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Neuroscientist's Guide To 10X Your Focus & Memory | Dr Sahar Yousef | FO559 Raj Shamani — Transcript

by Raj Shamani · 31,031 words · 4,897 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00If you let people have their phones out,
0:02the IQ of your employees is lower. Cuz
0:05there was a study done when the phone
0:08was visible to you. Scores were
0:10significantly decreased.
0:11>> Like my attention decreased.
0:13>> Yes, Raj. It was also general fluid
0:15intelligence. That means you're dumber.
0:17This is the scary reality of how
0:21attention works in the brain. people who
0:23hold their phone or put their phone out
0:25on the table when they're talking to
0:26people and they first meet you. You seem
0:28less trustworthy, less capable, less
0:30intelligent, all of these different
0:31things. [music]
0:34I'm a cognitive neuroscientist. Study
0:36how we can train the brain to be better.
0:40Every single time you [music] switch
0:41your attention, you pay for it in time
0:43and you pay for it in energy. And if you
0:45don't believe me, we can test it out.
0:47>> Grab a piece of paper. You have some
0:48paper and a pen. Now, on the top line,
0:50[music] I want you to write, "I am a
0:52great multitasker." And then on the
0:54bottom line, I want you to write the
0:56numbers 1 through 20. I want you to go
0:58as fast as you can. Okay? Go.
1:02[music]
1:0417.72. Now, turn this paper around. Draw
1:07two more lines. You're going to do this
1:09one more time, but the way in which you
1:11will arrive will be very different.
1:13>> Okay?
1:14>> You're going to alternate. You're going
1:15to go back and forth until you finish
1:16both lines.
1:17>> Okay?
1:17>> Go.
1:20>> [music]
1:22>> done. So you went from 17.72
1:25to 41.35
1:27more than double.
1:28>> Every single time you switch your
1:29attention, there's a payment, a
1:30biological payment. This is what makes
1:33the people that are ultra successful
1:34different from everybody else. They just
1:36choose [music] differently.
1:38>> A lot of people think that ultra
1:40successful people have better ideas.
1:41>> They have [music] more ideas.
1:43>> So what should I do? How can someone
1:45become a person who gets incredible
1:47ideas all the time?
1:48>> Be bored and do nothing and you get
1:51ideas. You have to let those ideas come
1:54to you by cultivating the space for
1:56them.
1:57>> I'm going to show you a city map.
1:59Explain me how my brain works as if it
2:02was a city.
2:02>> We're here to learn about getting
2:04[music] done and being productive. Yeah.
2:05>> How do I become this person who ends up
2:07achieving all the goals? Yes.
2:10>> Yes. Okay. [music]
2:14I have a small favor to ask you. I need
2:17you to subscribe to our channel. The
2:19more subscribers we have, the better and
2:21bigger guests we can bring and provide
2:24you more value through these
2:25conversations. And the full audio
2:27experience of this show is also
2:29available on Spotify where you can
2:31follow us and listen to the new episodes
2:34as well. We usually think about how food
2:36affects our body, but we rarely think
2:38about how it affects our brain. What you
2:41eat impacts your focus, your energy, and
2:43your ability to think clearly. [snorts]
2:45That's why the ingredients used in your
2:47food matter so much. Urban Platter
2:50understands this, and that's why they
2:52make better for you products that
2:54deliver on both taste and quality, so
2:56you don't have to choose between the
2:58two. Every ingredient is thoughtfully
3:00sourced, giving you cleaner alternatives
3:02for your everyday meals. Because when
3:04you eat clean, your body feels better
3:06and your brain thinks better. To know
3:08more about Urban Platter, check the link
3:10in the description below.
3:15>> If
3:16>> yeah,
3:17>> someone's watching you for the first
3:18time.
3:19>> Yes.
3:19>> They have no clue who you are.
3:21>> Then how would you explain what do you
3:23do and
3:26why they should watch it?
3:27>> So I'm a cognitive neuroscientist and my
3:29research is focused on cognitive
3:32neuroplasticity and also cognitive
3:35training. So I in particular study how
3:40we can train the brain to be better,
3:43better, faster, stronger.
3:45>> Okay?
3:45>> Which is why my lab colloquially is kind
3:47of called the becoming superhuman lab
3:49because that's what I study. I study how
3:50to make superhumans. And I'm obsessed
3:53with this topic. I have been for a very
3:55very long time. When I learned early on
3:58in my career that the brain is capable
3:59of change, that it's dynamic, that we
4:02can we're not born with a certain brain
4:03or it doesn't crystallize, that based on
4:06training, based on what you think, what
4:09you feel, what you do, the habits that
4:11you have, your brain can completely
4:13change and become different. Then my
4:16question became that means that people
4:18can be become smarter. That means that
4:21your ability to focus can increase. That
4:23means your memory can get better. like
4:25you can get better at that just like any
4:26other muscle, right? Like with fitness.
4:28And then of course now a huge part of
4:31what I do is really focused on minds and
4:34machines,
4:36>> okay?
4:36>> And how they interact together. If you
4:38ignore the fact that we are human and by
4:40that, by the way, I mean the biological
4:43laws that dictate how our brains and our
4:46bodies actually work. Like the laws of
4:48physics, right? Like if I like I always
4:50say gravity.
4:51>> Yeah,
4:51>> there it is. Laws of physics. Nobody's
4:54questioning the laws of gravity. Like,
4:55oh, today, never mind. It's not for me.
4:57I don't want to do that. Right? This is
4:59how our universe works. Well, there are
5:02also biological laws that dictate how
5:04our brains work best, how our bodies
5:07work best. And my goal is for people to
5:10learn these biological laws so that they
5:13can work more in line with their biology
5:15instead of against it. Right now I feel
5:18and I say this all of the time that the
5:20way in which we as a society, human
5:23global society are living and working
5:27goes against our biology. It goes
5:30against the laws of biology and we can
5:31feel it. People have brain fog. They're
5:33exhausted. They're burning out. They're
5:36not reaching their goals. Everybody I
5:38always talk to says, "Oh, I'm busy all
5:39of the time. I'm working non-stop. I'm
5:41busy busy busy busy." And it's like, "Do
5:43you actually meet your goals
5:44consistently?" Oh, no.
5:46I'm busy all of the time. I'm like, how
5:47could that be possible? [snorts]
5:49>> But then do you see the difference
5:52between people who are achieving their
5:54goals all the time versus people who are
5:56not?
5:57>> Yes.
5:58>> And is it the all the difference is in
6:00the brain and the biological laws
6:01they're following.
6:02>> The most important word you just said
6:03was following.
6:06We all have very similar brains.
6:08>> The laws are the same. Physics is
6:10physics no matter where you go. The
6:12difference between me and let's say like
6:15an Elon Musk is for the laws of physics
6:18is I'm not sending rockets into space,
6:21>> right?
6:22>> It's about am I learning the laws and am
6:25I leveraging the laws and my big push to
6:28every person in the world is you have to
6:31learn the laws of your brain and your
6:32body so that you can follow them and
6:36leverage them meaning actually get more
6:38done. That's the concept of becoming
6:40superhuman is if you can learn those
6:42laws then you can do amazing things with
6:46this brain and body that other people
6:48often times they ignore those laws.
6:51They're exhausted again they're burned
6:53out. They're working all of the time but
6:56they're working inefficiently.
6:58>> These are the issues you know they say
7:00they have these dreams and they have
7:01these goals but they find it difficult
7:03to actually do those things. But the so
7:06the difference is between the people who
7:08consistently meet their goals is if
7:11they're following the actual laws of
7:14like it's it's like almost like a a
7:16cheat sheet. It's like a blueprint for
7:19how to live well.
7:21>> So you're telling me if I follow my
7:23biological laws
7:25>> Mhm. which is how like let's say if my
7:29brain is supposed to function in a
7:30certain way and I follow those laws
7:33>> then my likelihood of achieving my goals
7:36increases
7:38than normal people like other people do
7:40not follow
7:44>> but also I will say you're like I don't
7:46buy it
7:46>> okay yeah
7:47>> well you have to remember the a lot of
7:49biological laws the laws I'm hopefully
7:52we're going to talk about
7:53>> uh that I'm obsessed with are also laws
7:55around what's the science behind
7:57motivation,
7:59>> what's the science behind goal
8:00achievement,
8:02>> what's the science behind focus, what's
8:04the science behind distraction
8:06management, energy management, you
8:09realize you can have all these amazing
8:12goals in life, but if you mess up on
8:14those things, you're not going to meet
8:16those goals. Imagine like an Olympic
8:18athlete, right? Somebody wants to go to
8:19the Olympics, but they say, "I'm not
8:20focused on my training."
8:22>> Okay? I am not doing a good job managing
8:25my energy. Okay. Um I'm not motivated.
8:29>> Yeah.
8:29>> I'm motivated for 3 weeks and then I
8:31give up.
8:33>> Do you think they're going to go to the
8:34Olympics? No. That means you have to
8:36figure out, you have to hack the science
8:38of motivation. You have to hack the
8:39science of focus. You have to hack the
8:41science of managing your time, your
8:43energy, all of these things in order to
8:45meet any goals, whatever your goals are.
8:47You know, you could have any goals in
8:48the whole world. But yeah, that's these
8:50are what I mean by the laws of biology.
8:53I don't mean like take a blood test
8:55necessarily. I mean learn how does the
8:58brain motivate like what is dopamine
9:01really for example, right? How does it
9:03really work? Because the people that say
9:05like oh I want to whatever I don't know
9:08get fit. I want to raise a certain
9:09amount of money. I want to start a
9:10company. I want to do these things.
9:12That's great. But what's the first step?
9:14And do you lose hope after 3 weeks, 3
9:16months, 3 years?
9:17>> True. with [snorts] we'll come to
9:20biological loss but for
9:23>> for simple average human being okay
9:26super human could mean a billionaire who
9:29looks like he's killing it in life
9:32>> right so you have also trained a lot of
9:35people from lot of these large companies
9:38you've worked with people from Nvidia
9:40Google you teach a lot of people you
9:43research about ultra achievers all of
9:46these things you do right so you have
9:47you've You've dealt with a lot of people
9:50who look like superhumans from the
9:51outside.
9:53What is one fundamental difference
9:56between a brain of, let's say, a
9:58billionaire and a broke person?
9:59>> I've worked with some [gasps]
10:02pretty amazing people that have achieved
10:06amazing things.
10:08>> Truly superhuman things. And I'm always
10:12the most curious about people that
10:14achieve great things that come from
10:15nothing.
10:17If you started at zero and you achieved
10:20something close to 100, that's
10:22interesting. That's worth studying,
10:24right?
10:24>> Yeah, absolutely.
10:26>> And I've been very lucky, you know,
10:28being especially in Silicon, I've had
10:29access to a lot of some of these amazing
10:31people because of the work that I do.
10:33Um, it also helps that the lab is called
10:35Becoming Superhum, and everybody wants
10:36to be superhuman. So, it's it's a it's
10:39it's it's popular for for a few
10:41different reasons, but some of these
10:43amazing people that I've met, I'll tell
10:45you something that is wildly different
10:47from a lot of folks that I see who
10:48struggle. And that is belief.
10:55Belief about how the world works. Belief
10:59about
11:01who it is that they are. These people,
11:04these the the billionaire's brain,
11:07[snorts] they don't think there are
11:10limits.
11:12They really don't. These people don't
11:15think there are any obstacles in their
11:17way.
