhum Lab, which is a. lab focused and obsessed with. productivity and human performance. Our. goal is to help people get the most done.

in the least amount of time with the. least amount of stress. I've done my. entire academic career at UC Berkeley. My area of expertise is cognitive. neuroplasticity. So how the brain. actually changes and evolves. Key word. there sort of that root plastic. plasticity. So the brain is constantly. changing and evolving and adapting. Uh. and I'd like to tap into that. If the. brain is constantly changing, evolving. and adapting, that means it could be. getting better. Which is why my, you.

know, my lab has colloquially been. called the becoming superhuman lab. because my area of interest is. increasing things like your attention. span, your memory, your general fluid. intelligence. So these cognitive traits. that we have and these cognitive skills, I want to increase the volume on all of. those things. I want to make people. better, faster, stronger. So that's. that's what I've always been obsessed. with. Wait, you can make me superhuman. >> I mean, yes. We have to define it, though. Of course. Yes. >> I think you're probably already a fair. bit there.

>> No, no, no, no, no. There's room for. improvement. Trust me. >> I I for myself as well. Always. But I do. practice quite a bit of what I preach, but there's, you know, we are human at. the end of the day, >> but I would like to be super human. >> Okay. >> So, hopefully we can get we can do that. today. You mentioned working with a. female CEO there. What is the broad. spectrum of people that you've worked. with? I worked u with a lot of. executives. One of the first execs I. worked with um and I of course I can't. say who but it's it's a fortune would be. a fortune 10 company and I I used to do.

these observations. So I would let's say. if I did this for you by the way. >> you you know you'd say okay for the next. couple of days I'm gonna have this weird. doctor lady this neuroscientist like. follow me around and she's just. observing me like I would notice like. everything from what you're eating and. drinking throughout the course of the. day if you take breaks how you work I'd. follow you to a bunch of your meetings. you know I just like I'm just like with. you for a bit observing taking notes and. then we would do an overhaul and then I. would intervene and then be like all. right we got to this is going to get.

changed up and And I I have this very. distinct memory because this was a huge. point of transition for my work. I'm. sitting there in his office and it's a. modern, as you might glass everywhere, you know. So he's sitting in a glass box. in the middle of a busy floor. This is a. fortune tech and he's the boss. So. everybody can like, you know, he can see. everyone, everyone can see him. So. you've now put this human being, this. extremely intelligent human being that. controls billions of dollars and you've. put him in a glass box. Now, he also has.

and and mind you, he's working on a deck. for a board meeting. It's extremely. important. He's pulling together data. that different teams have sent him and. he's looking at things. He's making. pretty big decisions. And he's like, "Yeah, that's what I'm doing." I'm like, "That's fine. You do you. I'll be back. here." And I see him. He's on his. computer, but he has a second monitor. And the second monitor has his email. open. And then he has two phones, personal and professional, and they're. both face up right next to him. And he. had an Apple Watch on. So, as he's.

sitting down to focus, it's just like. and then all of this is happening and. then there's people walking by and then. at some point his chief of staff like. comes in and he's just like, "Excuse me, you know, don't forget this." And he's. like, "Uh-uh." So, he's sitting there. I. swear, Stephen, he probably got 30. seconds. You know, the average, there was a study. done, 47 seconds is the average amount. of time a knowledge worker stays focused. on one screen before another one.

distracts him. If I told you, I want to. give you a billion dollars and I'm here. to support you, you know, and advise in. any way that I can, but your goal is in. fact, let's say, to cure cancer, and. it's you. So hopefully you can galvanize. the best minds from all around the. world. How would you want them to go. about trying to solve this global issue. of such importance? Would you strap them. up with an Apple Watch, a bunch of. notifications, a Slack, and then litter.

their day with a bunch of meetings and. calls, and then hope that in the next. few years they cure this thing? Ideally, you want them to be in an. environment with a setup that is not. distracting and like doesn't waste their. best thinking. They don't like wake up. in the morning and it's like, "Oh, hey, by the way, instead of thinking about. that whole cancer bit, you need to jump. onto this call and we need to talk about. this thing and we and it's just constant. ping-ponging like this all day. What is. this? Just sit down for 20 minutes and. just focus.".

So, it's it's almost it's what's. hysterical is I studied. far more complex things than I find. myself talking to people about, which is. hysterical. We just need to focus on. cleaning this up. That's why I call. it digital hygiene. There are obstacles. in the way of productivity and. performance and focus. Forget becoming. superhuman. We just need to become. human. Like do we know do you all do we. all understand collectively here how.

this human system works. so that we can accept again those laws. of biology? As you see, we come back to. this. >> Dio gang. We're going to do something. we've never done before. So many of you. tell me that you listen to these. episodes about wellness, health, productivity, bettering yourself. But. there's always this question which is. like, what do I do about it now? And how. do I implement it into my life? So, we're going to do a world first. We are. going to turn this episode into an. online workshop with me and Saha where. we're going to film a live interactive.

workshop that you can attend and we're. going to work through every single thing. that was discussed in this episode and. give you solutions and actionable tools. that you can put into your life straight. away. This is the first time we've ever. done this, but I had this conversation. with Dr. Saha that you're about to hear. and I just thought, you know what, there's going to be so much information. here, but how do we turn this into. actions that stick? So if you want to. come to this live workshop, there is a. link on screen and there's a link down. below. There is only a certain amount of. people that can join the workshop. because we do have a limit. So if you do.

want to come, please sign up ASAP. I. mean literally within the next 10. seconds and you'll be one of the first. to take part in a direcio world first, which is an interactive workshop with me. and the guest as we turn everything you. learned today into tools that can. hopefully change the trajectory of your. professional and your personal life. Can't wait to see some of you there. I. am I can relate so much to everything. you just said in part because I'm an. executive, but actually it doesn't. really matter if you're an executive in. this context because we all live in this. very very noisy world. Um I want to now. go through all of the solutions you.

called it getting all the out of. our way, cleaning up our digital and. physical environments. There is a box. here. This is. you can you didn't want to make it an. app, but there is some of the stuff you. talk about is in this box. I guess as. someone that wants to be able to do the. best work of my life, think clearly, interview well, build businesses, innovate, be creative, all of those. things that you were pointing at through. your explanations. I want to know like. where's the first place to start? What's.

the first domino? Like if I up my. sleep, is that the Do I have to. meditate? Like what is the. >> There's one that I have to begin with. the foundational, which you already. mentioned yourself as sleep. That's. true. the way that I by the way talk. about sleep. and I hope this visual stays in your. mind and maybe the the mind of the. listeners here and I've had the. interesting and distinct pleasure of. having many a CEO and an executive who. is haggarded tired especially the. founders that are grinding uh come to me. and ask okay I want to become 1% better.

and I find out that they're averaging 5. hours of sleep a night like okay can I. paint a picture for you what this feels. like. It feels like you've taken your. car to the mechanic and as a mechanic. I'm looking at it and the thing is on. fire. Like it's literally like it's on. fire. The flames are And then you're. sitting there like unaware of the fact. that it's on fire and you're like, "Can. we soup up the engine?" I'm like, "Dude, let's put the fire out first. I don't. even know where to begin to assess your. baseline performance." So that's the.

thing. When you don't get enough sleep, and mind you, that's a minimum of 7. hours a night. If you're not getting. enough sleep, it's impacting your. cognitive performance, your emotional. regulation. So, you'll be irassable, you. know, in the office and with other. people. Like the the system is messed. up. So, sleep is for sure the. foundation. >> Okay, >> we got to check that box. I would say. next biggest thing that I will tell you. right now, this is a global issue. It is. impacting everyone from senior citizens. to children. It's your relationship with.

technology. >> What is that? >> This is a phone lock box. So, we would. theoretically put your technology inside. and then lock it away from you. You want. to do it? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Go for it. >> Okay. Let me just make sure it's off. >> Like, let me just get rid of some of the. things. >> Okay. Turn that upside down. >> There we go. You don't necessarily need. to get a lock box, but the point of. something like this is for you as a.

human being and your brain as a focus. machine, as a monotasking machine to. actually be able to focus. Focus and attention are so fundamental. to all things, personal and. professional. behind you. That means any. kind of distraction that is diminishing. your focus is impacting your memory.

Another word for memory is learning, right? >> Mhm. >> Attention and memory, by the way, they're it's impossible to divorce those. concepts from one another. They're. connected in the most connected way that. they can be. The way that they're. connected is you cannot remember. anything that you do not attend to. You. think about that. It is only things that. come into your aperture of attention. that you're aware of in the first place.

So we cannot learn anything. We cannot. remember anything unless we're paying. attention. And attention spans our. ability to sustain attention has been. linearly decreasing since the advent of. this thing. And I don't want people to think it's. just phones necessarily. It's this it's. notifications in general. And if you're. monitoring the your inbox all day and. it's constantly available to you, what's. your plan for having deep thoughts?

>> The rebuttal that comes to mind, although I don't even believe it, but. this is the rebuttal that I think a lot. of, you know, me and my listeners will. be thinking right now. >> Yes, but what if something happens? I. have my email open because maybe a big a. big email comes in or I have my WhatsApp. right there because maybe my fiance is. going to tell me I need to let her in. the house or something, you know, something's going to happen. >> Totally. Fires. So, we call them, right? Fires, urgencies. I get it. I'm a. caretaker for both of my, you know, it's. I I get it. I call these, by the way,

VIPs. These are VIP notifications and. messages. Can I paint a picture for you. for a second? >> Yeah. >> We figured this out for mail. If you. have an extremely important package. coming to your house, how do we deal. with this in the mail system? Somebody knocks. It needs a signature. Like, we're not leaving this outside. Somebody needs to be home. Knock knock. knock. I'm going to come and get your. attention. To me, that knock. You need a. sign for this is a notification. That's. the fire, right?

>> And everything else, by the way, just. gets shoved in the mailbox. >> or left by the door. >> This is what I advocate for. We are all. by the way smart enough. We should. respect ourselves enough truly to demand. better than the default settings. that our apps, our email, our phones. come with. The default settings of all. of our technology are designed, by the. way, by people like me.

These are cognitive neuroscientists, behavioral neuroscientists that work at. these companies to get you. hooked because if you think about this, by the way, what's the bottom line for. even Microsoft Outlook, forget like Tik. Tok and like all of that. Just leave. that aside for a second. Like the boring. stuff that runs the world, email for. those of us adults, right? What do you. think the bottom line is when you have a. company that has an annual contract with. another company that installs things. like Slack, things like just.

communication software? How do you make. sure that you reup that contract? Do you. show engagement? At the end of the year, you go, "Look, look at these engagement. numbers. Everyone is using, everyone's. constantly talking to each other 24/7. So, you can't do what you do without. us." So, that means the way that these. softwares and products are designed is. for them to be as engaging as humanly. possible. So, the default setting that. your phone comes with, the default. setting of every single app that you. download on that phone of yours, the. default setting of email, of any.

messaging software that all of our teams. use, the default setting is there to. maximize engagement, not to make your. company more productive. These companies. don't give a about your. productivity. That's not their problem. That's your problem. You need to figure. that part out. I'm a big advocate for. thinking about this in the sense of. default settings because it is in fact. I have a sweet tooth. So think of a. chocolate company, >> a candy company. What's the what is.

their bottom line? What do they want out. of me as a customer? >> And when you say bottom line, for those. that don't know, you mean profit. incentive, right? >> Yes. Yeah. Okay. >> Their goal is to sell as much of their. product as humanly possible. Is it their. business or responsibility to think. about whether or not I get diabetes or. if I'm having trouble with. overconumption? Not really. Well, the. same is true for email. The same is true. for any kind of platform. Its engagement. is the currency. So everything from the.

little the sound that your email client. makes when you send an email off, that's. been tested tested of what will feel the. best and sound the best to the human. Everything from the vibrate. functionality that you feel in your. phone has been highly optimized by. people like me to keep you obsessed with. the thing and addicted to the thing to. increase your engagement on the. platform. And so my big pushes in the in.

the goal of again productivity, the first thing we ought to really focus. in on is getting rid of the drains of. our productivity first. It sounds. obvious, but it's totally not obvious. that a productivity tools incentive. actually isn't your own productivity. It. is your engagement with the tool. >> Yeah, >> because you're totally right. When these. companies report to investors or. whatever, they have to show how much. engagement I how much you used it. And. it's almost like antithetical to the. mission of the tool for them to be.

removing your distraction in that regard. because engagement and distraction are. like opposites in the way that you. describe them. Like Slack is um. distracting me under the premise that. it's making me better at my work. >> Absolutely. which is why I sort of scoff. when I when I hear some of these. products and tools call themselves. productivity software because I'm like. well and I'm not suggesting right we. don't need to communicate with each. other I have team members in different.

time zones like we obviously need we've. never as a human species been able to. communicate and collaborate at this. scale technology is amazing I'm not a. leite what I advocate for is. people telling themselves this mantra of. I deserve better than the default. I am better than the default settings. The default settings are not there to. help you. >> So, what do you suggest then for someone. like me who you know I probably spend 10. hours a day on my phone according to my. screen time. What shall I do?

>> Okay, my my number one suggestion is. especially because you yourself brought. up the fear around missing important. things, >> right? Again, I called, you know, the. fires, the urgency, so on and so forth. Is I would recommend setting up what I. call VIP notifications in both your. phone, your inbox, every single. different communication software. And. what that means is you come up with your. VIP list. This is your partner, your. your if you have a boss, your boss's. boss, if you're client facing or. customerf facing, your top 15 clients, like these are your VIPs. And it's if.

for example, these numbers call me or. text me, it pushes through the filter. There are no defenses. I need to get. that immediately. I have three keywords, by the way, set up in my email inbox. My. first name, I'm a little lucky. I have a. more rare first name. So, if somebody. says Sahar, I'm like, "Okay, you've got. what is it?" You know, cuz otherwise, what's our reality, Stephen? Like, we. are CCd on email chains with like seven. other people sometimes and they're just. talking to each other. I do not need to. get a ping every single time Stacy and.

Steven are chatting with each other. about something. They're solving their. own problem. Like, I need to focus on. leading. I don't need to be get like. you're all figuring this out. And I'm. not saying I do kind of want to be CCed. sometimes. I need to be kept a breast of. what's going on, but I don't need to be. interrupted. My train of thought doesn't. need to be interrupted when I'm finally. sitting down to focus. >> A lot of people don't want to be rude, and there's so much social pressure to. respond quickly, >> to say yes, to take the meeting, to do. the thing, go to the whatever. >> So, I the question I was going to ask.

you is who is like the most focused. person you've ever met in this regard? And then my my sort of sub question was. like I bet they're I bet they're often. seen as rude. >> Yeah. >> Or like I bet they have to develop a. muscle um against people pleasing. >> Indeed. Yeah. I honestly probably the. the first person that came to my mind is. um honestly my husband. Yeah. Who's a. who's a faculty? He's here. >> No, he's in there, isn't he? >> Um besides me, >> you'll get a right to reply. Like besides to me, he mostly he's a.

like his default his default is no. I. have a sense everyone has a default. I'm. a default yes person, you know, and he's. a default no person. We run a company. together, which by the way, two people. at the helm that's default no, default. yes, I think makes a really good balance. because we debate it out. >> Everything becomes a discussion. I'm. like, "Oh, this what a great. opportunity. We should totally do this.". And he's like, "This is not the. objective. Stay on the object." I'm. like, "Well, but this shiny new object. and this thing and blah blah blah." And. it's like, oh, impact and all of the. things. >> He protects his resources and his most.

precious resource is his time. His time. and his attention. I'll I'll I'll. channel him. He'll say, "Yeah, maybe. it's disappointing to some that I did. not make it to that meeting." But I. think people will find over time that my. unique contribution to that meeting. would have not been relevant. They were. just fine without me. And the fact that. I did not attend that meeting allowed me. to sit down and finish this and do this. thing and come up with this idea which. is helping the entire ecosystem of work.

>> I sat and interviewed Kevin Olirri and. he said something to me which has stayed. with me ever since. But I know it's also. stayed with my listeners because they. say it back to me out in the world. Um. he talked about his experience working. with Steve Jobs and also Elon Musk and. he talked about this concept of signal. versus noise. >> Yes. And he said Steve Jobs had the most. remarkable ability to focus on the. signal versus the noise. He described it. as 80/20. And for the for anyone that. doesn't understand the analogy, signal. is like the most important thing I. should be doing today. Noise is.

everything else. He says the thing about. Steve Jobs is it was always like. why are we talking about this? This is. the most important thing. And then I I. saw Johnny Ies being interviewed and. Johnny Ives was describing Steve Jobs. and Johnny Ives said the most remarkable. thing about Steve is his focus. And he. said focus isn't doing one thing instead. of another. Focus is waking up in the. morning and thinking something is a. brilliant idea and with every bone in. your body you know that that thing is.

brilliant and you want to do it and you. say no to it anyway. He said, "Steve was. the most remarkably focused person I. have ever met." And he would often go up. to Johnny Ives and ask him what he had. said no to. And Johnny said he would. have these sacrificial things that he. wasn't remotely interested in anyway. And Steve would know that and push him. even harder. Like what what have you. said no to that with every bone in your. body you knew was a brilliant idea, but. you said no to it because we are focused. on this. And the last part of that story. is Kevin Olri said that Elon is the only.

person he's ever encountered that is. more focused than Steve Jobs. Wow. >> And I I I really this is part of the. reason why I'm so excited to speak to. you because I want to be more like that. I want to get to 8020. >> So, >> you're well on your way cuz you've. already given me your phone. >> I know that's anxious about. >> I'm not even kidding though. This is the. noise. >> You can either increase. the signal or you can decrease the. noise. What do you think is easier? >> Decreasing the noise.

>> for sure. As a first step. as a first. step. Of course, >> I think that's actually what they do. And again, I don't know a ton about. this, but I actually think that's what. they did when they discovered the the. radio was the job was to reduce the. noise. >> Mhm. >> They never mention increasing the signal. >> cuz it's rather difficult. It's it's. possible. >> It's there. >> It's there. >> It's literally get the out of your. life. We we now think that multitasking. or context switching is a skill and we. think you mentioned a term earlier on.

which I've never heard. Mono. >> monotasking. >> You said the brain is a monotasker. >> Yeah, it's a monotasking machine. >> What did prove that to me? How this. thing here? This is a monotasking. machine. >> It is. Yes, it is. So, this entire. system is designed for survival. Human beings are I always kind of joke. and say we're not quite competitive in. the animal kingdom. Like I mean I work out but I'm I can't. fight off like an actual predator, you. know? Like my nails aren't teeth my. teeth aren't that sharp. It's we are.

kind of puny. But where we're not puny is this. So it. is in my ability to strategize, think, and focus where I can outsmart. predators. That's how human beings have. survived. That's how we're running the. world. Do you know about a third of the. human brain like I and I say the the. cortical real estate so real estate. across this human cortex is dedicated. just to looking and listening.

>> That's a lot just easedropping loud. sounds that might come into view. So. we're designed to be hypervigilant to. anything that might come in our. environment which I mean think of an. open office. Think of a typical setup. where people are working like the. example I gave of that executive. literally sitting in a glass box with. all the people that he works with. walking by constantly and all this noise. and he's trying to find the signal and. he's trying to tap into the signal and.

I'm like no I want our species to keep. advancing and I want us to advance as. fast as humanly possible and I know we. can but all the brilliance of humanity. is currently being sucked away by these. distractions. There seems to be, as I was thinking. about that, there seems to be two ways. that distractions find us. The first is. the notification comes to us. >> or the thing pings or whatever. The. Apple Watch vibrates. The other is we're. in the middle of work and we stumble. across something which is a little bit. difficult or tricky or a little bit. uncomfortable and we go seeking out the.

distraction. So, you know, we might be in the middle. of an essay, it's a little bit tricky. and so we could reach for our WhatsApp. and we're chatting in a group chat about. the weekend. >> Yeah. Is that a true sort of accurate. reflection of how humans behave? >> Yes, >> it is. Because I was just thinking about. my own behavior sometimes. Yes. Ping. I. don't have notifications on. Well, I. don't have most notifications on, but I. still find myself reaching for the phone. every minute. >> So, the human brain is a it's a. problem-solving machine. It's important. to keep this in mind. So, I'll stack a.

few again biological laws here. That. brings us to understanding why we all. all have a tendency towards what I would. consider to be avoidance of discomfort. Now discomfort, let's list out some. uncomfortable feelings. Overwhelm, stress, anxiety, confusion. What are some other ones? You feeling a. little depressed, little FOMO, lonely. What are some other ones?

>> I think you you nailed it. >> Those are all the ones. Yeah. >> Um, anger, you know, frustration. Your. brain also, by the way, is your friend. It doesn't, if you don't want to feel. them, your brain is you and doesn't want. to feel them either. Your brain is. designed to help you and problem solve. So, it goes, "Well, we're overwhelmed. this. How do I avoid this?" So, it's going to try to solve the problem. Now, there's two ways to solve what. you're overwhelmed about, right? You. could either deal with it head-on, which. sounds like a heck of a lot of work, or.

you could avoid it. know emotional. avoidance. Now, what's the fastest and easiest way. in the modern world we can avoid what's. going on inside of us? >> Tik Tok, Shake Shack, pornography. Uh, >> so we we immediately go numb. And I. think normalizing that is the first step. because what our phones have done for us. is created an exit, a very fast cheap. exit to reality.

>> I know you would have heard about those. studies where they put people in a room. and give them the opportunity to. electrocute themselves. So essentially. the study is people get electrocuted. before the study starts and then they're. put in a room on their own with a button. that would electrocute them again. They. describe before the study starts on. average being willing to pay to not be. electrocuted again. But once they're put. alone with this electrocution button, >> many people continue to shock themselves. over and over again. And in the study, men shock themselves more than women.

One particular guy in the study, electrocuted himself hundreds of times. um when left alone and being asked to. sit and do nothing. And the conclusion. from the study is that we'd rather. electrocute ourselves than sit alone in. silence these days. And um do you know. what? It sounds crazy, but in a way. that's kind of what we're doing with our. phones. In a way, when my phone dies, and I'm just going to be honest, cuz I. don't think there's any point in me. trying to pretend I'm something. I'm not. When my phone dies, I it's like.

a mild feeling of anxiety when my phone. dies. And I'm most certainly addicted to. my phone. I spend an unbelievable amount. of hours with that thing. I probably. pick it up 200 times a day just to. check. So, we're going to remove the. phone when we're doing deep work. We're. going to turn off notifications as it. relates to the phone. Anything else? >> Yes. Okay. There's plenty. I liken what. the tech big tech essentially what. technology has done to really honestly.

hijack the brain and make it addicted. I find that it is eerily similar to how. the food industry got us addicted to. sugar and processed food. My humble. belief is that it's the exact same. three-part framework and it's the. playbook was copied nearly identically. We have obviously a fundamental need to. eat. Now, if you look at the food. industry, how might we hijack biology.

and the brain? Yeah, I know. E evil. fingers work. How might we hijack the. brain to actually get it addicted to. sugar and to processed food if we know. there's a fundamental need there? Well, how you do that is you increase the. stimulation of the food. And you do that. by actually just injecting sugar. wherever you can. I'm not sure how it is. in the UK, but if you in here in the. United States, look on the back label of. of pretty much any loaf of bread that.

you want to buy and there's sugar in it. I can bake bread. You don't need sugar. necessarily to make a loaf of bread, >> right? It doesn't have to be a sweet. loaf, but lo and behold, there it is. So, we're injecting all of this sugar in. increasing the stimulation of the food, right? And that's how you can get. somebody hooked. Now, why would humans. be already sort of naturally addicted to. sugar? Because food used to be scarce. It's hard to find. So, we're naturally. going to be inclined to these things. that are indicators of jackpots. Salt,

fat, sugar. Yummy, yummy, yummy. It's. how you make food really delicious, right? And we're all naturally inclined. to to desire those things and covet. those things and be really, really. stimulated by them. So, what you do is. you inject those yummy, yummy things. So, you're increasing the stimulation of. your food. Oh, it's so amazing. Then, you decrease the friction. Let's make it. easier for people to get this stuff. You. make everything adorably packaged and. portioned out so that and you make it. easy and easy fast like fast food fast. easily accessible and available all of. the time. So you're decreasing the. friction. You no longer need to make.

yourself something. You don't need to. make a meal. We have fast food. It's. right there right available. You open up. a bar good to go. Then you decrease the. satiation. You decrease the satiation by. removing the parts of food that make. food satiating. Because remember this is. a fundamental need. I I'm hungry. I want. to eat something. >> Satiating being full. >> Being full. Yes. My body needs things. that would make me full. And what makes. us full in food? >> Protein. >> Fiber. Candy.

Nope. There's no protein. There's no. fiber. So, the food industry has figured. this out. Technology has done the same thing. They've done the exact same thing. They. followed the exact same playbook. They. increase the stimulation by increasing. this color saturation of the icons and. the light that's emitted from the. screen. So that your actual technology. looks more visually stimulating. And. that visual stimulation, as we were. talking about before, huge part of your. cortex is your visual cortex, your. occipital lobe. So it's super super.

stimulated by all of that color. saturation. So it's like, oh my gosh, think of like a casino. You've never. been to a casino and you're like, oh, they've went with neutrals. >> Yeah. >> You know what I mean? It's all the. colors all the time, all the lights, it's all the things. So, it's. stimulating and you keep looking at it. The other way that we've increased the. stimulation with technology is short. form reels, short form content, super super fast Tik. Tok style, so that it's uber stimulating. and you can't look away. And by the way, there's an entire field intermittent.

variable rewards. You get these jackpots. once in a while, right? What's. fascinating about the algorithm, by the. way, and your algorithm, I'm sure, is. exactly the same. Your algorithm knows. you really, really well, and it knows. what content you're going to love that. day. So, it's got all this like saved up. content for you. So, it's got like, ooh, Steven's going to love this. He's really. going to love this because he even liked. this thing like a week ago. Like. something like this. Okay. Okay. And. it's got this treasure trove of stuff.

that it's holding for you. You get on to. one of these apps and you start. scrolling. It's not going to show you. the stuff it knows you're going to love. Not in the beginning. That's bad. business, don't you think? You just came. into the store. You have all the energy. in the world. You obviously have nothing. better to do. So, you've now sat down. and in the beginning I can show you meh. content. I can just show you like in the. beginning because I have your attention. and it knows how long it has your. attention. Every person is a little bit. different. So, it knows how long it can.

just serve you up medium to like low. entertaining content and interesting. content before you say to yourself, "I'm. done. This is boring. I'm going to get. off and I'm going to do go do something. else." It knows the moment you're about. to do that and right before you do that. hits you with a jackpot. >> Diario clip. >> like that. Bang. >> Bang. Exactly. It's like there he is. It's that Bartlett again and I can't. look away. And. >> people are watching this real right now. and they're thinking this was the one I. was just about to bounce.