11:19When something looks like a brick wall
11:21to the average person,
11:24that person sees a door.
11:27They know that they can open and create
11:29doors anywhere. They believe it. Truly,
11:31they believe it. [snorts] And this is
11:34the fascinating thing again going back
11:35to those biological laws. [snorts]
11:39The power of belief is so strong in the
11:43human brain when you believe something.
11:46And these are again the stories that we
11:48tell ourselves. Who am I? How powerful
11:51am I? What am I capable of? It's like
11:53imagine you're a character in a movie.
11:55These people like really I don't know.
11:57Have you heard of the phrase main
11:59character energy?
12:00>> Yeah. [laughter] They have main
12:01character energy for real. Truly. And
12:05but everybody can have main character
12:06energy. You should be the main character
12:08of your life.
12:10>> Everybody should be. And I say that not
12:12just be to be like romantic cuz it's fun
12:15because this is how you can train the
12:17brain. If you convince yourself, I'm
12:20going to make it. This is going to be my
12:23life. This is going to be the door that
12:25I'm going to open. This is going to
12:27happen for me. And I know it's going to
12:28happen because it's possible because
12:30people like me have done. You know it.
12:32It's it's not you don't have the victim
12:34mindset.
12:36You don't have the oh these are these
12:38obstacles in my way that oh I have
12:41nothing blah blah blah. All these other
12:42people they have this help they have
12:44that's going to keep you stuck. So many
12:46amazing examples of people again Olympic
12:49athletes people that have just crushed
12:51it physically that didn't start out fit
12:54at all but they make it happen through
12:56training. I think it's the same thing
12:58with mindset. All you have to do is So,
13:01here's here's my recommendation because
13:02I I do this for a living. This is what I
13:04do. I I help people train their brains.
13:06[snorts] Every single time inside of
13:09your mind, your brain starts telling you
13:12that story.
13:13I'm a victim. I come from nothing. Look
13:17at my background. I'm not going to make
13:18it. You have to tell your brain to shut
13:20up. Zip it. Be like, "Uh-uh. Don't do
13:23that." And then you have I call that by
13:25the way that's called redirection
13:28redirection. It's attentional
13:29redirection in the brain. So if your
13:31attention is somewhere like oh I'm a
13:33victim. Oh I'm the oh it's not going to
13:35work out. Oh what if I fail? Oh
13:39redirect. You say uh I'm not going to
13:41move my attention. I'm moving my
13:42attention. I'm redirecting it back to
13:45what's the story you want.
13:48And you then you repeat it. And you got
13:50to get obsessive about this. Like every
13:52day you repeat the story, who am I?
13:55What's possible? One of my favorite
13:57quotes is anything is possible because
14:00nothing is real. All of this is
14:03man-made. All of this is made up. We can
14:06make anything happen.
14:08But then if someone was never believed
14:11in themselves ever, they've never
14:13thought that they can ever become
14:16better, achieve their goals, have a
14:18dreamy life, become financially free,
14:22billionaire, millionaire, whatever,
14:23etc., etc., right? If someone never
14:25believed, how can someone build a main
14:28character energy?
14:33>> Write the story down.
14:35Take a piece of paper and you don't have
14:38to believe it in the beginning.
14:40Just trust me. Get a piece of paper and
14:43a pen and write out. Even if in the
14:46beginning you have to say this is this
14:49would be believed and this would be
14:51written by a version of me that doesn't
14:54exist
14:55that does believe in themselves and they
14:57are successful and they're amazing.
15:00Write from that person's perspective.
15:02>> What do you write? Like you take a piece
15:03of paper and what do you write?
15:04>> You can write well it depends on the
15:06your goals. It depends on your vision.
15:09So for example I might say I can I can
15:14come up with any scientific question
15:18related to the things that I am obsessed
15:20with and I will find the resources. I
15:24will find the people. I will find the
15:26funding. I will find the doors. I will
15:29make the doors open so that I can figure
15:32out what those answers are because I'm
15:33obsessed with finding out those answers.
15:35And I'm going to keep telling myself
15:36that. And when you do that, by the way,
15:38let me tell you the science of how this
15:40works. What's going to happen if you
15:42write that down, whatever story, but
15:44because it depends on the person, right?
15:45Your story is going to be different than
15:46mine. There's a network in the brain,
15:49okay? It's a neural network,
15:51>> okay?
15:52>> Which is a pattern of electrical
15:53activation. So a neural network is a
15:55collection of different brain areas that
15:58in unison like an orchestra activate
16:00together. So they're they're they're
16:02connected electrically and they activate
16:03together. Okay, we have many different
16:05neural networks in the brain, but an
16:07important one is called the DMN or the
16:11default mode network.
16:13>> Okay,
16:13>> now the DMN is the brain's storyteller.
16:19>> Interesting. M this is the brain's
16:22narrator autobiographical narration who
16:25am I what's my identity what am I what
16:28are the stories and you know when people
16:30talk about trauma when people talk about
16:32bag all this it's stories and I you
16:35collect these stories like in a bag and
16:36you're carrying it around like baggage
16:38so you got to ask yourself which stories
16:41am I still carrying and are they serving
16:44me and when I say serving me like are
16:47they actually helping you achieve your
16:49goals are they making you happier? Are
16:51they making you healthier? Are they
16:53giving you an opportunity to live the
16:55life that you want? Because if they're
16:56not, get rid of that story. Rip that
16:58story up. And you have to write your own
17:00story. Make up a new story. And then
17:02that DMN every single time, every day,
17:05you review the story. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
17:08You're going to get every guest you
17:10want, you know, whatever it may be.
17:11You're going to review the story over
17:13and over and over again. And guess
17:15what's going to happen? that DMN, the
17:17default mode network, the pattern of
17:19electrical activation that it has, it
17:20will influence other brain areas that
17:23are related to your attention.
17:27Now, we're talking about exciting
17:29executive function because that your
17:32beliefs, your stories. You asked me
17:34about the billionaire's brain and I told
17:36you the number one trait they have
17:37that's different is they have crazy
17:40beliefs.
17:42Crazy beliefs. They don't see limits.
17:45anything is possible and anything they
17:48they're capable of anything
17:50and if you believe that that DMN and
17:53those beliefs will impact
17:56different brain areas that are related
17:58to what you see what you pay attention
18:00to and what you notice have you heard of
18:03like priming
18:04>> yeah it's
18:05>> explain me let's say explain everybody
18:07okay what priming is
18:09>> it this is the science behind priming
18:11>> that if you can have information teed up
18:15so that you review that story. That's
18:17why I said like it's not enough just to
18:19write it down one time and put it in
18:20your journal and put it away. No, no,
18:22no, no. You're working on this is
18:23training. You got to hit the gym every
18:25single day. Be like, "Uh-uh. This is
18:27what's going to happen. This is what I'm
18:28going to do. This is my goals. This is
18:29how I'm going to get there. This is the
18:31plan. This is the plan." You keep
18:32writing every day. You keep reviewing
18:33and keep writing. What's going to end up
18:35happening is you're going to notice
18:36opportunities.
18:39The opportunities are everywhere.
18:42The possibilities are all right in front
18:44of us, but people don't see them. You
18:47will only see what the brain is primed
18:50to see. You will see what it is that you
18:54truly your beliefs and the data behind
18:57your beliefs are priming you to attend
19:00to in the world. So when you do that,
19:03all of a sudden so many success stories,
19:05I know you've heard these two. People
19:07will say, "Oh, and then I met this
19:10person randomly." magic right
19:13>> they opened the door I had oh one
19:15conversation it just idea came to me I
19:18then all random things they start
19:21talking about
19:23>> it's it's not that random you can make
19:26you can increase the likelihood the
19:27statistical likelihood of these things
19:29that feel random
19:30>> if you reset your DMN
19:32>> if you reset your DMN that's a beautiful
19:33way to put it re literally design use
19:37your DMN to design your beliefs about
19:40yourself design your DMN so that you can
19:43choose what are the stories I'm telling
19:45myself about myself what's possible and
19:48what I'm going to accomplish and who I
19:49am and that is going to influence your
19:52behavior [snorts]
19:53because the brain is going to it's
19:56designed this way this is what I mean by
19:58biological laws
19:59>> this is everybody's brain yours mine
20:02everybody's our brains are designed
20:05they're designed to look for data that
20:09confirms your beliefs.
20:14>> Yeah,
20:16true. It happens with all the negative
20:19things as well.
20:20>> Bingo. Bingo. Which is why I'm like, if
20:23it's not helping you, get it out of
20:25there. Throw it away. Get it out. Like,
20:28you don't need it. [snorts]
20:29>> Because people are like, "Oh, I'm a
20:30victim. Everybody blah blah blah.
20:32Everybody hates me. I don't get what I
20:34want." And guess what? They always see
20:35they're always complaining, right?
20:37>> Yeah.
20:38this happened, then this other thing
20:40happened. No, no, no. What's happening
20:41is your beliefs because that's how the
20:43brain works. That's a biological law.
20:45The brain is going to find and look for
20:48data to confirm its own beliefs. So,
20:52choose your beliefs, design your
20:53beliefs.
20:54>> Yeah, this this is so fascinating. It
20:56happens with me all the time, right?
20:58>> I I have an irrational belief when it
21:02comes to my work. And even if I'm
21:05sitting on a random
21:08afternoon, I start spotting
21:11opportunities out of thin air and they
21:13end up becoming opportunities worth
21:15millions of dollars and I end up just
21:17getting them. And I'm like this like 5
21:19days ago this was not even the real
21:20thing. And at the same time I always
21:25play a victim card that because of my
21:27life, because of my schedule, because of
21:29work, I'm I never I I'm never able to
21:32sleep properly, you know, I'm not this
21:34guy who'll ever be able to get sleep,
21:35etc., etc. Every little thing just
21:39confirms that belief and I always just
21:42find out new reasons why I can't sleep.
21:45And like just two different aspects,
21:47same person business, work-wise,
21:50opportunities just keep getting them.
21:52Healthwise, I just keep falling,
21:54falling, falling.
21:55>> And I just keep confirming the even if I
21:57have like 10 hours to sleep, I end up
22:00confirming some belief and be like, "Oh,
22:03why didn't I sleep that day?" Because,
22:05you know, this happened and that
22:06happened and just
22:08>> it happens.
22:09>> There's excuses in my head.
22:11>> Yeah.
22:11>> But but I love this. Okay. You said main
22:13character energy. Okay. If someone's
22:17watching this and we have to make this
22:20make main character energy exercise sort
22:23of stuff.
22:24>> Okay.
22:24>> Okay. Okay.
22:25>> So what would you want me to write in
22:27this story? So let's say I today I
22:30decide that from right now
22:32>> I'm going to have the main character
22:35energy in my life.
22:36>> Yeah.
22:36>> Okay.
22:37>> And I am going to write take a piece of
22:39paper and write my story.
22:42>> Yeah. What should I have in this story?
22:44Identity, goal, what all did you you
22:46just threw a bunch of words. Let's make
22:48it simplest. Let's make it simpler for
22:51people to have like a template to start
22:53doing it right now.
22:54>> Beautiful.
22:55>> First begin with what we call identity
22:58based beliefs.
23:00>> Okay.
23:00>> Okay. Identity based beliefs.
23:03>> Now, I actually think we should totally
23:05do this on you related to your sleep.
23:08>> Wow. Okay.
23:09>> Cuz you brought it up yourself, right?
23:11You said, "Okay, you've got some beliefs
23:13in there that sleep is hard for you."