>> This is the one. You love this, right? You love this. >> But there's science behind this. I. remember being 16 years old in. psychology class and reading about the. pigeons and variable rewards. >> Totally. >> What is this? What is this variable. rewards uh phenomenon? >> Oh my gosh, it's so humans are. fascinating. I find humans to be the. coolest thing in the known universe. It's We're so ridiculous. Human beings, believe it or not, do not. love consistent reward.

We become more addicted when it's in. fact intermittent and somewhat variable. >> So, when we don't know when it's coming, but we know it's coming. >> Yeah, this is I have a whole theory on. like people who are in toxic. relationships. Like, seriously, think. about like love bombing. This is the. science of love bombing. Like, I'm an. I'm an I'm like. ghosting you and then bam, I hit you. with a bunch of love. And people like, oh my. and then they become addicted to. these toxic relationships. Similar concept. So the algorithm works. exactly the same way. If it showed you.

every single thing that you wanted to. see, by the way, only diary of a CEO. clips. That's it. The whole feed for. like 5 hours straight. It's just like. bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. Believe it or. not, you'd be less likely to get. addicted. We're addicted to like the, you know, just mess with me. I don't. know when the good stuff's coming. I. don't know when it's coming. This is how. casinos work. This is how slot machines. work. you lose. D you dude, you know. that slot machines are programmed. It's. a computer program. It's all math. They. want you to lose a bunch of money, be in.

the red, and then have you make up a. $150, and then be like, "Oh, I'm back. in." And it this is the This is the. game. This is the human game. So, the. algorithm works exactly the same. That's. how they increase the stimulation. So, then they also decreased the friction. just like food. Here you have the. infinite scroll. We've literally removed. the back stops. Do you remember the. early days of like YouTube and. Instagram? You had to like you only, by. the way, saw the things that you. followed that you subscribed to. By the.

way, subscribe. But like this is the. point is is is actually the subscription. model allows you to curate your feed a. little bit more and say this is what I. want to see, not the rest of this. Right? >> When people don't and so the algorithm. will just be like this, this, how about. this, how about this other thing, how. about this other thing. It's just. getting you to shop around. But most. importantly, it's we've removed the. backs stop. Now we have something called. the infinite scroll. And the infinite. scroll is like going to a buffet and. just opening your mouth and there's just. an assembly line of food and candy just.

going straight in. Right? There's no. back stop. It's an it just keeps going. >> It used to be pagionation. It used to be. like page one, page two, page three. >> Totally. >> in the early internet. Now it's just. infinite. >> There's no end. You're not going to. reach the end of Tik Tok. It's not going. to happen. I don't know if you remember. this or if people remember this. There. was an end. I remember when Instagram. first came out, you would literally like. run out of things to see and then just. be like, "That's it. That's all for. today. Come back tomorrow for maybe. maybe your friend posted another picture. of their sandwich." Like you'd reach the. end. There's no longer an end. So that's.

decreasing the friction. There's no. friction anymore. It's just the. neverending scroll. >> Mhm. >> Then they also decrease the satiation. This is extremely important, Stephen. Going back to that fundamental need for. human connection. We have a fundamental need like the same. need we have for food to be connected to. one another to be social to feel a sense. of belonging. What is social media has. done is it's created the illusion of. social connection because we have the.

data to support the longer you spend on. these apps and on these platforms the. lonier you are. So you're lonely. I'm. disconnected. I'm at home. I have a. sense of loneliness and FOMO and I want. I'm seeking connection. I want to go. meet this need. I have this fundamental. need for connection and belonging, and I. want to then go meet this need. So, what. do I do? Well, the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to do that is grab my. phone. You get on and you think that. you're meeting that need. It's like. candy.

So, you have, let's say you're hungry. for dinner. Your body is craving things. that actually make you full, nutrients. that you need. But the thing is, if I. gave you a bag of Skittles or something, then you might be thinking, well, Sahara, it's calories. Aren't calories? It's food, right? It tastes good. It's. calories. And it's going to meet that. need. I'm hungry. It's going to meet. that need. Well, darling, what's going. to happen when you eat candy when you're. hungry? You've I'm sure you've done this. before. At least I've done it. If you. say no, then you're the healthiest. human, and I must study you. >> Of course, I have. >> But I I want to eat more Skittles later.

>> Okay, there we go. >> That's the problem. If I have these junk. calories, then in 6 hours time, I'm I'm. back looking for more junk calories. >> Exactly. Shoots up, then everything. crashes down. Another law of biology. What goes up must come down. And so what. does this look like when we're. scrolling? I seek a sense of belonging. I'm seeking also by the way stimulation. We have a fundamental need for novelty. and learning which by the way I think is. it podcasts do this be like think about. the difference between some 30-se. secondond reel that someone has made and.

then they inject like two quick facts. versus sitting down and actually sinking. into a multi-our show. >> You're attracted to both. One is a lot harder to sit through than. the other. But what I'm telling you is. this is what's actually going to satiate. you. You have, we all do, have a natural. fundamental need for learning and. novelty because again, survival because. this new piece of information might be a. huge unlock for me to thrive even more.

in this world. This is the hijack of. social media and short form content is. you think you're getting that, but I. promise you, just like with the. Skittles, you end up getting off and you. don't remember anything that you, by the. way, you just watched. Test it. >> Seriously, I'm not kidding. >> Do the quick short form for a while and. in the moment you're like, "Oh my gosh, I just learned a fun fact about this and. this is you think you're learning. It's. an illusion." What I believe we're, by. the way, Stephen, up for right now is I.

think the world is waking up to this now. and this is going to be the new big. reverse UNO as I call it. They use. neuroscience to get us hooked. >> and I think we can use reverse. neuroscience to reverse this entire. thing. If they increase the stimulation, as we talked about before, you reduce. it. And the ways in which you reduce the. stimulation, one, if you keep your phone in gray. So, literally going into something like. grayscale makes the phone less. neurologically stimulating. So, it's a.

heck of a lot easier for you to actually. get off your phone. You do this in. settings. And again, this is, by the. way, a beautiful example of the default. settings are not here to help you. The. default settings are here to help them. make money off of your attention and. your time. So, you are better than the. default settings, Stephen. I am better. than the default settings. Everyone. who's listening, you are better than the. default settings. push back against the. default settings and put your phone in. gray. When you do that, your phone is. immediately it looks dead to you. It's. way easier to not go from app to app to.

app to app and then do that thing where. we mindlessly scroll, especially late at. night when our willpower is low and then. you're like, I'm just going to check for. a second, just for a second. And then. you find yourself just gorging. essentially on this and binging on. content. Have they ever tested that. engagement with devices when they are in. grayscale or in a different color. saturation? Or is it just generally what. the neuroscience points to? >> I've tested it. So in my lab, we took a. large sample of healthy working. professionals and all I did was turn.

their phones into gray and ask them to. stay in gray for 3 weeks. That's it. >> Mhm. >> And we saw on average people spent 1. hour less on their phones every single. day. >> Wow. >> That's 7 hours a week. The way I always. talk about that's the difference between. you getting that workout in. >> Yeah, that's crazy. >> Do you know what I mean? >> That's crazy. >> When you go around and you talk to these. busy people, they're like, "Oh, yeah. I'm trying to do this. I want to read. that book. I want to listen to your. podcast even, but I just don't have the. time." Well, darling, just making this. one tiny change will give you an hour. back a day. That's 7 hours a week. Think.

about what you could do with that time. Next is choosing long form over short. form. >> Thank you. >> Did you hear that? She's from Berkeley. That's an amazing university. She's a. doctor. >> long. No, it's true though. >> She also said subscribe if you didn't if. you didn't get. >> No, but honestly, it's true. It's really. It's not like made up. Short form. content has even been shown, by the way, in some cases to increase attention. span. >> Completely agree. >> Of course you do. Yeah. Yeah. It's like,

no one's paying me to say this. But no, long form content like a film, like a. good film, has been shown to increase. empathy in young people. Just think. about that. So, like again, the message. is not, "Oh my god, technology is bad. All screen time is evil, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." No, no, no, no, no. I'm a huge fan of your content diet. Like, make sure like whatever. If you. want to sit down and watch a movie, sit. down and watch a movie. Like, get into. your pajamas, make a bowl of popcorn, like romanticize it, turn the lights. down, you'll put Netflix on,

everyone's also got the phone out, so. they're doing two things at once. This. has just become like we've accepted this. apparently that you no longer have. people's undivided attention. So the way. in which we're making content now is. assuming that someone is looking at. something else as well. This is so sad. And please tell me how. if this is how bad our attention spans. have gotten, how are first of all kids. supposed to learn in school? You told me. that you have this interest in becoming.

superhuman to experiencing the full. potential of your own mind. How are you. supposed to do that if you can't even. pay attention to a movie. anymore? Do. >> you know what's funny? I was watching um. I was watching a complicated old movie. >> last night. >> Complicated. >> It's one of those ones where if you miss. a word the the next 3 hours is you're. lost. >> Oh yeah. >> Because they're going to they've named a. a planet. and if you don't understand what is. And I was think I was I was having.

to pay so much attention to this movie. And I remember this from my childhood. I. used to just sit there on the sofa with. my family and just look at the screen. But it was like I was resisting an urge. now in 2026 when watching this very. complicated old movie. Um as if there's. now a mismatch between the media that. I'm used to versus the way that I and. many of us live our lives. And it's just. it was just super front of mind cuz I. just remember trying to like the the. effort I was putting in to to stay. focused on this movie last night and.

trying to make sure I understood every. single word. But I never I never did. that when I was younger. You would just. sit there and watch. >> You just sit there and watch. >> There might be some people at some level. thinking, "Yeah, but I love short form. >> So I love it. >> I love candy, too. >> If we have too much short form, we. already know this. You're more. depressed. You're more anxious. your. attention span is shot. Like, why would. you want that? You literally feel. shittier and your brain operates at a. lower level cognitively speaking. If you.

over consume this stuff, and it's your. choice, by the way. I'm not here to tell. people how to live their lives. But I. want people to wake up to realize one, the fundamental needs are there. So, my. goal is for you to meet those needs. And. the way that you do that to increase the. satiation is you actually go learn. something new. You actually spend time. IRL in real life with real human beings. Hold people, touch people, talk to. people, have dinner parties, have. conversations, hang out with your. friends, your family, actually meet that.

fundamental need for social connection. And if you do that, you will notice that. you're full and you're you will. magically actually like short form less. you are far less likely to lose yourself. scrolling until 2:00 in the morning and. then feeling like the next day. because you didn't get enough sleep. >> I think that feeling like the next. day is a good way to navigate life, which I heard Jack Dorsey back in the a. couple years ago when he was still at. Twitter talk about one of them new. metrics was reducing regrettable. minutes.