23:15>> Yeah.
23:15>> Is not easy, but it's totally not
23:17helping you. I'm sure.
23:19>> Not at all.
23:20>> Okay. So, let's get rid of it. Let's
23:21make a new belief. You write a new one.
23:23>> So, what you're going to want to do, so
23:25the identity based beliefs, the the way
23:27that they work is [snorts] that you need
23:30to write a belief that you have that Raj
23:34has about sleep that's based on your
23:37values. So, I'll give you a few examples
23:39just to like
23:41>> get you inspired. You might write, "I
23:46prioritize my health because I know how
23:50important it is for my performance and
23:53my business." You might just write that
23:55sentence down. Do you believe that?
23:56>> Yeah.
23:57>> Totally right.
23:58>> Absolutely.
23:59>> Okay. Absolutely. So, you might write
24:00something like that down.
24:02>> Then you're going to stack the next one.
24:04You're going to say, "I know the data on
24:07sleep and health."
24:10Do you feel like that's true?
24:12>> Yeah.
24:12>> Yeah. [laughter]
24:13>> Have you had some sleep experts on the
24:15pod?
24:18>> Still, it has not helped me. A lot of
24:19people have benefited from it, not me.
24:22>> Okay.
24:24>> We can bond about this. I'm not an easy
24:25sleeper either. We should talk about
24:27your sleep. Seriously. Um,
24:29>> so first is identity. Second is data.
24:31Second is well I should say identity and
24:34then you're you're still mixing your
24:36identity with facts that you know. Yeah,
24:38pretty much your data because we're
24:39going to try to bridge all of these
24:41together,
24:42>> right?
24:43>> What else do you believe about sleep?
24:44What is it that you know for sure about
24:46sleep?
24:48>> It's going to make me better.
24:49>> It's going to make you even better.
24:51So would you maybe could I even push
24:54this a little further and say
24:56I could be a smarter,
25:01better looking and happier version of
25:03self if I slept a little bit more.
25:06>> Yeah, I'll ask better questions if I'm
25:10I'll be more focused.
25:13Yeah, there are so many things that I'll
25:15I'll achieve by just sleeping better.
25:17>> Yeah. So you might you'd write all of
25:19these things down and then you would
25:21start writing bringing it all together
25:23into an identity based belief and even
25:25though it's not true yet you would say
25:27something like I make sure that I wind
25:30down for bed
25:34>> that's
25:34>> at an early enough time to make sure I
25:36at least get 6 to 7 hours a night.
25:39[snorts]
25:41You write what the you essentially
25:42you're designing the habit
25:44>> like this is the part I don't believe
25:46[laughter]
25:47>> I know you don't believe it now but you
25:49have to write it down and this is the
25:50process of fake it till you make it
25:52right
25:52>> got it [laughter]
25:53>> yeah you got to like you got to be like
25:55yep I do that
25:56>> okay
25:57>> because why because you prioritize your
26:00health and your performance
26:02>> you know
26:03>> so it's like first was identity second
26:05was data third is what better will
26:10happen after this and fourth is new
26:13habit.
26:14>> Yeah. And this is where you bring in I
26:16would say still even one full sentence
26:19all together. I'll give you an example
26:21actually from one of my um MBA students,
26:24one of my business students.
26:25>> I'm the type of person Oh, now we're
26:28talking about what kind of person are
26:30you versus what kind of person is
26:32>> someone else,
26:33>> your competitor. M m
26:36>> I'm [clears throat] the type of person
26:37who makes sure that I sleep at least 6
26:40to 7 hours a night because I know what
26:43an edge it's going to give me in my
26:45business.
26:47You're just going to write that down and
26:48you're like, "Oh, I don't do that every
26:50night." That's okay. You're But do you
26:52believe you can get there?
26:54>> Yeah.
26:55>> And do you believe it's true all the
26:56other things you've written?
26:57>> Yeah.
26:58>> Okay. Once you've done this work and
27:01you've written down that identity, I'm
27:03the type of person who does this,
27:06>> then we start going into something that
27:08we call implementation intentions. And
27:10this is from research from Peter
27:12Gwitzer. Now, [snorts] implementation
27:14intentions are essentially situation
27:17action plans. For those who do computer
27:19science, it's like an old school if then
27:21statement.
27:22>> Yeah. Okay.
27:23>> If this then that. If then, when is
27:26probably a more apt way to describe it.
27:28Okay.
27:29>> So, a situation action plan would be
27:31like this.
27:33When my alarm goes off every night at 11
27:38p.m.,
27:39I begin my designed routine. I start my
27:45windown music playlist, you know, then I
27:49make my herbal tea. I do this. I start
27:52doing my physical therapy, you know,
27:54whatever it may be. You you go through
27:56your routine.
27:58The difference between I'm going to try
28:01to go to bed earlier or I have this new
28:04routine, I'm just going to do it before
28:06bed.
28:08The difference here is an implementation
28:10intention
28:12describes
28:14in
28:16crazy detail
28:18what does it look like
28:21when you do the thing you describe like
28:24a movie. I want to see you in your
28:26house, Raj. Like at and it's like 11:00
28:28p.m. the alarm goes off and you're like,
28:30uh, where are you? What is it? What does
28:32it look like? What are you wearing?
28:33Where in the house are you? What are you
28:35doing? Phone's in your hand.
28:38>> It's truly describe it in detail. I'll
28:40give you another example of the
28:43difference between having an
28:45implementation intention versus having a
28:47goal. Because a goal is
28:49>> wake random.
28:51>> Yeah. It's it's like a prayer, you know.
28:54It's like that's cute. It's nice, but
28:56there's no plan, right? There's no way
28:58to make it to execute the thing, right?
29:00We got to have a plan. So,
29:02>> [snorts]
29:03>> uh, let's say I've heard a lot of people
29:04say, "I'm going to try to go to sleep
29:06earlier. I want to try to get more
29:07sleep."
29:09>> Adorable. How are you going to do that?
29:11Right. We actually have to get serious
29:12about what this looks like.
29:14>> Yeah. So usually for people unless your
29:17body is waking you up super you know
29:18usually we have what we have to do is
29:21>> go to bed earlier not uh keep sleeping
29:23the other way.
29:24>> Yeah.
29:25>> So the question becomes what kind of
29:28implementation intention can you design
29:32that's going to get you to do that. So
29:34you don't say I'm going to try to get to
29:35bed earlier. It's not going to work. So
29:39you describe the situation when this
29:42happens then I will do this when then
29:45>> okay so when 11 let's say when whenever
29:52my alarm goes around 11 p.m. this is
29:56what I'm going to do. That's exactly
29:58what you you want me to design.
30:00>> Yes.
30:01>> And like I'm on the right side of the
30:03bed. I have my laptop on. and I'm doing
30:05this like all of this and like I'll shut
30:07this down. I'll be doing like stuff like
30:09that like that minute detail.
30:11>> Yes.
30:12>> Okay. And then
30:13>> once you visualize it and you've written
30:15it down, then you begin the habit, you
30:19attempt to actually do the habit
30:21[snorts] and you tr and here are some
30:23other tips here. Make it as easy and
30:26small as possible.
30:28>> As easy and small as possible. For
30:31example, a lot of people benefit from
30:34going to bed earlier just by brushing
30:36their teeth earlier.
30:38>> Interesting.
30:40>> That's it. You could just say, "Listen,
30:41I'm I don't know when I'm going to go to
30:43sleep, but I told myself I have to brush
30:45my teeth at 11:00."
30:47Once you brush your teeth, that means
30:48you're probably not going to eat or
30:49drink anything anymore.
30:51>> Now you have at least the kitchen is cut
30:53off. You just start cutting everything
30:55off. You're like, "And then I'm going to
30:56get in my pajamas." Okay, now we're even
30:58one step closer. You just have to figure
31:00out what behaviors that you want to
31:02design out.
31:04Commit to it. Make it as small as
31:06possible, but really make the when part,
31:09the if part, the beginning, the
31:10situation should be as clear as humanly
31:14possible. Truly clear. People really
31:17skip this step. They say things like,
31:20um, I'll give you an example of when
31:22people want to stop doing something
31:24because it's possible your viewers want
31:25to cut a habit.
31:26>> Yeah.
31:27>> Stop smoking. stop eating sweets,
31:29whatever it may be.
31:30>> Start binging on their reels overnight.
31:34>> Tricky one, but yeah, totally. Totally.
31:37You could say, "When I have a craving
31:39for another piece of chocolate, when I
31:42have a craving for a cigarette, then I
31:45will do this instead."
31:48>> And I'll tell you, this is a version of
31:50an implementation intention for a
31:53negative behavior, meaning a behavior
31:55you want to cut.
31:56>> Okay?
31:56>> Not a positive behavior. and a behavior
31:58you want to add. Say add like positive
32:00and negative or add a behavior or remove
32:02a behavior.
32:03>> Removing a behavior is insanely
32:06difficult.
32:08Super super difficult.
32:09>> Way more than adding.
32:11>> Yes.
32:12>> Why? Why cutting off an habit is more
32:15difficult than making a new habit?
32:19>> Do you have a whiteboard?
32:20>> Yeah.
32:20>> All right. All right. [snorts]
32:22>> Okay. So
32:25we were talking about neural networks
32:27before, right? So neural networks again
32:29are patterns of electrical activation.
32:31So let's say for example,
32:34>> you have
32:36some pattern of electrical activation
32:37here in the brain. And let's say this
32:39represents your craving for something
32:42you don't want to crave anymore.
32:43>> Yeah. Watching reals, let's like binge
32:46watching random stuff. Yeah.
32:47>> Oh wow. Binge watching. Okay. So
32:50>> mindless scrolling, whatever you want to
32:52call Yeah,
32:53>> great. I'll even draw a little phone,
32:54you know. Okay, there you go. All right.
32:57So, this is this is the craving for it,
32:59though.
33:00>> Okay.
33:00>> This is not the behavior. This is the
33:02craving. So if this dot here represents
33:06the the actual craving for it, what that
33:08let's say ends up getting connected to
33:11is a set of patterns of electrical
33:14activation here that represents the
33:18complex behavior that ends up being you
33:21grab the phone and you start scrolling.
33:23>> Okay.
33:24>> Okay. So it starts with a craving. The
33:26craving is not by the way usually to
33:28binge watch. Usually the craving is
33:30something else. Usually, and this is
33:33where we can get a little more emotional
33:35here, it's a feeling.
33:38>> Okay. What do you mean by that?
33:40>> Well, let's let's
33:42>> The craving is not for binge watching.
33:44>> Well, that ends up becoming the behavior
33:47for you to satisfy a craving. The
33:49craving you think is actually for binge
33:52watching, but it's it's a craving to
33:54binge watch in order to satisfy some
33:57feeling. That's usually what's
33:59happening. like something I'm missing.
34:02>> Something you're missing or something
34:04that you want to disassociate from, numb
34:06from
34:08usually. Usually
34:11the feeling that people have is
34:15overwhelm,
34:17stress, let's say.
34:20>> Okay,
34:21>> if you're overwhelmed, you're stressed
34:22out, you're tired, you lack motivation,
34:27>> right? M
34:28>> you're looking to solve for these
34:31feelings
34:33>> and your brain has decided a nice thing
34:36to do if you have these feelings. You're
34:38like, I don't nobody wants to feel this
34:40by the way, right? These are bad
34:41feelings.
34:42>> So if you have these feelings, your
34:45brain goes, let's get out of this. How
34:48do I solve this?