>> And this idea of like regrettable. minutes I think is cuz with Skittles. honestly they would feel good in the. moment but I'd probably regret if I had. a massive bag of Skittles. um probably. regret it in a couple of hours, probably. the next day because you, you know, send. you on a bit of a roller coaster. And. with platforms like Tik Tok, when you. look at the data, they found that 60% of. active Tik Tok users experience negative. welfare and would rather live in a world. where it didn't exist, where the. platform didn't exist. It ranks as. number one in terms of um regret in this.

regard um because people report that. their time was distorted. they open the. app and lost an hour or 2 hours and they. walk away from it without clarity like. what they gained. So um this idea of. regret like okay Skittles taste nice it. was it was cool to scroll for a second. but how did I feel thereafter is. something that I um I guess in the food. analogy is pertinent. >> Yeah I'm telling you we're waking up. >> People are waking up. >> Young people are waking up. That's the.

that's the coolest thing. I saw the. graphs from the Financial Times which. showed time spent online had started to. plateau since 2022 for young people. first. >> Yeah, thank God. I mean, but listen, it's still a push. >> Yeah. >> So, the stats are less than half of. graduating high school seniors have ever. been on a date compared to what was I. believe something like 80 or 90%. In in I would say our generation. >> Mhm. That's crazy. That's crazy. I think.

something like what is it a third of UK. nightclubs are also now like engagement. in the nightclub scene has gone down to. a third. Dinner parties. There's this. recent piece in the Atlantic that just. came out about the sort of the death of. dinner parties. So people are spending. increasingly more time alone. and not with others. So they're hungry. Unfortunately, these platforms are. taking advantage of that perpetual. hunger and keeping us locked into the. cycle of distraction. And now, by the.

way, it's socially appropriate for us to. always hold our phones. It's always in. our pocket. So, one of the best things. that you can do is actually to it is to. introduce portion control back into how. you are consuming content. Portion. control. So, you increase the friction. You do things like that phone parking. lot bit like put your phone out of. sight, out of mind. Turn the. notifications off. Turning the. notifications off would be decreasing. the stimulation. But increasing the.

friction is listen, if I'm telling you. this stuff is addictive and you want to. do less of it. Don't have it right. there. >> It's like it's like it's like sitting. down with a someone who is freshly. trying to become sober as an alcoholic. and just be like, "You don't mind if I. just put this beer down in front of you, do I? Or do you? just as you're working. and going about your day. >> I think the Skittles analogy is pretty. good. Like I wouldn't walk around with. Skittles in my pocket because if I did, I'd eat them every time I was stressed. or. >> Yeah. >> bored. >> Totally. >> So,

>> this process is what I advocate. I think. every young person in the entire world. should learn this and know this. I speak. mostly to older adults, so parents, and. they're tired of being bad cop at home. They're constantly like, "Oh, get off. your phone. Get off this. Get off that.". So, I think this ought to be taught in. schools. >> This has had probably the single biggest. impact on my office. Of all the products. that I've tried that have given me. productivity gains or cognitive boosts,

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mean all of my team have to do deep. work. They have to edit code could be. write and we're doing a lot more writing. than ever before in part because of AI. So we're we're trying to push against. that. But in a world that is so. distracted where my phone is there. What. advice would you give me for doing deep. work predictably well? What we call in. our lab and in our work deep work is a. focus sprint. Now a focus sprint is a. method of working. It's a method of. working that according to research our. research has allowed people to do up to.

two times as much as they would. otherwise do while also reducing the. number of mistakes. And you feel better. because again you're working in line. with your brain and your body. You don't. have that sense of friction where it's. like oh my gosh I'm exhausted you know. after doing one of these sprints right? It feels good to do that kind of deep. work. So focus sprint is a method. First. step, >> how many steps are there in a focus. sprint? >> Five. >> There are five steps. >> There are five steps. >> So this these five steps will make me. 200% more productive. >> Mhm. First, set aside time in your.

calendar in advance to block the time. off. You benefit from essentially. anticipatory networks in the brain and. body. So if you know for example that. you have uh a speech that you need to. give a presentation. >> what's the feeling that you get before. like some big event or a big speech that. you need to give like some butterflies. you get this like increase in cortisol. and adrenaline right I mean think about. how how interest amazing the the our. biology is I am sitting at rest. >> and even though I am sitting at rest.

because I am anticipating that I'm about. to get up and maybe do some public. speaking my brain is going to help me by. giving me an extra boost in cortisol and. adrenaline and all these amazing things. so that I'm a little bit more focused. and high energy and I can deal with the. thing because it's a bit of a stressor. So, you know, especially if someone has. a fear of public speaking, they might be. sitting there and they're like, >> you know, heart rate goes up, their. hands start to get clammy. Those are all. the markers of physiological arousal as. we know them to be. So, we know that if.

you can, you know, a focus sprint is. coming, you're going to get a little. boost. Mhm. >> So, I'm a huge fan of set it up, know. it's coming. Like, I'm going to sit down. and I'm going to do a 1 hour focus. sprint. Okay. >> The other beautiful thing about this. from a team perspective is if your team. can see your calendar, they can all see. that you're sitting down to do a focus. sprint cuz your calendar's public. So, it also deals a little bit with that. social guilt people feel and that. feeling that they need to say, I need to. be responsive to all the things. >> And now that you've done that, you go to. step two, which is you got to identify.

what the heck you're going to do and you. need to define it. You need to break it. down in clear, simple terms. So instead. of saying, "I'm going to sit down and. I'm going to work on X," unless you're. going to finish X, that's not going to. feel good. This has everything to do. with dopamine. By the way, dopamine is. the brain's primary, consider it a. motivation molecule. So, it's going to. get us not only excited and motivated to. do a task, but it's also going to reward. us a bit if we really do more than we. even expected, especially, which brings.

me to a few pieces of advice. one, you've got your massive to-do list. Yes. You're going to shop from that to-do. list and you're going to say, "In this. focus sprint, I'm going to take out this. one piece, this one." So, you have your. massive to-do list and you're like, "That's the one thing I'm going to focus. on, right? Just this one." And then. you're going to take that one and then. you're going to break it down into. small, manageable pieces. You're going. to break it down and you're going to. time block every piece. You're going to. say, instead of saying, "Oh, I'm going. to work on this deck. I'm not going to. finish it, but I'm going to work on it.". You're going to say, "I'm going to work. on slide three for about I think it'll.

take me about seven minutes to finish. that slide. Then I actually need to. probably send a follow-up email to John. for the data that I need for slide 17. Then I'm going to work on this table. that I want to put here." And then blah. blah blah. So, I want to see in granular. detail what the execution list is. And. this, by the way, increases your. dopamine for getting this work done. If. you're not going to finish it, how is. that motivating? >> So, the goal becomes an output, not the. input. 100%. >> Okay, that's an interesting one because. I think a lot of us do create a goal.

which is an input like I'm going to do. I'm going to work on this thing or I'm. going to I'm going to think about this. or I'm going to strategize this. Not. like the output which is the thing. that's going to be measurable and come. out of this work. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That's that's really interesting. >> It's the outcome with a breakdown. Like. I want to see an execution list. >> That feels like a lot of work. >> I'm not kidding. Give me a minute and a. half. >> Here's the problem. People start. something and I'm sure you've. experienced this too. Then the moment.

they get done with let's say step 1B and. they don't immediately know what step 1. C is or what step two is and it's not. clearly outlined and it's not just hey. execution mode like a machine they go. what's the next step what should I do. next. people that's when you lose people. that's when you lose your focus. >> in in deciding what the next step is. this is a sprint I don't want you to. figure out how to play the game when. you're in the middle of the game we need. to outline what the heck the game is and.

then you're going to go into it be like, "Let's go sprint." And we go, go, go, go, go. So, you've blocked the time. You've communicated to to the people on. your team. They know what's happening. You're benefiting from all those amazing. hormones and those anticipatory. networks. Then, >> step two, >> step two, you set the goal. >> And the goal is an output and it's. specific and it's broken down into sub. goals. >> Yes. And by the way, you've got in here. >> a diary. So, if you've got a daily planner of. sorts, something like this, I want you.

to treat your to-do list, your massive. task list, and I know you've got one, we. all have one, like your refrigerator. Do you have urgent items on your to-do. list? Like, what is the thing? Did you. defrost chicken? Because that's a. ticking time bomb that needs to get. used. So, every single day, you wake up. in the morning and you're about to. choose what are my I call these, by the. way, in our lab MITs. your most. important tasks. Your MITs or your most. important tasks are the one two maximum.

three things on any given day that you. would want to accomplish if you want. your day to be a success. >> So we've got a little chart there I. think of the MITs, right? >> Yeah. Every single day I want you to in. a way open up the refrigerator, open up. the pantry, open up the freezer, and I. want you to ask yourself first first how. much time do I have available today? >> 3 hours. That's a good day. >> That's a good day. Like uninterrupted. focus time. >> Not uninterrupted, but I can make it.

uninterrupted. >> Beautiful. We'll take it. >> 3 hours is beautiful. >> Yeah. >> Now, you open up the fridge, the pantry, and the freezer, and you ask yourself. with this 3 hours, what are my MITs? What are the most important tasks that. if I were to do them today would make my. day a success? Another phrasing for this. that we've done research on is what will. your future self thank you for? >> It's an interesting question cuz we. often reach for the easiest things and. there's the thing that we're not quite.

ready to do yet cuz we don't have the. information and you know maybe it's a. little bit out of our era of competence. We don't like finance. We don't like. invest. We don't like operations. So we. avoid that and we kind of you know it's. like opening the fridge as you say and. we reach for the thing that we know we. love like and we do that. >> those are lit. like an email a docu sign right um I. always say like toilet paper from Amazon. or something like whatever like the. little tiny things that will take 5.

minutes a couple minutes but it makes me. feel like I can cross something off and. it's like I've done the thing I've done. the thing I've done the thing these are. the easy things to. that make me feel a sense of progress. We consider these, by the way, these lit. fast dopamine. And my humble opinion is most of the the. things that push our businesses forward, the things that push our lives forward. are typically here to the right. They're. the slow dopamine bits. Now, I'm not.

suggesting, by the way, that you don't. do lit. My suggestion is you identify. one, two, or a maximum of three MITs. that are actually going to push you. towards your goals, your long-term. goals, the things that actually matter. And I assure you, the lit will fill in. all of the other nooks and crannies for. your day. Like if you've got an. uninterrupted hour, that's when you. attack one of these MITs. And then if. you've got 15 minutes between some. meetings and calls, you shove the lit in. there. >> So MITs are most important goals. LITs.

are least important goals. >> Mhm. >> Okay. So, going back to the focus. sprint, when we said step two is set the. goal, what you would ideally do, and. this is, by the way, you could do one of. two different kinds of sprints. You. could do a sprint on one MIT, and what. you would do is you take that MIT, and. then you would actually break it down. into small, manageable chunks. Okay. Okay. In order for me to do that big MIT. today, in this 1 hour of time, I'm going. to spend 20 minutes on this, 15 minutes. on this, 5 minutes on this, three. minutes on this. D. So, you make an. execution list. Or you could do an LIT.

sprint. You could do like 15 lits. >> Are we assuming that people will know. what the MIT is? >> Like, >> yeah, >> you I look at this list of 69 things on. my to-do list. How do I Is there a way. for me to know which one is the most. important? >> If you don't know, then I would that. would urge us to take an even further. step back and sort of do. a bit of awareness training on what your. long-term goals are. Yeah. >> Where do you want to be both personally. and professionally? Let's say in 5.

years. >> What is your Everest? >> What is your Everest? If you have a sense of what your Everest. is, you then ought to have a sense of. what your next step is. If Everest is. that way, you're not going to go this. way. That way is also quite dangerous. And I will say this, this is um. I'm a huge fan of talking about death. because I find that it puts everything. into perspective. My humble opinion is. that the best framing is to really think. about yourself on your deathbed. Is if. you take yourself onto your deathbed and.

you think to yourself and truly by the. way vis you can visualize this right now. even with me. Let's say you're the. tender age of 110 with all of the modern. technology and longevity medicine that's. going to come out. What looking back on. your life do you need to have. experienced, accomplished, done in order for you to leave with a. smile on your face. and to just say.

it's been real. I did good. Had an amazing life. I did. what I wanted to do here and I'm ready. to go. See what's next. What's your answer to that? >> I want to have loved. >> deeply. >> I want to and this is my own and I don't. know where this comes from. We probably. need a therapist um on with us to to.

unpack this one. But I'm a firm believer. in servant leadership. I think I've been. put on the planet to to help in whatever. ways that I can. So my job is to serve. and to make this world a better place in. the with what I do and what I can bring. to the table. And that's my obsession. And it's come at a great cost of not. doing a lot of other things and not. having a lot of what maybe other people. see as fun or um personal sacrifices. But it seems to be uh the the flavor of.

my mind is that I'm squarely focused on. building better systems for humanity. It was very um it was very clarifying. when you asked me to do that as well. because when I closed my eyes and. started thinking about my deathbed, I. was in a room and what I noticed was. first and foremost who was there. >> That was like the first thing and then. my second thing was what do they think. of me? So there was like so I imagined my.

romantic interest being here and then I. imagined all of my kids being around the. bed and I imagined what they thought of. their dying father. >> and there was really like three things. that I wanted them to think. I wanted. them to to think that I had achieved. things so that they can too and to be. evidence of that. Um the second one was. around that I'd made the world a better. place. So they had like they were clear. on the philanthropic impact that that. their father had had. >> Yeah. So that was really clarifying. because it it basically gave me three. clear priorities which are like family. and having a big family. Um being a good.

role model to them and then them having. evidence that me being here was net. positive to planet you know. So that but. it was really clarifying cuz there's. really three things that matter. >> So that gives you your direction. >> Yeah it does. >> So if you wake up every single morning. now with that level of clarity. >> I can go the Skittles are not going to. bring me closer. the Skittles. >> Yeah. the Skittles. Like what is. that? Like in what way? Like who on. their deathbed is sitting around and. going, "Damn, I wished I watched more.

Netflix." Netflix, please don't come. after me. Who's sitting around going, "Damn, I wish I spent more time. scrolling and less time with my kids or. less time on my mission, on my obsessive. mission." Like, nobody. Um, Bronny Wear. is a hospice nurse. and she sat with many many dying. individuals. What an honor to do such a. thing. Um, something that I hope to do. um in my lifetime as is to sort of be,

you know, exercise my death doula skills. and to to be with folks who are we're. passing on and um what an honor it is to. sit with them because oh boy, you get. some clarity. So she asked these people, "What are your regrets?". And she would keep a log of the answers. they gave. And the number one regret across all of. the people that she asked this question.

to who were dying was, "I wish I lived a. life more true to myself, cared less about what others thought.". So for you, Stephen, it sounds like all. that matters to you at the end of the. day is what your family thought of your. accomplishments and how you spent your. time is how you think. And it's, by the. way, it's not even them because you'll. never really know what the other person. thinks. We come into this world alone. and we do die alone no matter how much. we love each other. This is uh one of the paradoxes I find.

of love and human connection is that. from that first cry that a newborn. screams out when they're born, they're. crying out for connection. They're. scared and they're saying, "Wait, I feel. disconnection in this moment. I was. connected before and now I feel. disconnected." And they're seeking. connection. I think humans, we are. seeking this connection and this. belonging. for the rest of our lives. But the. paradox of it, the mind of it if I. may, is we'll never get it.

We die alone. Like I will never. understand. your mind. This is the fascinating thing. about consciousness. You have your. consciousness. I have mine. And even. moment to moment, my consciousness now. in this moment is different than it was. the last moment. I've changed. Things continue to change and evolve. The same moment never repeats itself, which means the same self never repeats. itself. Every second that's going by, I. am in fact Sahar v 100 million da da da.

and then the next moment it's another. and the next moment is another. Like we. continue to be dynamic, but that's its. own little rabbit hole. >> But on that own little rabbit hole, there's there's moments. >> I completely agree and accept what. you're saying. There are these moments. when you just feel like your. consciousness has. >> is doing the tango with someone else's. It is intertwined and you can we as I. say everyone can think of those moments. when you look at someone and you go I. don't know what it is but at some deep. level me and this person are we're our.

consciousness is dancing. >> Yeah. >> It's connected and that's a very real. thing. I experience it a lot on this. podcast cuz you know I sit here with. three hours talk about their childhood. their trauma whatever. >> you feel a deep deep sense of connection. to this other human being. Sometimes. it's almost it can be a spiritual. experience in a weird but enjoyable way. >> I think you hit the nail on the head. there. I think it's spiritual. I think. it's energetic. >> Mhm. >> I think when we feel that experience of. what by the way feels like flow, I don't.

know if it feels that way to you, >> but you feel in flow with the other like. if you and I can connect in that plane. And I felt it, by the way, even when we. were just doing that that bit about the. deathbed and talking about consciousness. and I felt you your eyes just all of a. sudden zoomed in and I even was I wasn't. really focused on you necessarily in. that moment. There was something about. me expressing. I think what is necessary for two humans. to have that flow together,

that energetic dance together is a loss. of the sense of self. I think the self. must die in those moments and it does. when we completely lose ourselves in. this we. I think when we are stuck in our own. self and identity then I am aware of. another. I am aware of your perception. of me. >> and you will be aware of my perception. of you. >> But I think those moments where it feels.

just magic and we've completely blended. that I'm not no longer thinking about. you as an other and I as I. and you have become. this energetic we. >> But again that bit more spiritual. No, but it it perfectly dovetales into work. because we can all think of flow states. where we dropped into work and 3 hours. passed. We had no idea that time was. passing. We were so in and it it to some.

degree feels the same as those moments. like when I'm really into my work. I. just time does stop and I'm so glad it. did. I didn't even notice time was a. thing. And that's actually the same as. being a podcaster. When you have really. great conversations, you walk out and. you go, "What? 4 hours? What the. happened?" Like, >> yeah. >> So, >> okay. So, you've set your goal, you have. your execution list, you've taken your. MIT, you've broken it down, you've made. it as easy and simple as like a list of. lit. Another way, by the way, to. describe this is. >> an MIT, slow dopamine is like a rat.

going through a maze, and there's a big. hunk of cheese at the end of the maze, but that's a lot of work. That is a. long, arduous journey to get to that. hunk of cheese. Whereas fast dopamine. and lits are like little bits of cheese. that you're like, can you just eat that. crumb? And it's like, sure, that seems. easy enough. Eat right there. Right? So. the goal is to make your MITs as easy as. your a list of lit. And how you do that. is you take that big hunk of cheese and. you sprinkle it throughout the maze. >> So you make your big Everest seem like a.

series of one step to the next step to. the next step. Loud Sue said it best. A. journey of a thousand miles begins with. a single step. Uh my husband just um. climbed uh Mount Kilimanjaro. >> Oh wow. Um yeah, amazing things that I. would do not choose to do. >> You said no to that. >> I said no to that. That's exactly there. is I do know how to say no. It's. typically with really difficult physical. feats. Um I have my own but I prefer the. mental ones. But uh but yeah, he went he.

climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. And when he. came back, he said that the the mantra. of these amazing um cherpas that take. you up and down that come with you, by. the way, they're superhuman. Like. literally running up and down this. mountain, even with all of the the. elevation as if it's nothing. It's like. drinking water them. It's amazing. And. and carrying a bunch of with him. It's amazing. Magic. Magic. But he came. back and he said what really stuck with. him and it's become a thing that we say. to each other sometimes. And all of.

these amazing guides would keep telling. everybody, "Hey, pol. slowly, slowly, pol. >> slowly, slowly. It's the only way up to. the top. If all you focus on is the. Everest, you will not get there if you. don't focus on taking the step every. day. A little closer, a little closer, a. little closer." You speak to Olympic. athletes, they do the exact same thing. That's what I was thinking of. I was.

thinking of seeing who was Sir David. Brzford who's the guy quoted in the. first chapter of Atomic Habits turning. the British cycling team around marginal. gains. >> Beautiful. >> He's a good friend of mine on and off. camera. And he everyone knows about the. marginal gains idea. Focus on the. smallest things. He said to me on air, he said um he banned his team from. thinking about the podium, which is very. much what you're saying as well. And he. really got them focused on like today's. work. So this phrase emerged that I say. to my team, I've said it three times. this week, pedals over podiums. And what. that means is like really focus on the.

pedals today because the he said that. when he had Christopher Hoy, you know, again that he took the British cycling. team from being down and out to the. greatest of all time. When Christopher. Hoy was thinking about. >> the the the world record or the podium, whatever, his time would get worse. And. when he got Christopher Hoy, if he got. him to sort of drop into a meditative. state and ban him thinking about that, not only would his time get better. around the drrome, but Christopher Hoy. would get off the bike and and say he. couldn't remember the cycle. >> Yeah. >> Which I I think is this flow state. And. >> it is.

>> other remarkable thing that he said to. me um off camera was he went Stephen. when we started focusing on the small. things and broke goals down into really. really small goals. People stopped. leaving at 5:00 p.m. and started staying. till 1:00 a.m. in the morning because we. felt like we were going somewhere. And. this this is what I referred to as from. that conversation as the progress. principle which is like the feeling of. progress. >> Yes. And there's this incredible um. Harvard Business Review study where they. asked people what their favorite day in. work was and it was when they had a. small feeling of progress.

>> So it really resonated with me when you. said turn the like MITs into these lit. cuz the reason I like the lit is cuz I. get the progress principle. >> Yes. >> I get the like oh I'm making I feel like. I am going somewhere. >> Yes. >> The MITs it's hard to get that feeling. unless you do what you just said which. is breaking them down. >> Yeah. >> Which brings us to step three. beautifully. The best way to increase. the signal or to get to X, whatever it. may be, is to remove obstacles as. opposed to adding.

>> Remove the obstacles. Turn down. noise. And you turn that into noise. by cutting distractions. So you now you've got your Everest. Ple ple. You know the next step. >> Ple ple. I love that phrase. >> Slowly, slowly the next step. And it's. the same thing. It's the pedal, not the. podium. >> Mhm. >> Cut out the distractions. Hygiene, hygiene, hygiene. So, phone out of. sight, out of mind, notifications off. If you're in a noisy environment or if. you benefit from listening to music, then you put on headphones. >> What is your opinion on listening to.

music to do work and putting headphones. on? What does the science say? >> People are different, of course. So, some people seem to be distracted by it. and they prefer silence. And if you. don't if you cannot be in a silent. environment, you may benefit from noise. cancelling, right? I don't recommend. listening to noise cancelling or having. noise cancelling headphones on for more. than 3 four hours a day because it you. start to become overstimulated by the. real sounds of the world around you. because it changes your baseline of what. the world ought to sound like and your. brain starts to adjust and it starts to.

think wow this is the world you can hear. a pin drop no darling the the world is. much noisier than that so then the. moment you don't have the noise. cancelling on you become you're like oh. my and you start you start getting. anxious and you start becoming. overstimulated and also your auditory. system starts to actually adapt to the. noise cancelling. So noise cancelling I. would say use it for focus sprints only. So if you told me you got 3 hours a day. that hits your 3 hours. So you can use. the noise cancelling only for when maybe. you want to do focus sprints if you. benefit from the silence. If you're. going to listen to music, ideally music.

with no lyrics at all or lyrics in a. language that you don't understand. You. can also benefit from having one. particular playlist that you invest in. that your brain will over time if you. invest in it slowly associate with. focus. >> So you can have like a focus mode. playlist. You can have an email sprint. you know playlist and then very very. different from what you might listen to. to wind down after work or to sleep. You. should have different playlist for.

different brain states. Okay. So you've. set yourself up in that way for success. Then set a timer. Set a timer. Human. beings and fun fact, most mammals uh are. highly influenced by what are called. markers of progress. Which means if we. see time ticking by, we will just work. faster. >> Do you mean is it time ticking down or. time ticking up? So is it going from 60. minutes down or is it going from 0 to.

60? >> We're keenly interested in any sense of. progress. So progress bars. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um having said that where I find. from a productivity standpoint you will. get a lot of interesting benefit is like. just to hustle and to stay focused is. seeing the time ticking down. Okay. >> Using a very childlike example of. cleanup songs. Little kids are highly. distractable creatures. Now, if you ask. them to, they've like thrown about all. of their toys, let's say, in a. classroom, and you ask them to put their.

toys away, like put all the toys in the. in the bins and da da da and clean up, they're going to by the third thing they. pick up, but guess of luck, right? They're they're off. They're looking at. something else and they they're. distracted and playing. Here comes the science of cleanup songs. You teach all these kids, and this is. true, by the way, across the world. When. when they're little, teachers will teach. them to have a cleanup song in class. Now there is a clear beginning and a. clear end to what they're trying to do. and it keeps them focused. It keeps them.

on task and they know the song is going. to end. And because the time is ticking. by and the song is going to end, they. all of a sudden start getting very goal. oriented and focused and they start. putting the toys away, especially near. the end of the song. >> They're Parkinson's law. >> Parkinson's law states that work will. expand to fit the time that you give it. So, if you give yourself an hour to get. the damn deck done, it'll probably take. an hour. If you give yourself five, it'll take five. Yeah. So, time. yourself. You'll, by the way, time.

yourself with everything. You want to. You need to clean your house. You have. some errands to run. Time yourself. You. will just work faster. >> This idea got stuck in my head about 5. years ago, so I'd like to stick it in. some other people's heads. >> Okay. >> I read this thing and it said, "The. center point of your influence on this. planet is the allocation of your time.". And I really tried to like interrogate. that. I was like, "Is that really it? is. like the game of my life really first. and foremost how I allocate my time of. course then it's like what I you know. how well I show up or the things I. allocate it to but the essence here.

everything I described on my death death. deathbed having great relationships with. my fiance having great relationships. with my family achievement um the fact. the age that I get to the deathbed my. health all of it really is you know. downstream from the allocation of my. time what do I put my time on going to. the gym um or do I put it on something. else? And I just think that's a really. important point cuz when we talk about. saving time and treating time in such a. precious way, one of the rebuttals is, "Oh, this is stressful. This is a this.

is a lot. It feels like a lot of. pressure to like set a timer. >> But, you know, time really is the. currency for me. I just think I think it. is for all of us. And. I think as well. what I hear from your work is it's not. about there being a good and and bad way. to live one's life. It's just about. being intentional. >> with the time. >> Yeah. >> Think about how unintentional the. average day is these days cuz you're.

just pulled around like a plastic bag in. the wind by lits. Anyway, sorry. think you were very. close, dangerously close to quitting. Katy Perry there first. Oh, >> really? >> I think so, isn't it? It's like I'm a. plastic bag floating in the wind. >> That's how it can feel in the modern. world. >> It is true. No, it's true, though. >> And all of this, by the way, is in. pursuit of just. giving people more of their own time. back. By the way, the way in which we're.

working with all of these distractions. around us, one, according to the. progress principle, makes people feel. like Like, right, they're not. happy. They're not happy. People want to. get good, high quality work done. People. want to make an impact. They want those. things because you're hiring amazing. people. And from when we were all. little, we were told, "Good job. You got. an like we love that progress. We want. to get the gold star." So, if we've. trained an entire generation of human. beings to want to get the gold star and. now you're surrounded by all these. people and you're like, "Hey, by the. way, I know you have this massive to-do.

list, but you're not going to get. anything done. Instead, you just have to. like answer all these messages and go to. all these meetings and calls and then. feel like at the end of the day cuz. your to-do list is still there and you. didn't make progress on anything.". Doesn't feel good. So, people don't feel. good about it. And then all that work is. still left and then they end up working. evenings and weekends to catch up. And. that takes time away from your family. And then your deathbed self is like this. is terrible. So we're the timer will. help you condense the damn work so you. gify it. You make use of the dopamine. You make use of all those amazing.

hormones that get you all excited to get. the work done so that you can actually. >> take a break and do other things. >> Oh okay. So on this take a break. Yeah. At the very start you were talking about. innovation and creativity and I Rick. Rubin was sat here a couple of weeks ago. and I've done a lot of research around. Steve Jobs to figure out how he was able. to like see the future. >> because I look back at his decision-m. and it was always so unexpected and at. the time like really contrarian. There's. a great video of him sort of stood at a.