34:50>> There's a few different things you can
34:52do. But let's say you accidentally
34:55develop this addiction, this habit.
34:58>> Because by the way,
34:59>> the word habit is a common one. We're
35:03all interested in habits.
35:04>> Yeah.
35:05>> It's pretty much the same thing as
35:06addiction.
35:08>> It's the same thing. People hear the
35:10word addiction and they think it's like
35:12scary, like it's some moral,
35:16>> you know.
35:16>> Yeah. It's a bad thing.
35:17>> It's a bad thing. What about when people
35:20are addicted to exercise or addicted to
35:23feeling healthy or addicted to being
35:26kind,
35:28right? Cuz you can you've I've met
35:30people who definitely are addicted to
35:32those things
35:34>> and I know you probably have met lots of
35:36these kinds of people because these are
35:37the people you collect. People addicted
35:39to their own success.
35:42>> Absolutely. Yeah.
35:43>> Yeah. So, it's not a bad thing.
35:46Addiction just means habit. That's it.
35:50>> Okay.
35:50>> So, we can demystify, dethrone, you
35:54know, uh uh these words really. They're
35:57coupled together. They're the same
35:59thing. They're the same thing.
36:00>> So, what is a habit? What is also an
36:03addiction? It's also the same thing as
36:05just a behavior
36:08that you do over and over.
36:12I would just say that you do a lot,
36:14right? So what ends up happening is you
36:17have a feeling there is some brain
36:19state, some cognitive or emotional brain
36:21state and then what ends up happening is
36:24you want to move away from that feeling.
36:25If it's a if it's a bad feeling like
36:27this, right? You want to move away from
36:29it. Your your brain wants to help you
36:30solve it. It doesn't want to let you sit
36:32in that in that bad feeling.
36:34>> So whatever it is that you did, let's
36:36say you did binge watching one time when
36:38you felt that way. You're like, "Let me
36:39distract myself, you know,
36:41>> go somewhere else. We don't need to
36:43think that. We don't need to feel that."
36:44So then you start binge watching and
36:46what's going to happen in the beginning?
36:48In the beginning you're distracted,
36:49right? So it feels good.
36:50>> Yeah.
36:51>> Okay. So what you ended up doing is you
36:53ended up doing the actual binge
36:54watching. So you scrolled and then what
36:57happens uh uh at the at the very end.
37:00Let's say now you're done scrolling and
37:01you put the phone away. [snorts]
37:03This is a bit of a trick question
37:05because let's say you were overwhelmed
37:06about a work deadline
37:09>> and then you started binge watching for
37:11>> 45 minutes
37:13>> in the evening instead of working on the
37:15thing that's overwhelming you. So then
37:17you did the binge watching and then
37:18afterwards you put the phone down. Did
37:20you deal with the thing that you were
37:21actually stressed about?
37:22>> No, I get guilty.
37:24>> Yeah. So now you have this, you have the
37:27overwhelm and you have shame.
37:30>> Yeah.
37:32So the person is super sad now. We're
37:34we're just super sad. So now that you
37:36have overwhelm and shame, you know
37:39that's even worse than before. No.
37:41>> Yeah.
37:41>> So guess what I want to do again?
37:44>> Watch again.
37:45>> Go around the circle again. So okay,
37:48let's say you've done this one night.
37:50But come on, let's be honest. I've done
37:51this even like at least 100 times. Do
37:54you know what I mean?
37:55>> Here's the answer to your your original
37:58question. Every single time you do this,
38:00you go through this path. Every time you
38:04traverse this road and you do it again
38:06and again and again, do you see what's
38:09happening here? We're making it darker.
38:12No,
38:12>> we're making it maybe even bigger,
38:15>> stronger, deeper. This neural network
38:18starts to become like a tree trunk, like
38:21the roots of a tree.
38:24That is how a behavior. If you do it one
38:28time, that's fine. You do it 100 times,
38:311,000 times, a million times,
38:35that's a behavior that you do a lot,
38:37that's the same thing as addiction. It's
38:39the same thing as a habit. It's all the
38:41same. So habits, addictions, and
38:44behaviors that you do a lot are just
38:46really entrenched and strong
38:49associations between a feeling, a
38:51craving, and a behavior.
38:54>> So how do we break this?
38:57>> One, tip number one, don't wait for it
39:00to get so strong. You know, ideally,
39:02>> what if it's so strong already?
39:04>> Okay, let's assume it's strong
39:05>> because there I'm sure there must be
39:07hundreds of bad behaviors which are
39:09strong in my head. Obviously hundreds of
39:11good behaviors as well.
39:12>> Yes.
39:13>> But the bad behaviors, let's talk about
39:14them. Let's get rid of them first.
39:16>> Okay. [snorts]
39:18Step one, awareness.
39:21You have to understand and see the loop
39:23for yourself. You cannot
39:27change something that you do not
39:29understand that you don't have data on.
39:32>> Right? You have to understand a system
39:33if you want to change the system. So you
39:36need knowledge.
39:36>> Okay?
39:37>> Self-nowledge in this case. So you need
39:39to be aware. You need to be able to see
39:41your own behavior as it's happening.
39:43That means you actually have to answer
39:44the question, what's the feeling? So
39:48step one is you got to identify the
39:51emotions and the feelings that cause you
39:55to go down the loop in the first place.
39:56>> How do I identify this? Because I don't
39:58know if I'm if I'm falling into this
40:00trap
40:01>> of feeling
40:04like I I want to crave something. That
40:06craving can be dessert at midnight. It
40:09can be binge watching. It can be
40:12just doing all sorts of bad habits. Some
40:15for some people it can be alcohol,
40:17smoking weed, uh smoking, you know, like
40:20a cigarette.
40:21>> Mhm.
40:22>> For some a lot of young people it can be
40:24porn like all of these behaviors are
40:26stem from feeling, right?
40:27>> Yes.
40:28>> But we don't know why are they
40:31occurring.
40:32>> Yeah. Like it it can be overwhelm, it
40:34can be stress, it can be anxiety, it can
40:36be tired, it can be all it can be just
40:39pure shame or maybe lack of ability to
40:42turn around my life or the feeling like
40:44a victim.
40:45>> How do I find out which one is it?
40:48>> You have to have what's called a
40:49cognitive pause.
40:52So that means when you before you go
40:54grab the chocolate at midnight, before
40:56you grab the phone and maybe you've
40:58already grabbed it, by the way, you just
41:00you've grabbed the phone,
41:02>> you've opened up Instagram, whatever it
41:03is that your app of choice, you know,
41:06>> you grabbed it, you opened it, and you
41:08just were about to start scrolling and
41:09you go,
41:10>> you have to start to build the
41:11awareness. You go, hold on, hold on,
41:13hold on. I'm not saying you can't have
41:14it. By the way, in the beginning, we
41:16just want to know why.
41:18>> So you go, okay, hold on.
41:21What am I feeling right now?
41:24What is it that Why do I want to go and
41:26binge watch right now?
41:27>> I'm just exhausted. Like just
41:30>> Okay, so you're you're tired.
41:32>> I would still ask you go deeper.
41:37Why are you exhausted? And then I'd
41:39force you I if I were in the room with
41:41you, I would say, well, Raj, if you're
41:43exhausted, shouldn't you go do something
41:46else like rest?
41:50Right. Or gain more energy. Do something
41:53that gives you energy.
41:54>> Like, right. If you're tired, if it
41:56depends. If it's right before bed, then
41:58if you're tired, yeah, that's right. Go
42:00to bed.
42:01>> Sleep.
42:01>> So then you go to sleep, right? We go,
42:03we help you with the sleep thing.
42:04[laughter]
42:05>> But if you're tired in the middle of the
42:06day, you're like halfway in the middle
42:08of the day and you're like, I'm just
42:09exhausted and I need a break.
42:11>> Yeah.
42:11>> This is not a break. There was, by the
42:13way, a paper published in Nature.
42:16>> What is it? the world's like premier
42:18science journal 2024 that actually
42:21measured the effectiveness of different
42:23kinds of breaks.
42:25>> Okay.
42:26>> One option was no break at all. You do
42:29no break. Raj, keep working. Tired. So
42:31what?
42:32>> Keep going. Hustle. Come on. You're
42:34young. You got it. Let's go.
42:36>> The next option was you take a break uh
42:39and you look outside or you go take a
42:41walk outside in nature.
42:43>> Okay. So you're exposed to something
42:44natural. Okay. The next break was
42:48scrolling.
42:50>> Yeah.
42:51>> Can you imagine
42:53what the results were?
42:55>> It showed that scrolling is pretty much
42:59the same as not taking a break. So
43:02instead of actually letting this brain
43:04rest and make energy for you, because
43:06again this is all chemistry up in here.
43:08This is like again biological laws. You
43:11need to learn that if this system is
43:12tired in and listen I'm a high
43:15performance like I'm all about
43:18productivity and performance. So if
43:20let's say for example treat yourself
43:21like an Olympic athlete.
43:23>> If an athlete is telling you I'm
43:24exhausted right then you say okay okay
43:27get off the field go sit and rest drink
43:30some water get a snack you know we tell
43:32them to like stretch you know get ready.
43:34Why? Because I need you to go back out
43:36there and keep training.
43:37>> Yeah. [snorts] If they say I'm tired,
43:39like let me open Tik Tok. That's we
43:42already know. We science has already
43:44shown that that's not a break. It
43:46doesn't replenish and increase your
43:47energy. Right?
43:49>> So going back to this, I would you would
43:51say, "Oh, I'm tired." I would actually
43:53want you to sit down and really dig into
43:55the feeling more. You know, are you
43:58really is it just tired? What's really
44:00going on? And like I then you need a
44:02replacement behavior. So in this
44:05previous example, you were doing the
44:07scrolling.
44:08It's this is what I meant by negative
44:10behavior, right? If you want to cut
44:12something off, you cannot just say, "Oh,
44:15next time I'm exhausted, I will not
44:18binge watch.
44:20>> This is impossible. Good luck. It won't
44:22happen.
44:22>> It won't happen. You're going to do it
44:23because look at this. Look at how deep
44:26this network was. It's not your choice.
44:28It's going to happen automatically. You
44:30don't have a choice. Raj is not driving
44:32this car.
44:33It's automatically just driving it on.
44:36>> It's automatically driving it. So, you
44:38need to aggressively, that's what I
44:40meant, a cognitive pause. You need to
44:42aggressively start. Number one, you need
44:44to start where it starts, which is the
44:46feeling. It starts here.
44:49>> The feeling, the brain state, the
44:51cognitive state, the craving. Why do you
44:53do the behavior in the first place? We
44:55have to cut it off there and make you
44:57pause and then say, "Okay, we're going
45:00to do something else." So that ends up
45:02being this feeling, right? That was our
45:03first step here.
45:05>> So instead of going towards the the
45:08actual binge watching, we're going to do
45:09something else.
45:10>> So let's say instead, what's a healthy
45:12behavior that you wish you did more of,
45:14too?
45:15>> Let's say breath work.
45:18>> I mean, yeah, that would be nice. I love
45:20it. Yeah, sure. So, you're going to do
45:22breath work. Great. Okay.
45:23>> Like just 1 minute.
45:24>> 1 minute is amazing.
45:27>> 60 seconds. Close your eyes. That's it.
45:29You don't have to do anything else. You
45:30just [snorts]
45:32>> that's it.
45:33>> Okay.
45:34>> Okay.
45:34>> That's going to be the new replacement
45:36behavior. [snorts] Now, here's what I
45:39would tell you if you're really
45:40addicted. If after 60 seconds of closing
45:43your eyes, you still want to scroll, go
45:45for it. Makes it a lot easier. No.
45:48>> Yeah.
45:49>> But what you're doing when you do that,
45:51by the way, is let's say the closing
45:53your eyes, this is the feeling that
45:55started. This is the new behavior. Close
45:58your eyes.
45:58>> Mhm.
45:59>> Right. I draw a little eye for you here.
46:02>> Okay. So, you [snorts] close your eyes.
46:04This is the new behavior. Instead of
46:06this going immediately to the original
46:10scrolling behavior, it's going to go
46:12here first.
46:13>> Okay?
46:14>> This is you're breaking the cycle.
46:16Instead of the energy going this way,
46:18it's now going to go this way. Even if
46:20it goes this way afterwards, we're
46:22helping. Maybe one time you go, "No, I
46:24still want to scroll." Okay? The second
46:26time, maybe you're like, "Okay, fine.
46:30Really,
46:30>> I'll do something else. This is you just
46:32you have to find a way to break this
46:34thing.
46:34>> And if I break this, you're saying that
46:37after 1 minute, if I still want to do
46:39it, if I do this every time, I'll
46:42reduce.
46:44>> If you do it every time, I promise
46:47you're going to start not doing it. If
46:48you then you're just going to create a
46:50new one. I mean, listen, if you do it
46:52every time, then you're just going to
46:53start creating a new habit this way,
46:56right?
46:57>> Yeah. So, you're just saying, "Okay,
46:59before the route was this way. Now, this
47:01is a new route that I'm going to go to
47:03scrolling." Like, now you're going to be
47:04that guy that before he binge watches,
47:06he closes [laughter] his 60 seconds.
47:09You've just designed a new addiction.
47:12But the idea here is you're giving your
47:14brain an opportunity. It's just an
47:16opportunity to to redirect. And what we
47:19call all of this by the way is to do one
47:21thing and that thing is called emotional
47:27regulation.
47:30>> Interesting.
47:31>> That's what you're trying to do because
47:33every behavior, even people doing hard
47:35drugs, porn addiction, it's coming from
47:38an emotion. It starts here. If you can
47:41understand the emotion, you can control
47:43the behavior because you can choose it.
47:45You can design it. But that requires
47:48regulating. Regulating [snorts] is hard.
47:51So what you can do is you just can
47:52create a cognitive pause and get
47:54yourself to do something tiny. Easy, not
47:57hard. Easy, easy, easy. And then you're
47:59creating a bit of a pattern interrupt
48:01and it's an opportunity for you to
48:03choose something different. So then what
48:05ends up happening is
48:07this p road becomes less traveled. Let's
48:12say this is after one month of you
48:14closing your eyes after the feeling
48:16instead of going immediately. So now
48:20it gets skinnier. After 3 months it's
48:24even skinnier. Then this one you've been
48:26doing this, right? So this is getting
48:28stronger and stronger and this one keeps
48:30getting skinnier and this one keeps
48:31getting stronger. That's the idea. This
48:34is how you build new habits and kill bad
48:38ones that you don't want anymore. And
48:39why killing bad ones is more difficult
48:41than building a new one?
48:44>> Starting new ones. It's difficult
48:46because you're both pruning.
48:49You're both pruning. Meaning you're
48:51trying to
48:54deactivate and and weaken a neural
48:58network or a pattern of electrical
49:00activation. And in order to do that,
49:03you should be building another one. So
49:05it's like you're doing two things. You
49:07know, if you think about it from like a
49:09business perspective, it's like um if
49:12you're trying to downsize one department
49:14and create a whole new department, it's
49:15a little easier just to say everyone
49:17else keep going. We're also just going
49:19to build a new department, new project.
49:22So, you're doing two things. You're
49:24pruning is hard because the energy wants
49:26to go that way because you let it you
49:29let it go that way over and over and
49:31over again. And then it became that
49:33muscle became really strong. Going back
49:36to your identity, remember those
49:38stories? Yeah. It's the same thing.
49:41>> So, if you let yourself say, "I'm a
49:43victim. I'm a victim. I'm a victim. I'm
49:44going to stay poor forever." Blah, blah,
49:46blah. Because the system is messed up.
49:48Those people who are successful, they
49:50they were, you know, uh they they did it
49:53through tricks. They got it through
49:55luck. I'm unlucky.
49:58My family is not lucky. My We just We
50:01don't That doesn't happen for us. It
50:02doesn't happen for people from like
50:04where I'm from. Whatever it may,
50:05whatever story you're telling yourself,
50:07[snorts]
50:08>> any one of these stories, if you let
50:10yourself say that story again,
50:12>> what you're doing is again you're make
50:14you're just saying that's this is what's
50:16up. This is real. This is real. This is
50:18real. This is real. And what we said
50:19before,
50:21beliefs look for data and data informs
50:25beliefs
50:27and then that cycle becomes even
50:29stronger then becomes your whole life.
50:31So when you [clears throat] when you get
50:33hired by these large companies to
50:36upgrade their mindset or upgrade mindset
50:39of their CEOs and their billionaires and
50:42multi-millionaire executives, right?
50:46What actual
50:48habit or like
50:51a sort of a routine you help them build
50:54so that they don't get they upgrade
50:56their mind and they don't get exhausted
50:58because you must be improving some
51:00things in their life. That's why they
51:01keep coming back to you.
51:03>> Yeah, there's a lot of habits and a lot
51:05of strategies. It kind of depends on We
51:08can go through the list.
51:09>> Yeah, tell me the list. What what can an
51:11average 25year-old or 35year-old who's
51:14watching this
51:15>> can follow in their life which you teach
51:17the top executives?
51:19>> Okay. The first and I would say the most
51:23pervasive issue that I see in most
51:28people's lives right now and in places
51:32of work as it relates to productivity
51:35is what we call bad digital hygiene.
51:40>> Okay. What do you mean by that?
51:42>> So hygiene, right? It's like having
51:43clean hands and things like this. Yeah.
51:45Bad digital hygiene is having a bad
51:47relationship with your digital tools
51:50>> and specifically your notifications.
51:53[snorts]
51:53>> I'll give you an example. You sit down
51:55to work. You sit down to focus on
51:57something.
52:00Where is your phone
52:02when you're doing this? Usually
52:05>> it's on my desk like right here.
52:07>> Yeah.
52:07>> Like right now it's not here, but mostly
52:09it's
52:09>> Yeah. Yeah. It's right there. Actually,
52:12for this
52:14I can actually we can do a mini
52:16experiment together if you're up for it.
52:18>> Okay, I'm up for it.
52:19>> Okay, cuz there was a study done in UT
52:22Austin that I want to share with you.
52:25>> Okay,
52:26>> but we're going to pretend like you are
52:28doing you're you're in the actual study
52:31itself.
52:32>> You're going to be like one of the
52:33participants. Okay. [snorts]
52:34>> Okay. All right. So, this is your phone.
52:37>> All right. So, in this study, everybody
52:40came into the lab. So let's say you're
52:42the in the exact same situation, right?
52:44You've just come into the lab and what
52:45we're going to do, Raj, is we're going
52:47to test your general fluid intelligence.
52:50>> Okay. What do you mean by that?
52:52>> It means your mind's ability to hold
52:55important information in mind and then
52:58get new information and compute with
53:00that information without losing the
53:02stuff that was already in your mind.
53:03Honestly, you you've been doing it this
53:04whole conversation.
53:06>> You're amazing at it,
53:07>> but that's why you're successful. So,
53:09[snorts] it's an important skill. Have
53:11you noticed some people, it's hard for
53:12them to do that? They like lose track of
53:14what they were trying to remember and
53:15they can't compute the stuff. Yeah. New
53:18stuff.
53:18>> Okay. So, there's actually a test for
53:21this which I bet you would score really
53:22high.
53:23>> Okay.
53:23>> Okay. It's a complex working memory
53:26task. And complex working memory is a
53:28phenomenal way to test for general fluid
53:30intelligence.
53:30>> Okay. [clears throat]
53:31>> I can give you this test later if you
53:33like
53:34>> uh for real. But let's say you come into
53:36the lab and I want to test that
53:39>> and I want to test your attention span.
53:41>> Okay.
53:43>> Okay.
53:44>> Now you come in and I say, "Okay, you
53:46have a phone, right?" All right, great.
53:48Go ahead and turn your phone completely
53:49off
53:51like
53:52>> like airplane or just
53:53>> No, no, no. Full like dead.
53:56>> Yeah. Not DND, not airplane mode. The
53:59side and the button.
54:04None.
54:05>> Okay, it's off. Okay,
54:08scenario one. Your phone is going to be
54:12in another room with me. It's dead. You
54:15turned it off. You give it to me. It's
54:16going to be in the waiting room. So, I'm
54:18going to hold it. You're going to go
54:19into the testing room with a computer.
54:21You're going to sit down and you're
54:22going to hammer out all these tests.
54:24>> We're going to test your intelligence
54:25and all these things.
54:26>> Okay.
54:28>> Option two. Scenario two. I you can keep
54:31your phone but you have to put it in
54:32your pocket.
54:34>> Okay.
54:34>> Or a bag.
54:35>> Okay. [snorts] Now imagine now you come
54:37and you sit down by yourself in the
54:39room.
54:39>> Remember your phone is dead.
54:42>> Okay. This off.
54:42>> Yeah.
54:44>> You're not taking a text or something in
54:46the middle of the test.
54:48>> You sit down. You do the attention span
54:50test. You do all the different tests.
54:52Scenario three. You can take your phone
54:54out of your pocket, but this time I let
54:57you put your phone face down just like
55:00where you said it was when you were
55:02working. Okay. Face down on the side.
55:04Then you're sitting in front of the
55:05computer
55:06>> and you're doing all of these
55:07assessments.
55:08>> Okay.
55:09>> Okay.
55:10>> Yeah. Okay.
55:11>> In this study, and remember the phone is
55:14dead.
55:14>> Yeah. Yeah. Technically, nothing changes
55:17in all three scenarios. The phone's
55:19dead. You're not using it.
55:20>> Exactly. M
55:21>> it's like having this eraser nearby,
55:24right? It's just an object.
55:26>> In this study, we were able to see, and
55:29by the way, this is one of the most
55:30shocking studies I think I have seen in
55:33the last number of years on this topic.
55:36>> Okay?
55:38>> When the phone was visible to you in
55:41your visual field, dead but face down
55:44off to the side, scores were
55:46significantly decreased across the
55:49board. like my attention decreased.
55:51>> Yes, it's the same you, right? Same Raj,
55:55same brain, different capability.
56:00And think about it's attention span.
56:02Raj, it was also general fluid
56:04intelligence. That means you're dumber.
56:08Literally, if the phone is visible, I'm
56:10not
56:11>> even though it's dead.
56:12>> Even though it's dead. Even though it's
56:14dead.
56:18This is the scary reality of how
56:22attention works in the brain. Remember
56:24the stories we tell, right? The brain is
56:28all about storytelling and narration.
56:30All the memories you have using that
56:32thing, all of the memories you have,
56:34binge watching, talking to friends,
56:37making plans, good news, bad news,
56:40drama, all these things are happening in
56:42the phone, right? For me, like I don't
56:44know if you use like Apple Pay, but I'm
56:46also like tapping. It's like my payment
56:48system. It's like
56:49>> everything.