developer conference and the developer. stands up and basically berates him and. says like why are you doing this again? You're like removing this particular. software that every developer needs. This was Steve Jobs like removed I think. it was flash was it flash from our. devices so that we could stream video. better removed the the stylus from. phones the keyboard and he could and he. was right in hindsight but my question. is like how did he see the future so. clearly Rick Rubin and him seemed to. share a practice which is boredom.

so you know as productivity people were. always like work work but then I I study. these great these visionaries and I go. oh they had like a boredom practice. where they just like stood away from the. picture. Um, and so when you said brain. break, I was thinking, uh, hm, maybe is. this what you're talking about or is it. something else? >> This is tactical. >> Okay, >> brain break is just defined as a short. period of time where you're not. processing information. And this brings. me to really attacking how most humans.

seem to be taking breaks these days. People will take a break from work and. they'll be like, I was just like doing. all these things and I'm going to take a. break. And what is the most common way to take. a break? >> Take a talk or something, some other. distraction, >> some other thing. By the way, there was. a 2024 Nature paper that just came out. that actually measured everybody's. fatigue levels, okay, before they. started working. Then they would have. them work. So essentially, let's imagine. like do a focus sprint. So you're. focused and doing all this work and then.

they measure their fatigue levels after. they're working. And then they're like, "Okay, now we're going to pause now that. you've worked and you're going to take a. break." They put them into four. different groups. One of those groups. was no break at all. So you just keep. going. >> And then you measured fatigue levels. again. And lo and behold, of course, no. break is not great, right? You're not. going to really rebound from being. fatigued. But the other options were Tik. Tok style scrolling, looking at nature, or just staring ahead. of yourself. It turns out the best kind. of break is in fact, no surprise there,

being exposed to nature. Humans come. from nature, have a sense we might have. a affinity for it. >> Even if it feels like sometimes we. don't, we're city folk. There is a. visceral calm that comes when humans. spend time in nature. So that's the best. kind of break. But shortly thereafter, it's just doing nothing at all. And the. worst break was tick tock style. scrolling. You were just consuming more. information. That's not a brain break. Your brain is not in fact taking a break.

at all. Do you weightlift? >> Sometimes. Yeah, >> sometimes. Okay. So, if you're lifting a. weight here, I'm going to pick up this. this like block for a second. Let's say. this is heavy and I'm like picking up. this weight. Okay. >> And I'm doing this and my muscles are. working very hard. And then what do we. do after we've we've done like a set of. weightlifting? >> Rest. >> You rest. What would you say if in. between instead of actually resting, I. start lifting like low-grade weights? I'm still This is not a rest. So that's. what scrolling is. And it's not even. just scrolling, by the way. It's do and.

I don't want people thinking like, "Oh, I was reading the news." You're reading. That's not resting this muscle. You're. still using this thing. Reading, writing, arithmetic. Like the point is. to rest this thing. >> How? >> Do nothing at all. >> I almost don't know how to do nothing. I'm like, "What does that look like? Everything I thought of was a thing.". >> Yeah. >> It's hard in the beginning. But I will. say this. I have an idea for you. >> Okay. And that is to do something. um that is cognitively challenging. enough such that you can't think of all.

of your other worries and things. This. is my barometer for a good like a really. high quality break. >> My DJing. What about my I DJ? I'm. learning to DJ. >> Are you really? >> That's why the all the decks are out. there. There's like four decks out. there. >> I didn't notice. >> I've been learning for four years. So. it's you know my break. >> Awesome skill. Awesome skill. And it's. you're learning so it's immersive. I'm. totally focused because the song's about. to end and I have to mix it and it's the. most locked in I am all day other than. this. >> Yeah. >> So, even for like a simple brain break.

though, my humble recommendation to get. yourself to not like scroll, check the. news, get on LinkedIn, like whatever. else it may be, >> do something with your hands. So, I'm a. big I'm a firm believer in systems. We. just need systems. I don't like. willpower like, "Oh, I should really do. that. I ought to do that." Like it's. really difficult if you create systems. for and what I mean by that is don't. have grabandgo snacks anymore. Force. yourself to make things like. >> Yeah. Exactly. And it doesn't have to be. cooking. Like again, you're in the. middle of the workday. My point is.

instead of like one of those tiny little. cheeses that come prepackaged, like get. the big hunk and take it out of the. ziplo and like cut it and like oh, I've. cut myself a piece of cheese. Instead of. having the pods and you know like for. example like boil some water, put the. kettle on like then do the thing like. romantic like use bo do put yourself in. a system where you are you're forced to. use both of your hands in order to get. yourself hydrated, caffeinated or get. yourself a snack so that you can't.

scroll and do the thing at the same. time. So that's it. Like an easy way to. take a brain break is just rehydrate, have another snack. Ideally, honestly, go expose yourself to some natural. light, get some fresh air, move, go on a. little walk. But I know those are easier. said than done often. So, at the very. least, I re I assume people are maybe. even at least 50% as hungry as I am. So, I love lots of snacks. Is there is there. anything else on this point of you know. when you're thinking about how to have. your great innovative most creative. ideas. >> if I wanted to solve a very com complex.

problem come up with my best ideas. >> is there anything else you'd recommend. >> the science behind innovation and. creative insight. >> is the process of truly understanding. and thinking about the problem. So. loading up all of the data related to. the problem that you're trying to solve, it should be top of mind, meaning those. neural networks that are related to. yeah, the neural networks related to.

thinking about the problem. Okay? Whatever problem it is that you're. trying to solve, you want those. activated and top of mind. Now, this is. uh one of my favorite quotes attributed, I think, to Albert Einstein. Who knows. if he actually said it, though. Um so. many quotes are attributed to him. Nobody was who who's factchecking the. right? But uh no problem can be. solved by the same level of. consciousness or the same mindset that. created it. So when you're sitting there. and you're thinking about a problem, I.

kind of think about this like it's like. a traffic gridlock like this, right? You're sitting there and you're going. well okay this this and this. And it's. like and you don't know and by by that I. mean by gridlock I mean you don't know. the solution immediately. In fact you're. thinking about the problem. There lies. the brain state of the problem defined. as this defined as X brain state is the. brain state where you Steven are. thinking about the problem. Are you is. this the solution state? No. By definition this is the problem.

state. So there you are in a gridlock of. certain neural networks where you're. thinking about the problem. Ah the next. step walk away. Walk away and go do something else. Walk. the damn dog. >> Go do something else. wash the dishes. You're introducing another stimulus. here, right? Shower, new stimulus, new. environment. These neural networks begin. to loosen. New neural networks are. becoming activated. New electrical, they're all electrical neural networks. are getting activated. And all of a. sudden, that might allow one idea to all.

of it. Ideas are like two neural. networks that are crossing paths. And. you go. >> inside the light bulb that we're all. searching for. And then you get that. magic and you go, "Wait a minute. That's. there. It was right in front of me the. whole time. Right under my nose." So you. have those amazing insights typically. when you loosen and you walk away. >> Does this apply to negative thinking? >> Yeah. >> And rumination. >> Negative thinking and rumination. I have. loads and loads of u opinions about.

>> Why did you roll your eyes then? >> I rolled my eyes because. >> people don't like them. >> No, it's not that. It's um I find that. in the modern world, we've gotten. ourselves into a bit of a pickle where. we've made it okay to continue to rehash. and exhaustively talk about and think. about our traumas. Well, when you do that, you're just. deepening the damn neural networks. >> Really? >> Yeah. I mean, think about it. You're. like, if I'm sad about something, I'm.

not saying don't acknowledge your. feelings, but after feel your feelings, but if the goal is, let's say, for. example, you've gotten into yourself. into a rut of rumination about something. >> or worry. Rumination is sort of the same thought. over and over and over again. The only. way out is to break the cycle. You do not make your. feelings and you know the thoughts that. you end up ruminating on go away by.

talking about them over and over and. over again in the exact same way. If you. keep doing that you're just deepening. and deepening that neural network. So. it's even more robust and strong. If you. repeatedly I mean you were mentioned. atomic habits. I mean think about how. habits are formed right that repetition. So if you keep telling yourself, oh this. trauma happened for me, this occurred. and I was a victim and then I was a. victim and then I was this trauma, this. trauma and then that's why I am this way. that I am. I am this way that I am. I am. this way that.

>> some point it might become your identity. >> pretty quickly, huh? So the only way out. is to stop that. You have to redirect. your attention. So my solve for things. like rumination is acknowledge why it's. happening in the first place and then. quite quickly after that redirect your. attention when it's happening. It's sort. of a anytime you you you're in that oh. it's starting again redirect and then. put your attention somewhere else. What's your Everest? What's a different. version of the story? What's the.

narrative that you want to feed? Cuz. again this electrical system is it's. think of yourself as the gardener or the. architect of this thing. You're. designing it. It's a muscle like. anything else. It's like someone sitting. around and going, "Well, I don't love. the fact that my right bicep is slightly. larger than do something about it." You. know, you can atrophy this one a little. bit and and and increase the weight that. you that you that you hold the load on. this one and lo and behold, you'll get a. different outcome. So if you think of.

the mind and the and truly the brain. from a neural perspective as different. neural networks that you're either. deepening, strengthening, and feeding, feeding with your thoughts, your time, your attention, be careful which ones you feed because. whichever one you feed will in fact. become stronger and louder. >> This is something that I've made for. you. I realize that the divers here. audience are strivvers. Whether it's in. business or health, we all have big. goals that we want to accomplish. And.

one of the things I've learned is that. when you aim at the big big big goal, it. can feel incredibly psychologically. uncomfortable because it's kind of like. being stood at the foot of Mount Everest. and looking upwards. The way to. accomplish your goals is by breaking. them down into tiny small steps. And we. call this in our team the 1%. And. actually this philosophy is highly. responsible for much of our success. here. So, what we've done so that you at. home can accomplish any big goal that. you have is we've made these 1% diaries.

and we released these last year and they. all sold out. So, I asked my team over. and over again to bring the diaries. back, but also to introduce some new. colors and to make some minor tweaks to. the diary. So, now we have a better. range for you. So, if you have a big. goal in mind and you need a framework. and a process and some motivation, then. I highly recommend you get one of these. diaries before they all sell out once. again. And you can get yours at the. diary.com. And if you want the link, the link is in. the description below. There should be a.

button just down below here. And if it. says subscribed, you're already. subscribed. If it says subscriber, that. means you're not yet. And if you're not. subscribed, please could you do us a. favor and hit that button? It helps the. show more than you know. And according. to the algorithm, you're someone that. watches our show, but you haven't yet. hit that button. Thank you so much. >> I can see in your productivity toolkit, >> yeah, >> there is a clock. >> Why is there a clock? >> Uh, the clock represents. the power and the science of when,

let me explain. If we said that the MITs. and the LITs that we talked about. before, that represents the what I have. my Everest, I have my MITs. Now, what am. I doing today to move incrementally. closer to meeting my Everest goal? That's the what. What am I doing today. with the 3 hours of uninterrupted focus. time that you said that you had, >> right? What focus sprints are the how.

How am I going to then go attack that. one MIT or that litter of lit? How am I. going to go do it? You're going to do it. in the methodology of a focus sprint if. you want to 2x your time and minimize. the number of mistakes made. That's the. how. The science of chronotypes will. tell you the science of when when should. you go about doing all of these. different things. Human beings do not. share one circadian rhythm. >> What does that mean? >> Well, have you heard of a circadian. rhythm before? They have.