56:50>> It's everything. Everything is in the
56:51phone. Memories. I have pictures, you
56:53know, of my dog. Like all this stuff is
56:55on there that I love, right? It's all
56:58there.
56:59>> And you know that. Your brain knows
57:00that. So if you can see it, it's always
57:03[snorts] going to be thinking, "Oh, I'm
57:05remembering all those amazing things and
57:08I want to play." Like right now since
57:10the time we've spoken about phone, I've
57:13been anticipating
57:15>> really
57:15>> like a notification will come right
57:18>> but it's dead. It's dead. So here's my
57:20recommendation. You should have like a
57:22parking lot, a box, something there
57:24where you hide your phone. Just put it
57:26away so that you don't see it. Bam.
57:29Gone. Out of sight, out of mind. We
57:31don't need it. Right? And this is
57:33listen, I'm not saying all the time, but
57:34when you want when you want 100% of your
57:37intelligence for me, right, I run a
57:40business, right? I I do research, I do
57:43all these different things. When it's
57:45game time,
57:47again, remember, treat yourself like an
57:49Olympic athlete. If it's game time, it's
57:51go time, you're making a big important
57:52decision, you're sitting down with your
57:54team and you're having a brainstorm, get
57:56the phones out of the room because
57:57you're literally lowering the IQ of your
57:59whole team. If you let people have their
58:02phones out, the IQ of your employees,
58:05the IQ of your team is lower.
58:08>> You're making everybody dumber just by
58:11having phone here.
58:12>> Just by having the phone there. And if
58:15you care about this, people like you
58:16less. There's been lots of really
58:19interesting studies that people who hold
58:21their phone or put their phone out on
58:22the table when they're talking to people
58:24and they first meet you, [snorts] you
58:26seem less trustworthy,
58:28um, less capable, less intelligent, all
58:30of these different things. Why would
58:32that be? It's because I'm really saying,
58:34listen, you're not so important that I'm
58:38going to give up the opportunity
58:41>> to put my attention somewhere else.
58:43somebody more important than you might
58:45call me. So, I'm going to keep it here
58:47in my hand, you know, cuz that's
58:49wherever it is. Usually, it's pee in
58:50people's hands or like, you know, some
58:52I'll like sometimes put it under my arm
58:53and carry it that way, you know,
58:55whatever. But it's on the table. Two
58:57people who have a coffee chat, right?
58:58They put it on the table and they sit
58:59down and they have their coffee. But
59:01it's literally lowering the quality of
59:04the conversation. It's lowering the
59:06quality of the connection.
59:09You know,
59:10>> you're not married yet, are you?
59:11>> No.
59:12>> Okay. Hey, so you're going to be dating.
59:13It's also going to lower the quality of
59:15your date.
59:16>> No, I don't take that on the rates.
59:17[laughter]
59:18>> Like, all right, good, good, good.
59:19>> I've learned it on my podcast that days
59:21when I have my phone right next to me.
59:24>> Yeah.
59:24>> My attention
59:27during the conversation is much lower
59:29versus that's why I just always give it
59:31to these guys and just, you know, either
59:33out of the room or they have it
59:34somewhere I don't even care.
59:35>> Yeah.
59:36>> And it's like on airplane mode. The
59:37moment you like you entering before even
59:39you enter like 30 minutes before you
59:41enter just off like it's gone. I don't
59:44care.
59:45>> That's such a good habit. I'm so glad
59:47you mentioned that. Your listeners need
59:50to do that too. It's the same thing.
59:51It's the same exact thing. I would also
59:54recommend going back to your sleep
59:55because now I care about your sleep.
59:57Remember I used to coach CEOs and I know
59:58I'm like so I'm going to start like
1:00:00coaching you. Bring it back to your
1:00:01sleep. I would ask you to respect your
1:00:03sleep enough because it's going to
1:00:05impact your performance that much too
1:00:07for you to put your phone away 30
1:00:09minutes before bed.
1:00:12>> Okay.
1:00:13>> You said you did it 30 minutes before I
1:00:15arrived.
1:00:16>> Yeah, but this was Yeah,
1:00:17>> I'm not as important as your sleep.
1:00:19[laughter]
1:00:20>> Raj, your sleep is more important than
1:00:22me. I promise. I promise. Because if you
1:00:25start doing that, oh, you're going to
1:00:27see such a radical shift in your life
1:00:30and in your mindset. And do you want to
1:00:32know something? Okay, here's what I this
1:00:34I'm going to dare you to do this.
1:00:36>> Okay? And I'm going to follow up with
1:00:38you.
1:00:38>> Okay?
1:00:39>> I'm going to dare you to do this. 30
1:00:40minutes before you go to bed, have a cut
1:00:42off where you have to turn your phone
1:00:44off.
1:00:45And then don't turn it back on until 30
1:00:47minutes after you wake up. If 30 minutes
1:00:50is too much, 15 minutes. 15 minutes
1:00:53before you go to bed off and then after
1:00:55you wake up just let your eyes open
1:00:58because people use the phone as an
1:01:00alarm. It's right next to them. The
1:01:03phone rings. They immediately grab it
1:01:05and then they start. They're still in
1:01:07bed. They're like doing this. They're
1:01:09just like, "Oh,
1:01:10>> that that's me. Thanks for attacking."
1:01:13[laughter] Like that's just
1:01:15>> got to talk about the truth. Yeah. I
1:01:17didn't know that. But it's this is the
1:01:18reality for so many people though,
1:01:20right? There's no no point in the shame
1:01:21because the shame makes it worse.
1:01:23Remember,
1:01:23>> it's adding an extra feeling on top of
1:01:25the other feeling. So that feeling in
1:01:28the morning, you're looking for
1:01:30stimulation and it's FOMO.
1:01:32>> You want to figure out what you missed
1:01:34while you've been sleeping.
1:01:35>> Yeah.
1:01:36>> But here, okay, here's my this is why I
1:01:39want you to not look at it for 15
1:01:40minutes. [snorts]
1:01:42First thing in the morning, your brain
1:01:44is in a very delicate and powerful
1:01:47state. You have an opportunity to
1:01:50reinforce those new beliefs that we were
1:01:52talking about. You have an opportunity
1:01:54to set your brain up for the right
1:01:56mindset, for the right goals, for the
1:01:58right priorities first thing in the
1:02:01morning. When you allow the rest of the
1:02:04world to tell you who you are, where you
1:02:08should be putting your attention. So,
1:02:09hey, there's news over here. Look at
1:02:11this notification. Look at this email. I
1:02:13need this Raj. I need you to send me the
1:02:14Can I see you Tuesday at 3 p.m. Please
1:02:17confirm. Is that when we're me
1:02:20all this noise?
1:02:22All the noise from the outside is
1:02:24removing an opportunity for your own
1:02:26brain to tell you some amazing idea
1:02:29that's going to unlock something for you
1:02:31because peeps so many people have such
1:02:33amazing clarity and amazing ideas first
1:02:35thing in the morning. But right now
1:02:38across the world I think it's it's a
1:02:40generation of people are losing that
1:02:43like we're missing out. We're missing
1:02:45out on so many things. So the first
1:02:47mistake you asked me the biggest mistake
1:02:49that people are making is bad digital
1:02:52hygiene. They leave their notifications
1:02:54on on their computers. So they sit down
1:02:55on the computer and now we let's say we
1:02:57put the phones away at least, right?
1:02:58Phone is gone cuz we learned about that.
1:03:00>> Okay. If you want to be fully focused,
1:03:02you want to have the best productivity,
1:03:04the highest level of effectiveness.
1:03:07>> You also need to make sure all your
1:03:08other forms of digital hygiene are
1:03:10locked in,
1:03:11>> dialed in. That means, and let me be
1:03:14clear, most of the CEOs I work with,
1:03:16when I sat down and I would observe them
1:03:18working, you know, I would show up with
1:03:20my clipboard and all of my, you know,
1:03:22observational tools and stuff and I'd be
1:03:23like, "Go ahead. Just I'll be over here
1:03:25watching."
1:03:29They have they immediately open a
1:03:31document, right? Let's say they're
1:03:32getting ready for the board meeting or
1:03:34something. They open up a document,
1:03:35they're looking at a deck, and then
1:03:36bing, what was that? Okay. And then they
1:03:38go here. They have two monitors. on the
1:03:40other monitor they have like Slack open.
1:03:42Yeah.
1:03:42>> Constantly pinging
1:03:44like all this stuff and the phone is out
1:03:46and they have an Apple Watch and they're
1:03:47just like doing this thing and it's just
1:03:49like this.
1:03:50>> Yeah. [snorts]
1:03:52>> But the brain is literally a focusing
1:03:54machine. Every single time you switch
1:03:57your attention,
1:03:59you pay for it. It's not free.
1:04:02>> What do you pay for it? How do you pay?
1:04:04What's the price?
1:04:04>> I'm glad you asked. You pay for it in
1:04:07time and you pay for it in energy.
1:04:11And if you don't believe me, we can test
1:04:12it out.
1:04:13>> Go ahead.
1:04:14>> Yeah.
1:04:14>> Tell me. Yeah.
1:04:15>> Okay. Grab a piece of paper. You have
1:04:16some paper and a pen. So, on this piece
1:04:18of paper, we're just going to draw two
1:04:20lines. There you go. Okay. Now, on the
1:04:24top line, I want you to write, I am a
1:04:28great multitasker, but don't start yet.
1:04:30>> Okay? And then on the bottom line, I
1:04:32want you to write the numbers 1 through
1:04:3420.
1:04:35>> 1 through 20.
1:04:36>> 1 through 20. I want you to go as fast
1:04:38as you can. Okay. And then I'm going to
1:04:40time you. I'll hide the phone so that
1:04:42you're smart as possible. No excuses.
1:04:44Okay. Right.
1:04:44>> I'm a great multitasker. And 1 to 20.
1:04:47>> Exactly.
1:04:48>> And I want you to go as fast as you can.
1:04:50I'll read the times out out loud and
1:04:51then and then you can go for it. Okay.
1:04:53>> And then actually, how about this? I
1:04:55won't read them out loud. I'll you just
1:04:57focus.
1:04:57>> Okay.
1:04:58>> Okay. Cuz we'll have the timer going up
1:05:00there. I'll watch you and I'll stop the
1:05:02time when you finish. Okay. Get ready.
1:05:05Get [snorts] set. Go.
1:05:2617.72.
1:05:28>> Super fast. Cool. Now, turn this paper
1:05:31around.
1:05:35>> Awesome.
1:05:36>> Draw two more lines.
1:05:39You're going to do this one more time.
1:05:41Okay. You're going to end with the same
1:05:43outcome. So the output at the end is
1:05:46going to be I'm a great multitasker 1
1:05:47through 20. But the way in which you
1:05:50will arrive will be very different.
1:05:52>> Okay?
1:05:52>> You're going to alternate.
1:05:54>> You're going to start at one at the at
1:05:56the top line. You're going to write
1:05:58you're going to write the letter I.
1:06:00You're going to drop down to the bottom
1:06:01line. Write the number one. Back up to
1:06:02the top line.
1:06:03>> Letter A. And then down to the bottom
1:06:04line number two. Back up to the top line
1:06:07>> after every letter.
1:06:08>> Mhm.
1:06:08>> Okay.
1:06:09>> You're going to go back and forth until
1:06:10you finish both lines.
1:06:11>> Okay.
1:06:11>> Okay. Now listen. If you think, hold on,
1:06:15I'm going to lose time, right? Going
1:06:17back and forth like meaning just my hand
1:06:20moving, right?
1:06:22>> You can, if you want, you can draw one
1:06:24extra long line, but you have to still
1:06:27alternate.
1:06:28>> So that means you still have to write in
1:06:30in between I one 2 A. Okay. All right.
1:06:34But I just want to give you options. Get
1:06:36ready. Get set.
1:06:37>> Yeah.
1:06:38>> Go.
1:06:42You got this.
1:07:10This is where you guys need to overlay
1:07:11some fun music.
1:07:19>> Done. 40 seconds.
1:07:23[snorts] So, you went from 17.72
1:07:26to 41.35.
1:07:29>> More than double.
1:07:30>> More than double.
1:07:32So, and I have a question.
1:07:35>> We all saw, but did you ever make any
1:07:37mistakes?
1:07:38>> Oh, yeah. A lot. [laughter]
1:07:40>> Okay.
1:07:43>> So, this goes
1:07:44>> because this time I was focused on like
1:07:45just
1:07:47Yeah. Like my brain was not able to
1:07:48comprehend like two things at the same
1:07:50time.
1:07:50>> Yeah. Well, really,
1:07:53your brain can't. This is the point I
1:07:56want to make.
1:07:56>> So, you're saying nobody can be a good
1:07:58multitasker?
1:07:59>> No. No. Listen, what you're there's let
1:08:02me and let me let's be clear. Let's
1:08:03define what we're talking about here.
1:08:06>> When people talk about multitasking, the
1:08:09way they talk about it is as if they're
1:08:12doing two different things
1:08:14with full fidelity at the same time.
1:08:17>> That's how they talk about it.
1:08:19>> Yeah.
1:08:19>> When they talk about multitasking,
1:08:21they're like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm doing
1:08:22this and I'm doing this."
1:08:24>> Yeah.
1:08:25>> Okay. How many brains do you have?
1:08:28>> One.
1:08:29>> Yeah.
1:08:30Okay, that how many attention systems do
1:08:32you have? Like you have one of
1:08:33everything.
1:08:34>> Yeah.
1:08:34>> Okay. So [snorts] you don't have two
1:08:36brains. You cannot say with my full Raj
1:08:39brain 100% performance I am 100% doing
1:08:42this and at the same time I am 100%
1:08:45doing this. You don't have two 100s. You
1:08:47have one 100.
1:08:49So if you want you can take your 100%
1:08:52like a pie chart. You can dice it up.
1:08:56You could say 50/50. 50% of my attention
1:08:58is on this, 50% on this, 8020, 7030,
1:09:026040. No matter what your split is,
1:09:05you're splitting your attention. It's
1:09:07split. So, when we talk about
1:09:09multitasking, the way people talk about
1:09:11it, they Yeah. Yeah. I have my phone
1:09:12here, but I'm not looking. I have my
1:09:14email open, but I'm focused here. When
1:09:17the notif comes up, no, you I see you
1:09:19go. You look. Even when you're on calls
1:09:22with people, you're like on a Zoom call
1:09:24with somebody and you're look, they're
1:09:26looking at you and then all of a sudden
1:09:27you see their eyes go down and up again.
1:09:29>> Yeah.
1:09:30>> Come, we can all see you, right?
1:09:32Nobody's that slick.
1:09:33>> The people think like nobody's going to
1:09:35notice. You know, you said, "Yeah,
1:09:36because you've seen other people do it.
1:09:38I've seen other people do it. Everyone's
1:09:40doing it." And they think that I can see
1:09:42when other people are doing it, but
1:09:43nobody can tell when I do it cuz I'm
1:09:45fast. No, we can all see. [snorts] My
1:09:47point here is that it's not your choice.
1:09:52It's not your choice to
1:09:56pay attention or not pay attention to
1:09:58distractions when they come up. The way
1:10:00that the brain works is it's a
1:10:03monotasking machine, not a multitasking
1:10:06machine. It is designed to focus on one
1:10:09thing. Now, does that mean you can never
1:10:13do two things at once? No, of course
1:10:15not. Listen, in my car, um, I listen to
1:10:18podcasts. I sometimes make calls. I call
1:10:21my mother. You know, I call my mom on on
1:10:23the on the my way somewhere. I have her
1:10:26on speaker, you know, and I'm driving.
1:10:29But listen, in that moment, I'm going to
1:10:31be honest with you because this is just
1:10:33as a neuroscientist, I can just tell you
1:10:34this is how the brain works. I am not
1:10:37100% focused on the road.
1:10:39>> Yeah.
1:10:39>> Otherwise, it's imp I'm not going to
1:10:40hear my mom. I don't I'm not going to
1:10:42listen to anything she's saying. Which,
1:10:44listen, that's a whole another
1:10:46conversation about mom's. She's like
1:10:48complaining on my knee, my back, my
1:10:50this, my that. You didn't you need to
1:10:52come home, blah, blah, blah, all these
1:10:53things. Okay, that's a different story
1:10:55cuz it's always the same stories. But
1:10:57the point here is that for sure it's not
1:11:00possible for me to 100% focus on the
1:11:01conversation and 100% focus on the road
1:11:04because I know where I'm going in my
1:11:06hometown. Honestly, it's like,
1:11:08>> yeah, it's like an autopilot. They're
1:11:10just going there.
1:11:11>> Bingo. So my point is listen, it's
1:11:14nuance. I'm not saying Raj you can never
1:11:16do two. Yeah. Yeah. Sure you can. But
1:11:19you just have to know the math. You have
1:11:21to understand the biological laws. You
1:11:23have to know what you're doing. Be
1:11:24strategic about it. Be strategic about
1:11:26it. Now you know that if you And by the
1:11:30way, what you did just now Oh, yeah.
1:11:34What you did here, this is not
1:11:36multitasking because that's impossible.
1:11:38Again, remember multitasking the way
1:11:39it's defined, I you did 100% one thing
1:11:41and 100% another thing. That's not
1:11:43possible here. What you're doing and
1:11:45what is possible, what happens in
1:11:47everybody's brains, yours, mine,
1:11:49everyone's, is something called task
1:11:52switching,
1:11:53>> context switching essentially.
1:11:54>> Yeah,
1:11:55>> this we do all the time. But every
1:11:57single time you switch your attention
1:11:59from A to B, B to C, C to D, all of the
1:12:02different one thing to another, to the
1:12:03Apple Watch to the phone to the back to
1:12:05the document and back to the thing, and
1:12:06then what? Oh, somebody came in my
1:12:07office. What did you want? But every
1:12:09single time you switch your attention,
1:12:11there's a payment, a biological payment.
1:12:14So the brain pays for it in time. As you
1:12:17noticed, more than double. It's not for
1:12:19free. Takes more time. And time is
1:12:22limited. Time is money. And the second
1:12:25thing that it takes is energy. You're
1:12:27going to exhaust yourself more. And
1:12:29every single time, and listen, this was
1:12:31easy. Whose job is this easy? You want
1:12:33to build an empire? You want to build a
1:12:35company? you want to cure cancer.
1:12:37Nothing is this easy. So when you're
1:12:39doing something hard and you really want
1:12:42to do good, you have to respect yourself
1:12:45enough to put the distractions out of
1:12:47sight, out of mind, notifications off,
1:12:49no email open, no phone next to you, no
1:12:52notifs available, and actually focus on
1:12:54the thing in front of you. And in the
1:12:56beginning, if you're not used to it,
1:12:57it's going to be difficult. It's going
1:12:59to be painful. Your mind's going to be
1:13:01all over the place, but you just need to
1:13:03get your muscles hard again. You need to
1:13:05get your muscles strong.
1:13:06>> But what about people who are good at
1:13:07multitasking?
1:13:09>> Is there someone like that or is it just
1:13:12a myth?
1:13:13>> Do you want to know something really
1:13:15funny?
1:13:15>> Mhm.
1:13:16>> There was a study done at Stanford that
1:13:18I'll send you. So there they're smart
1:13:19smart kids. Young healthy brains. Do you
1:13:23know what I mean? Sharp.
1:13:25>> Okay. No excuses. You can't be like
1:13:27they're just they're dumb. No, no. We we
1:13:30got we got good ones.
1:13:32This study on multitasking asked people
1:13:36upfront, "Are you a good multitasker?"
1:13:39The people who said yes confidently, "Oh
1:13:42yeah, I'm great at it." They were
1:13:45actually worse when they tested them.
1:13:48That's crazy. It's like a joke. It's
1:13:50like science jokes, right? It's
1:13:53absolutely mind-boggling, but it's so
1:13:55fascinating.
1:13:56>> Why? Well, unknown to be, you know,
1:13:59>> this random belief they've built about
1:14:00themselves.
1:14:01>> It could be because if you multitask so
1:14:05much, by the way, you try because again,
1:14:08we talked about it. You're just context
1:14:09switching all the time. Your brain is
1:14:11just foggy. I don't think you see
1:14:13straight. I think this is the problem
1:14:15with most companies right now.
1:14:18>> Most people are just bouncing back and
1:14:19forth and they think this is normal and
1:14:22they just go like, "Oh, it's hard for me
1:14:24to focus. Maybe I have ADHD. Come on.
1:14:27Every 80% of the population all of a
1:14:30sudden has ADHD.
1:14:31>> Why everybody has started saying this?
1:14:33Every like it's just like 50 things
1:14:36because of the scrolling. That's why
1:14:38because our attention spans are shot.
1:14:41This is actually some of the re recent
1:14:43research I've started doing. Truly
1:14:44attention spans have just gotten worse
1:14:46and worse and worse. And the more you
1:14:49scroll, and it's by the way, it's not
1:14:51all scrolling. And I'm not just giving
1:14:53like, you know, your podcast a
1:14:56a pat on the back here. This is actually
1:14:58the the research supports this. There is
1:15:01a massive difference between long form
1:15:03and short form media. The short form
1:15:06media is truly like garbage and candy
1:15:11for the brain. It is it's like junk
1:15:13food. That's what I mean. So the how
1:15:16would your body feel if you fill it with
1:15:18junk food? Not so good. Listen, am I
1:15:20saying sometimes we don't have some junk
1:15:22food? Oh, for sure. No problem. You
1:15:24know, you got to live a balanced life.
1:15:25You know what I mean? Life is short.
1:15:27Enjoy it a little bit. You know, do it's
1:15:29okay. But if your whole diet is junk
1:15:32food, if you eat junk food every day,
1:15:34what's going to happen in one year? Not
1:15:37so good. Bad things.
1:15:38>> Yeah.
1:15:39>> So, this is this this relationship that
1:15:42we have with our phones, our devices,
1:15:45our email.
1:15:47This is it's not I don't want people to
1:15:49think I'm just talking about just Tik
1:15:50Tok either. People are addicted to
1:15:52email. They're addicted to WhatsApp.
1:15:54They're addicted to messaging and
1:15:56communicating constantly all the time
1:15:5824/7. And that never allows them to come
1:16:02up with ideas.
1:16:04Hear what's going on inside of them. All
1:16:07of the stuff we talked about before, the
1:16:08self-awareness. You want to train your
1:16:10brain. That takes effort. That takes
1:16:12awareness. That takes focus. You want to
1:16:15build an empire. you want to build a
1:16:17business, you want to do all these
1:16:18things, that takes focus. And when we've
1:16:21removed the ability to focus, this is
1:16:24why everybody thinks they have ADHD
1:16:26because they're not listening to their
1:16:27biology. Again, it's like the laws like
1:16:29the brain works. We just tested you.