>> okay so we all we have circadian rhythms. animals do as well but we don't share. one as a human species. meaning we don't all go to sleep around. the same time we're not all. creature we are creatures of light but. we don't all share one rhythm of exactly. the ideal time that we would go to sleep. and wake up. >> these different circadian rhythms are in. fact called chronotypes so your. chronoype is your genetic biological. ideal.

time. It's essentially a profile of the. hormones uh and your energy levels. throughout the course of the day. And. there are three. chronotypes. There's AM shifted individuals. These. are essentially this is like the science. behind morning birds. >> Okay. So people that like doing stuff. early. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And it's again it's it's genetic and. it's hormonal. These individuals. naturally their cortisol levels spike. really really early in the morning. And. some people are like the 4:00 in the. morning people. They're the 5:00 in the. morning people, 6:00 in the morning.

people. They are naturally A.M. shifted. Like, it's not their fault necessarily. It's And by the way, how do you know. that you're truly AM shifted? How you. know you're truly AM shifted is if you. go to bed at even if I keep you up at. 2:00 in the morning until 2:00 in the. morning. And let's say I'm controlling. you no longer have young children that. are going to wake you up. You no longer. have any meetings, nothing at all. I've. put you in this um the best hotel in the. world with the most comfortable bed. fully blackout. Not you can't you can. hear a pin drop. There's nothing that.

would otherwise wake you and you can. sleep as long as you want. And I kept. you up until 2:00 in the morning. Oh, don't you worry. That pituitary. gland is very strong. Your body knows. when it's 5:00 in the morning. It. doesn't even need to see light. It. naturally will wake you up. So now. you're sleepd deprived, but you have no. choice. So those people that naturally. wake up at early hours of the day. regardless of when they went to bed the. night before. Those are AM shifted. individuals and it's all about their. cortisol levels first thing in the. morning. That is about, by the way, 25% of the.

human population. It's not the majority. My humble opinion. is the world seems to be oriented around. these people, >> right? Early bird gets the worm. >> Yeah. I mean, everything starts school. started at 9:00 a.m., so you had to be. up at 7:00. >> That's why I part of the reason, many. reasons, but that's part of the reason I. hated school so much. >> Oh, totally. >> I liked staying up really late. same. >> Yeah. >> Then you are likely the minority of the. human population like me. PM shifted. PM. shifted people. Anthropologically, by.

the way, the only reason we imagine why. people like you and me exist because. otherwise, by the way, it's somewhat. dysfunctional. No, >> otherwise. Yeah. It would be strange to. have different sleep schedules and stuff. like that. But. >> like we're not I'm like I'm not a I. can't like see in the dark. Like it's. somewhat dysfunctional that we're awake. all night. But think about it this way. If you and I were in the same tribe. along with my team and your team and. we're all like, "Okay, we're we're a. village now together and everybody went. to bed at 10:00 p.m. and woke up at 6:00.

a.m., what would happen in the middle of. the night when a competing tribe comes. to slaughter all of us?". >> Yeah. The night is like the most. dangerous time, isn't it, for for. anybody? So, you need some people that. are awake and then even in the morning, you need some people that are. >> Mhm. So you do need to stagger in a. tribe, stagger the time in which people. are highly functional, which makes. evolutionary sense. >> You need a 24/7 team. >> You need to make sure someone's always. awake. So you and I belong to a tiny. subset of the human population. According to research from uh uh my lab,

it's we're at about 16% from what we've. gathered around the world. So 16% of the. human population is P.M. shifted, meaning genetically we tend to be able. to stay up quite late and we can sleep. in and our energy levels rise as opposed. to shoot up early in the morning and. then linearly decrease as the day. progresses. AM shifted people usually. are the best. They do their best focus, their best thinking straight away early. in the day and they just seem to lose.

steam as the day progresses. Like. there's no like second wind for them. really. I mean, but like when you take a standardized. test in my lab, the becoming superhum. like let's test your intelligence, your. attention span, memory, all of it. When. would you schedule that test? >> For AM shifted people, they're like, "Are you free at 7, right?" Cuz they. they're the best in the morning. For PM. shifted people like you and I, honestly, the afternoon. >> Yeah. >> Uh in my younger years, oh my gosh, the.

evening. I do my best work like 900 p.m. on. >> It's the my clearest thinking, the most. energized, the most clear-headed, you. know, up until the the wee hours in the. morning. But it's it's not super. functional, but it's it's genetic and. and you can make use of it. Um, PM. shifted people are also have a tendency. to be the most artistic and creative. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Say that again. Look at the camera and. say that again. >> Most artistic and creative. I did not. seem to get those. Whatever. Um then you. have the vast majority of the human.

population and those are people who are. bifphasic. Bifphasic stands for the Latin two. phases or two peaks. And these. individuals wake up a little groggy but. within about 45 minutes to an hour. they're ramped off to the races. They're. feeling great. Bifphasic two phases or. two peaks. So they peak once in the. morning. They come down for the biggest. afternoon dip comparatively to all those. three types. and then they um will then. come back up for a second wind if they. play their cards right.

So those are the three corona types. My. humble opinion is you should know which. one you are because it will dictate the. ideal time you should be doing your. focus sprints when when is the ideal. time. I am a big bag of blood, guts, and. chemicals. I'm not a machine, right? I there are biological laws like. I'm not the same at 8:00 a.m. versus 2. p.m. versus 8:00 p.m. I am a different. version of self with different abilities. and skills and my attention span is not.

a constant. That's another a law that I would love. people to know a bit more and accept. I. should say to know and accept. our cognitive abilities are different. throughout the course of the day which. means when we do certain things does. matter at least in some small part and. I'm not suggesting we can architect our. days because you I mean you and I are. actually prime examples of this as PM. shifted people you know the world.

doesn't give a about us the world. doesn't care like as in the world is. more AM shifted we have to do a great. deal of adjustment. It's not like I can. schedule meetings with people like. brazenly at like, "Hey, what are you. doing at 10:00 tonight?" Right? >> It's so I woke up this morning and did a. 7 a.m. meeting because it was very. important and obviously I'm in LA, so. you know, I'm working to other people's. schedules and I was I don't know. how else to say it. It was I was like, gosh, that's a terrible version of me. that I've just such an important.

meeting. So, I bent my schedule to do. it. But actually because it was. important, I should have pushed it as. late as I possibly could have in. hindsight. >> because I really I look back on that my. performance at that meeting. I go that. was terrible. You know, even with the. podcast, one of the things we set set as. a rule where I never ever do podcasts. before 11:00 a.m. So this is why this. starts at 11:00 a.m. today. And. >> yeah, >> cuz I I tried it and. >> yeah, >> the brain wasn't on. It's important. I. think you know people are looking for. big steps forward in life, but some of. these things that seem to be small and. marginal can have such a profound.

compounding impact over the long term. Yeah. >> What is the most important thing we. haven't talked about that we should have. talked about for the people that are at. home and they're struggling with all the. >> they've got the customer problems we've. described. They're brain fogged. They've. got these priorities. They're distracted. all the time and they feel a sense of. guilt around that distraction. They know. they could be doing more, but they the. noisy external tempting world is. constantly winning. What else. can we give them as a tool? It's about the way the world is going.

I'm at risk of sounding a bit doom and. gloom for a second, but I do hope that. there's a light at the end of this. tunnel that I hope will give people more. agency and will inspire them. because of my job and because of where I. live, I have uh.

access to to sitting and being invited. into meetings and rooms with a lot of. amazing human beings that are creating. the future. >> I mean, there is an email there, isn't. there, that we didn't touch on, but. maybe this is a good time to reference. that. >> You don't like referencing it. Uh it's. it's a bit depressing, >> but I think it's important because you. live in San Francisco. >> and you did make the case that. those big companies are coming to people.

like you to figure out how to hijack. attention. >> Yeah. My area of expertise is how the. brain changes and evolves, how you train. it. An area of this that I know quite well. because it's extremely important in the. pursuit of actual cognitive training is. something that we call strategic. automaticity. Strategic automaticity is just getting. people to do stuff without meaning to do. stuff. So when a habit right this is. also um James Clear's atomic habits.

phenomenal book obviously on on habit. formation um touches on these kinds of. concepts. We want ideally. you have a behavior or a habit happen. without thinking, right? Automatic. Think about something that you do. without a great deal of thought or. deliberation is a beautiful word for. this. No deliberation for me. It's like. brushing my teeth at night. >> I could be passed out. I could literally. fall asleep somewhere on the couch while. I'm doing something and lo and behold, at some point I will stir awake and be. like, "Oh no." And then still before I.

get to bed, I will brush my teeth. Children don't do this naturally. They're they're we're forced into. brushing our teeth at an early age, but. it becomes a habit over time and it. becomes a habit that I do without. deliberation. I don't deliberate whether. I'm going to make my coffee typically in. the morning. It just h it's just quite. automatic. Right? So that is that habit. has achieved strategic automaticity. We. have removed the deliberation out of it. and now it happens quite automatically. Okay, that's the goal for any habit. Again, I have studied addiction. I study.

habit formation and I'm a I do cognitive. training research which means I'm trying. to get people to do stuff automatically. That's my goal. I don't want to have to. send them a text message and ping them. every time I want them to do the thing. Right? People like me have been hired hand. overfoot by tech companies around the. world. And this is historical. This. isn't even a now thing. This was 2010, 11, 12, 13, 14. And I myself have been. attempted to be recruited more times. than I can count to bring everything.

that I know and I've studied and I've. done research on into certain tech. companies that I've been legally told. I'm not allowed to name by name. >> Just like me this little thing here. >> Go ahead. >> An email you received just, you know, to. paraphrase just says, "Hi Saha, we came. across your work on strategic. automaticity at UC Berkeley and we'd. love to connect. We're looking to. increase engagement and make our product. more sticky. Would you be open to a. quick call.

research collaboration opportunity? Lots of people I guess in your field get. these invitations because if they can. retain people on their platforms more. it's billion dollar outcomes. >> Mhm. What I will say is that I first of all I. don't think anyone is inherently evil or. bad. Like this is not it's just. opportunities. These are work. opportunities, right? And the promise, by the way, for scientists like myself. is you can keep doing what you're doing. We love what you're doing. In fact, love.

it. We love what you're do. We just want. you to do it in-house so that we can. also implement a lot of these things. So, mind you, I am allowed to say this. I'm not allowed to name the companies, but I am allowed to say that that. particular email came with an attachment. of what the job was, the description, and of course, the compensation. The. compensation for that particular role. was four times my annual salary doing. public research at that time.

>> It's tempting. >> gamechanging for somebody for their life. for their life trajectory. Right? >> So these were tempting offers. These are. tempting offers modern day. I would say that digital dependence. is going to be the Everest for our. species. And I really mean that. It has the potential.

If leveraged properly. to give us amazing advances in. everything from medicine to economics, it's gamechanging. Technology is. amazing, especially artificial. intelligence. However, comes with a. great number of downsides if used. improperly. Our relationship with technology. is fundamentally critical. for, in my humble opinion, whether or.

not our species continues to thrive on. this planet. >> What's your fear? My fear is actually in. fact something that I have maybe. somewhat disturbingly um heard about. This is real story from real meetings. that I have sat in with leaders in. the AI space. >> Mhm. What we are currently up against is what.

is likely to happen at this point unless. we truly honestly unless we turn the. wheels and try to do something. differently. What we are creating is a. future where there will be a thinking. class. There will be a very small subset of the. human population. that is educated that has the attention. span and the ability to focus such that. they can think critically on their own. They can question things. They can come.

up with ideas. And this small subset of. the human population. in a creepy way, again, I've heard it. called the thinking class. They will run the world and the rest of. the world will not be expected to think. Instead, their job will be to just do as. they're told. And it is far easier to control a.

populace when they are distracted and. not thinking. They're not awake. And this is my fear. And this is in fact. what has what is motivating me on a. daily basis. This is my Everest at this. point is to. illuminate what is. a healthy relationship, an intentional. relationship between minds and machines. such that we don't lose our meaning.

And this is what I'm obsessed with on a. daily basis at the moment is giving. agency back to people and trying to wake. them up and get them to realize that. if we stay this distracted, we will live a life. unintentionally that we don't like. living. You will end up on your deathbed. with more regrets than you can count.

And at a social and global level, we are. going to have. a drastic change from this last century. This last century, by the way, has been. absolutely amazing as it relates to. education for people. We have been educating more human. beings. Think of girls and how much. progress we've made in the pursuit of. equity and equality for women.

How many women are now extremely highly. educated and doing amazing things where. we would not have had that luxury a few. generations ago? One generation ago in. fact. we've made such amazing strides in fact. to expand the thinking class. The. thinking class used to be small and I'm. telling you now that it is shrinking. again. >> because of algorithms and. >> and AI. >> and AI. >> AI is taking a lot of the thinking away. from us and and I I'm using my words.

quite carefully there. It's taking it. away from us because we're also we're. letting it. >> Earlier on, I said we're writing more. than ever. And the reason I said that. was because I'm actively trying to. resist the temptation of allowing AI to. think for me. And I had a conversation. actually yesterday with one of my. colleagues who reports to me. And the. feedback was um. >> I no longer can hear your thinking. I. can't hear your voice, but actually I I. I said to this person in real life, your. reasoning is so much stronger than when. you send me things that are written. And.

that is because that's not you. You're. you're actually better than MIA AI. because you have more context. You have. more real world context. And and um I. think it's a really interesting moment. for people to resist the temptation to. let Chatty or LLM think for them. >> But gosh, it's going to be so bloody. tempting. >> It's tempting. Oh, Steven. It goes back. What's wrong? What's wrong and what's. right at the same time? It's another. paradox. It's another paradox. is those. damn biological laws.

The human brain is wired for shortcuts. >> Mhm. >> Meaning. if there is a shortcut to food and. calories, we're going to take it. >> Yeah. >> We're supposed to because food used to. be scarce. We'd be idiotic not to. remember survival. This whole system is. there for survival. We are designed to. take shortcuts. I will um give some props to Daniel.

Conaman. Danny Conorman uh Go Bears, UC Berkeley. professor. May he rest in peace. Also. the first psychologist, first and only, if I'm not mistaken, psychologist to win. the Nobel Prize in economics. Now Dan Conaman is quite famous for not. only writing the world famous book. thinking fast and slow but as a. researcher my humble opinion. more famous in my world of illuminating.

cognitive biases and these are not. necessar I don't want people to think. like oh no they're bad it's not like a. disease model here these are the. shortcuts we're talking about the human. brain is trying to figure out very very. quickly can I trust you do I like you do. I like what's happening what do I want. to. like what what am I attracted to? What. am I what what am I motivated to. actually go get? It's just trying to. it's trying to decrease the amount of. energy that it takes to make all of the. decisions. Otherwise, this the world is. far too stimulating and full of way too.

much data and information. It would. overwhelm us. So, the brain is designed. to make all of these parses all this. information and it's and it's designed. for shortcuts. Daniel Conorman is famous. I one of my. favorite quotes of his thinking is to. humans as swimming is to cats. They can do it but they would prefer not. to. Okay. Cats can swim. >> Mhm. >> They don't like it.

So thinking is the same way. >> It's against our survival instincts of. energy conservation, relaxing, preserving. You know, especially in a. world you talked about earlier about. where their calories weren't abundant. Like even doing this conversation now. requires a lot of thinking. It's burning. a lot of calories and. >> think we need Skittles. >> Exactly. The more calories I burn, they're like my days are numbered, right? Like from an evolutionary. perspective. So that's an interesting. thing that we don't actually want to. think. H. >> it's important not to have shame around. it. This is also connected by the way to.

the scrolling and our relationship with. our technology. There's no shame if you. find yourself dependent on scrolling. addicted somewhat and you're not happy. with your relationship with technology. It's okay. Please don't feel shame or. guilt around it. It's natural. Congratulations. You have literally. hundreds of experts that have designed. these tools to be as addictive as they. are. Lo and behold, you have a brain. that we understand and your brain became. addicted. So, there's no shame in it. It's just what do we do next? And my. humble opinion is first assess get like.

a a blood test essentially like get get. data on how bad the situation is, where. are the bleeds and where is it worse and. where is it okay and then go implement. some of the tactics that we talked. about. >> One of the the things I am terrible at. is I think I mentioned this earlier is I. I think multitasking is I've always. believed it is a thing. it is a more. productive solution and I consider. myself to be a very proud context. switcher. But then I heard about this. exercise that you do to prove to people. that multitasking is a myth. I have my.

iPad here and it's recording the screen. >> Okay. >> So I can show the audience my iPad. What. is this thought experiment or task that. highlights the myth? >> It's so simple too by the way. So what. you're going to do for me, Stephen, and. draw two lines on that piece of paper. >> And what is this going to prove from a. high level? What we are going to attempt. to do is do using the most. I would say ridiculously oversimplified.

quote unquote task. This is insanely. easy for you. But what we're attempting. to do is get a sense of what we call. your switch cost. >> Okay? >> Your switch cost is the amount of time. and energy that you essentially waste. every single time you switch your. attention from A to B to C. So on and so. forth. Biological law. Another one. There's no free lunch. Every single time. you do something with your biological. being, you pay for it. >> We shall see. >> Okay, let's do this. >> We shall see. Okay, whenever you're. ready, you're going to go ahead and draw.

two lines for me. And I'm going to time. you. So, don't start yet. But what. you're going to write on the top line is. you're going to write, "I'm a great. multitasker." And on the bottom line, cuz you are, right? Wink wink, not. judge. >> I'm a great multitasker. >> Okay? >> And then at the bottom line, you're. going to write the numbers 1 through 20. And you will do this as fast as you. possibly can. and I will time you. Okay? And I will read out the times out loud. All right. Are you ready? >> Yeah. >> Get ready. >> Yeah. >> Get set. >> Go.

From 0 to 20. Uhhuh. Exploitives are natural. >> Okay. >> There you go. Done. >> Done. >> 31 seconds. >> Okay. >> Beautiful. >> I want you to do this one more time.

>> Okay. >> This time the way in which you will. arrive will be a little different. >> Okay. >> You're going to alternate. So, you're. going to start at the top line and. you're going to write the letter I. You're going to drop down to the bottom. Don't start yet. I'm going to time you. Yeah. Move down to the bottom line. Number one, back up to the top line. Letter A down to the bottom line. Number. two, back up to the top line. Letter M. down the bottom line. Number three, so. on and so forth until you finish both. lines. >> Okay, >> I'm going to give you one other option. because if you're thinking, Sahar, this. hand is a NASCAR. Like, I'm going to. lose time going back and forth between. these two lines. Fine. You can do it all. on one line, but you still have to.

alternate. So, it still needs to be I1, you know, 2 A, so on and so forth. So, it needs to like alternate all in one. line. So, it's going to look like a. garbled mess. So, it's a little harder. to track in my opinion, but some people. prefer it. Do. >> you know what? If I get to 31 seconds, just tell me and I'll stop. Okay. >> Cuz it's that you're already. anticipating it's going to be that. painful. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. Get ready. >> Yeah. >> Get set. Go. >> Hey.

I forgot to count. That's weird. Oh my gosh, this is a show. Where was I? Uh there. I think I cheated. I just feel like I've. cheated. >> I'm sorry. We're at 30. How far did you. get? >> I got to number eight. Okay, >> so that was my math isn't great, but.

that is 40%. of the speed as when I just focused. differently 60% slower when I was. multitasking between. >> numbers and letters. >> So on a daily basis, theoretically, I'm. losing potentially 60% of my. productivity theoretically just by. switching between two different types of. tasks at once. >> Yeah. So, you're not only getting less. done, energetically, one is more expensive than the other. Do.

>> you know what? It was It was way less. enjoyable. It was painful. Do you know. the other thing? >> Oh, yeah. >> It really did remind me of the how I've. been working because every time I went. from one line to the other, I went from. the letters to the number, I had to like. remind myself again of where I was with. the numbers. >> Yes. >> Does that make sense? And then when I. went back to the letters, I was like, where are we again with the letters? >> Totally. >> So there was a little bit of a gap there. in me like trying to figure out what.

came after the letter I, for example. It's really fascinating cuz it Yeah. So. illuminating. >> By the way, there's a there's a name for. that concept that you were just you were. feeling it. It's palpable. >> Yeah. >> It's called attentional residue. >> Yeah. >> I know it sounds gross, right? >> Yeah. Attention. Yeah. >> I call it attentional baggage because I. find the visual that that creates. better. Meaning you carry. into the next task all the the. baggage from the previous task unless.

you close out. I I say get cognitive. closure. >> Close out the tab, so to speak, on your. computer and just be like, "All right, this I'm going to do cleanup shop. Get. cognitive closure. Close the box." And. don't carry one bag into, you know, box. or a bag. Don't carry it from one thing. into the next thing. Try to as much as. possible get cognitive closure. When you. multitask one, you're barely onboarding. to the next task. You're carrying. from the last one. It's taking you. longer to actually finish anything.

up to, you know, by the way, over 2. hours a day is the estimated average now. for the average knowledge worker just. bouncing between screens and different. tasks. I think it's absolutely wild. >> So, we have a closing tradition on this. podcast where the last guest leaves a. question for the next guest not knowing. who they're leaving it for. The question. left for you, very good question left. for you. Very good question. I love when. this happens. Is. how can the audience become more lucky?

>> I love this question. >> And I have an answer, which is nice. >> Yes, >> it's nice when that happens. Luck. The way to become more lucky is to prime. the mind, to train it, I would say, to. look for luck, your luck, cuz lucky for. you, I'm assuming, would be is very.

different than my luck and the next. person's luck. >> You have to know what your Everest is. Again, you need to go to that deathbed. Figure out what a good life for you is. Figure out what your intentions are and. your goals. Like what is it that you're. looking for? Cuz if you don't know, then. there's nothing for you to look for. We. have we don't even know what you want to. get lucky at, right? >> Mhm. >> So, one, you have to get crystal clear. on what it is that you want, right? Once. you're crystal clear on what you want,

you need to ask yourself and remind. yourself on a daily basis what that. Everest is. And then you need to it's. it's that you said it beautifully. Is it. pedal versus podium? >> Right? What is the one thing I can do. today that is going to make me. incrementally closer to that long-term. goal? If you prime the mind with what is. your goal, what is your Everest, what is. uh what what your objectives are, what. you're looking for, what you're hoping.

to get lucky about, what you're hoping. to get lucky in, then if it's on your. mind instead of all the that we. fill the mind with, this is turning the. signal up. >> Mhm. We've talked all of this. conversation has been about turning the. noise down and parts we talk about the. signal when we talk about your ultimate. why your Everest your long-term goals. that deathbed self. and then we talk about the MITs which is.

the pedal how can I drive my day what. can I do today that's going to make me. incrementally closer to that long-term. goal right that's the the what so to. speak. in order to get more lucky. The mind. bit spooky, it will look for data and. evidence to support its beliefs. >> Either way, >> either way. So, if you ruminate, if you. stay in that victim mindset, if you stay.

in that, oh, look at my shortcomings. I'm never going to make it, but I'm so. far away from that. The Everest is all. the way up there. Guess what you will. notice? What you will notice are closed. doors because apparently you're a victim. and they're not for you. You will notice. all of your shortcomings and you'll. focus on them. This is a focus machine. As we said, this thing is designed to look for the. evidence and find the evidence that.

confirms its beliefs. It's constantly scanning. So, if you. prime this thing Oh. You'll find your luck cuz your luck is. right there. The opportunities are. there. The world is not full of brick. walls the way that it may seem. Those. brick walls are doors. They have. handles. >> I'm a lucky person. I'm a lucky person. But I'm a lucky person. I'm a lucky. person. I'm a lucky person. >> I feel like that's manifestation. I want.

to push you further. And if people are. into that, I think great positive. thinking. That's all it's all lovely and. beautiful. I mean, what are you trying. to achieve here? What are you trying to achieve is like, do you have a guest that you're trying. to bring on that you that you've not. been able to to to find and you're just. upset? Like, I want you to be wake up. every single day and just like be like, I will find my way to you. You will find. >> Let's get Barack Obama on this podcast. Let's do it. No, no. If you keep saying. it, it will happen. But it's not just.

about saying it. You will be thinking. about like that is one of my goals. you, I promise you, you're going to see. opportunities. You're going to end up. meeting one of his former chiefs of. staff at a random. It's just going to. happen because it's top of mind for you. And your brain is designed to look for. the evidence and the data to support its. beliefs. So, if you truly believe Barack. will be on this podcast, he'll find his way to this chair.

>> No, we know he has to, right? We've. spoken it into the universe. He's got. to. He's got to. >> I mean, I just love your work for so. many reasons. I think sometimes the. complicated can stay complicated until. it finds someone like you who has the. ability to simplify and have the empathy. to understand those that they're. simplifying it for. And I was super. excited to see you just started a. YouTube channel. >> I did. >> And I would highly recommend people go. and subscribe to your YouTube channel. I'll link it below, but it should be if. we collab, you should be able to see the. little icon there. Highly recommend um. you go and subscribe to Dr. our heart.

because, you know, she's continuing to. do great work. She's continuing to learn. and share that knowledge with all of us. And it saves us having to build these. superhuman labs that she's built. Um, we. can just go follow her and um have the, you know, you don't want the algorithm. to be serving up your content. You want. the subscription button. So, go ahead. and follow Dr. Saha over on her channel. as well. Is there anywhere else people. should go to get your work or to. understand more about you or to follow. you? I want to help people one gain control. over their lives and live a life of.

intention of their choosing whatever it. is that they want to do. >> So my humble recommendation is to. gain some data on you to actually assess. your digital dependence. Assess your. attention span. You ever taken a test of. your attention? Like do you know where. it falls? Like like maybe it's not so. bad. Maybe you're off the charts. amazing. we don't need to worry about. it. Right? I'm a firm believer the way. that um and I would love the world to. change in this way and I know and I and.

I and I hope in some small part we can. help make this more of a common thing. that people do. But the same way that we. go to the doctor once a year and we have. this like annual physical usually, you. know, like how am I doing? I get a blood. test. You check all the things. Why is. it that we're not checking our minds? >> We don't do that. We just wait for it to. go to and then we do something. about it. Like we wait for the car to be. on fire and then we're like, "Oh, oops.". No, we should have things that we're. doing along the way. But how do we know.

what to do? The data. If we collect data. and we actually have assessments. available to people. So I'm a extremely. passionate about making scientific. assessments available to the general. public. I think science should be for. people, not profits. >> Where do I find the assessment? >> You go to mmminstitute.org. mm. >> mind machine and meaning. >> institute.org okay I'll link that below. and I'll put it really big on the screen.

here mminstitute.org. free assessments. thank you so much for being here such a. man please keep doing the work that. you're doing you're a you're a star and. sometimes once in a while I meet stars. and you're certainly a star so I'm. excited to watch your career unfold from. here on outwards thank you Dr. Sarah, we're done. >> Thank you. >> Okay, so if you've enjoyed this episode, we're going to do a world first. As I. said at the start of this episode, we're. going to turn this whole conversation. into a live interactive workshop that's. taking place soon with me and Dr. Saha.

If you want to sign up and be part of. that, there's a link on screen now and. there's a link below. Here's what you'll. get from it. When we have these two, three-hour conversations, there's so. much information, but often times you. message me and say, "Stephen, like, I. learned all this stuff, but I don't know. what to do next." It's kind of like we. walk you to the shop and then we leave. you in the shop door. So, with this. workshop that me and Dr. Sahara are. going to put on, we're going to take. everything you learned today and break. it into actionable principles that you. can take into your own life with. physical workbooks and other materials. so that it sticks and also you'll become.

part of the community who are all. working on this challenge and. opportunity together. I hope to see you. there. There is only a certain amount of. people that can join the workshop. because we do have a limit. If it sounds. at all interesting, trust me, this is. the one you want to join. It's going to. be amazing. The link is below and I hope. to see you guys there. YouTube have this new crazy algorithm. where they know exactly what video you. would like to watch next based on AI and. all of your viewing behavior. And the. algorithm says that this video is the. perfect video for you. It's different.

for everybody looking right now. Check. this video out and I bet you you might. love.