1:16:32Everybody who's listening, you believe
1:16:34that Raj is super smart. Obviously,
1:16:36that's why you're listening. That's why
1:16:37he's so successful. Even you couldn't do
1:16:40it. You more than doubled your time and
1:16:42you made mistakes. So think about how
1:16:45you work now. When you take this to your
1:16:46life, when you take this to your
1:16:47business, everybody who's listening,
1:16:49right? When you think about how you
1:16:51work, if you work d constantly, I'm
1:16:54sitting down f and then I check this and
1:16:56I check that. If you're doing it that
1:16:58way, you're going to make more mistakes
1:16:59and it's going to take you double the
1:17:01amount of time to get to your goals. You
1:17:04choose. I'm going to choose the way
1:17:06that's going to be fast for me. But this
1:17:08is what makes the people that are ultra
1:17:10successful different from everybody
1:17:11else. They just choose differently.
1:17:14>> They think about it. They're aware about
1:17:15it. Like, hold on a second. What you
1:17:17said, you said beautifully, I notice the
1:17:20days when I'm on my phone, it's harder
1:17:22for me to focus. So, when we're
1:17:24shooting, when the guest is right, I
1:17:26tell the guys, I turn it off and I tell
1:17:28the guys, get it out of here. You are in
1:17:30a beautiful example of a CEO that has
1:17:34figured it out. Everybody else can do
1:17:36the same for themselves. So, [snorts]
1:17:37you're telling me that a lot of people
1:17:41think that ultra successful people have
1:17:42better ideas, but you're telling that
1:17:45they don't have better ideas. They just
1:17:48know how to protect their attention so
1:17:50that they can get ideas. Is that what
1:17:52you're saying?
1:17:53>> They have more ideas. It's like fishing.
1:17:57I can tell you this. This is the science
1:17:59of innovation and creativity. Every, by
1:18:03the way, inventor will tell you this.
1:18:06inventors, artists, engineers, people
1:18:09who build, people who come up with like
1:18:11crazy ideas, they'll tell you for every
1:18:14one good idea, they had 1 million
1:18:16ideas. This it's a numbers game.
1:18:19>> You have to become like an idea machine.
1:18:21It's it's a muscle. If you're exercising
1:18:24your idea muscle every single day, you
1:18:26allow your mind to explore and wander
1:18:29and you give it time and space to do it.
1:18:32Listen, you're going to come up with a
1:18:33lot of stupid ideas. That's okay. You
1:18:36have to. It's a process, right? One day
1:18:39after another and then finally you're
1:18:41going to hit.
1:18:42>> So, what should I do? How how can
1:18:45someone become a person who gets
1:18:48incredible ideas all the time?
1:18:51>> Okay, you ready? This is my number one
1:18:54recommendation. You might not like it or
1:18:56you might be surprised.
1:18:57>> Okay.
1:19:00>> Be bored.
1:19:03be bored and do nothing
1:19:07>> and you get ideas like that.
1:19:08>> And you get ideas. Let me explain.
1:19:13Ideas, new ideas
1:19:16often come
1:19:18when we are mind wandering. That goes
1:19:21back to the neural network that I talked
1:19:23about earlier, the DMN, the default mode
1:19:25network. That's what that when that is
1:19:28active your brain is creating. Remember
1:19:32in the beginning I said it's the
1:19:33storyteller in the brain. It's the
1:19:35storytelling machine. It's the area of
1:19:37the brain and the a areas of the brain
1:19:40that are all about narration and ideas.
1:19:43So that's your idea machine. You need to
1:19:47allow the DMN to actually become active.
1:19:50Now the opposite of the DMN is the
1:19:53central executive network, the CEN.
1:19:55Okay.
1:19:56>> And it I mean listen to the sound of it.
1:19:58The central executive network.
1:20:02>> What do you think? It's like the CEO.
1:20:04>> Yeah.
1:20:04>> What's the goal?
1:20:05>> Operator.
1:20:06>> It's the operator. Beautifully said.
1:20:08It's the project manager. What are we
1:20:10doing? What's the goal? And then anytime
1:20:12it's also in charge of inhibition.
1:20:15So inhibition is uh suppressing the
1:20:19things that seem distracting. Listen,
1:20:21I'm on my target. I got to focus on
1:20:24this. So if you're telling me, hey, hey,
1:20:26sire, what about this idea? Shh, I don't
1:20:28want to hear about ideas. I got to I'm
1:20:30doing this focus. That's your central
1:20:33executive network and you need it. And
1:20:35it's mostly frontal areas, right?
1:20:37Because this is where a lot of your
1:20:38executive functioning is is happening in
1:20:40the first place. So you've got all these
1:20:42different this neural network that's
1:20:43again responsible for get done,
1:20:46right? Focus and do stuff. The opposite
1:20:49of that is the DMN. And the DMN is again
1:20:52all about stories, daydreaming,
1:20:55being bored, let your mind wander. When
1:20:57you daydream, that's when a bunch of
1:20:59ideas can finally come and float to the
1:21:01surface.
1:21:01>> So the first step is you have to find
1:21:03time and space
1:21:06>> to be bored,
1:21:10>> to be bored, to daydream, to let your
1:21:14mind wander. Because again, remember,
1:21:17it's easy to remember and understand
1:21:19why. What's the opposite of that? Get
1:21:21stuff done. What idea are you gonna have
1:21:24when you're like on a deadline to get
1:21:26done if you're busy all of the
1:21:28time? And then what what do people do
1:21:29when they're not working?
1:21:32What when are you what how is your brain
1:21:35going to shove an idea into your into
1:21:38your in front of you, right? How you
1:21:41have to let those ideas come to you by
1:21:43cultivating the space for them. You have
1:21:45to make the space for them. So the most
1:21:47creative people, the most amazing
1:21:49innovators, by the way, they force
1:21:51themselves to sit down. Some people call
1:21:53it think time. Some one of the guests
1:21:56you had on the show, I think Bill Gates,
1:21:58um, uh, he was really famous by having a
1:22:00think week, I believe it was, you know,
1:22:02whole week he takes off. No busy work,
1:22:05just to think, see what ideas come. It
1:22:09was actually during his one of his think
1:22:10weeks that he decided that the internet
1:22:14is not a fad. Can you imagine if Bill
1:22:18Gates didn't realize that
1:22:21decades ago?
1:22:23So these ideas come, we have to give
1:22:25them the space to come and that requires
1:22:26discipline because right now distraction
1:22:29is making money for these tech companies
1:22:32like crazy. Welcome to the distraction
1:22:35economy. So, it's keeping everybody
1:22:38stuck.
1:22:39>> It's keeping everybody stuck in their
1:22:41old loops. Because also, this is how the
1:22:44algorithm works.
1:22:47The algorithms that you're doom
1:22:48scrolling on, that you're binge watching
1:22:50on, the way they work is they're going
1:22:51to show you stuff that you like.
1:22:54>> They're going to show you more of the
1:22:55same. If you want to become a different
1:22:58version of you, you need to change your
1:23:00content. Your content is actually a
1:23:03great example of this. a lot of other
1:23:06awesome podcasts that are educational,
1:23:08right, about like how do I become
1:23:09better? How do I level myself up?
1:23:12If you all you're do when you're binge
1:23:14watching, if you're all it's just bad
1:23:16news, this that just like whatever, you
1:23:20will become more of that because what
1:23:21you're doing is you're just
1:23:23>> true
1:23:24>> the same stories over and over again.
1:23:27You want to start to become a different
1:23:29version of you, a better version of you,
1:23:31you should also change your algorithm.
1:23:34We call this by the way in the classes I
1:23:36teach changing your content diet.
1:23:41>> Yeah. And that's very important. I call
1:23:42it bloom scrolling.
1:23:44>> Oh, I love that.
1:23:45>> Yeah. So, it's like how you have doom
1:23:47scrolling.
1:23:48>> You curate your feed in a way which is
1:23:50bloom scrolling so that it makes you
1:23:51better, not actually messes up you
1:23:54messes up your entire system.
1:23:55>> Yeah, it's a beautiful way to put it.
1:23:58So, you got to give yourself think time.
1:23:59Even if it's bloom or doom, you got to
1:24:02put it away a little bit and then just
1:24:04give your mind and space to breathe. The
1:24:07next thing that's going to be important,
1:24:08and this is kind of fun. Have you ever
1:24:10have you heard of um that anecdote that
1:24:12people have awesome ideas in the shower?
1:24:14>> Yeah.
1:24:14>> You've heard of Have you ever had?
1:24:16>> Of course.
1:24:17>> Really?
1:24:17>> Yeah. So many times.
1:24:18>> Okay. Hey, do you know the science
1:24:20behind it?
1:24:21>> No.
1:24:21>> You want to learn?
1:24:22>> Yeah, of course. I want to learn all the
1:24:24science in the world. Tell me.
1:24:26>> Okay. So this is the science behind
1:24:28shower thoughts, shower ideas that so
1:24:32many people have. I've had the same
1:24:33thing as well. [snorts]
1:24:35So the way that the brain works is
1:24:38you're loading up, let's say, remember
1:24:40the neural networks I talked about
1:24:41before, right? So let's say you've got
1:24:43this pattern of electrical activation
1:24:45happening in the brain, right? These
1:24:47neural networks that are on different
1:24:48brain areas, all of this stuff. So you
1:24:50have this pattern of electrical
1:24:52activation. Let's say it looks like
1:24:53this, okay? Some gridlock. Let's say
1:24:56this is your brain thinking about a
1:24:58problem.
1:24:59>> So you're there and you're thinking
1:25:01about this problem in your head
1:25:05right now. What's in my brain?
1:25:08>> The problem.
1:25:08>> The problem stuck.
1:25:10>> Yeah. Where's the solution? If I want a
1:25:13solution to the problem, I actually have
1:25:14to move these networks around. I have to
1:25:17get different electrical activity.
1:25:19>> Yeah.
1:25:19>> To happen
1:25:20>> because my brain's occupied with this.
1:25:22>> Mhm. It's focused on the problem. So
1:25:25this is how you do it. This is the best
1:25:26way I teach all of the business leaders
1:25:29I work with this. You load up all of the
1:25:32data and the information that you need
1:25:35that's about the problem. You think
1:25:36about the problem. You understand the
1:25:38problem. You look at all the data
1:25:39related to the problem. Load it all up.
1:25:42Then walk away. You're going to sit
1:25:45there be like, "Okay." And then what do
1:25:46we do? What's the solution? What's the
1:25:47solution? I don't know. I don't know. I
1:25:48don't know. Get up and do something
1:25:50else.
1:25:52When you do something else, you're at
1:25:53least introducing a new variable. You're
1:25:56at least saying, "Hey, drink some
1:25:57water." At least, seriously, something
1:25:58as small as this. Because anything you
1:26:00do, anything you touch, smell, drink,
1:26:03listen, listen to a different playlist,
1:26:05different music, get up and move to
1:26:07another room. If you're sitting at your
1:26:09desk and you're always working at your
1:26:11desk and you're like, "This is my focus.
1:26:12This is where I'm at." And you're just
1:26:14like, "This is the problem." The problem
1:26:16is also here. It's in your all of the
1:26:19associations that you've built up with
1:26:22that problem. Change the environment.
1:26:25So when people finally go on a walk or
1:26:28they go take a shower, [snorts] they've
1:26:30loaded all the data there. So the the
1:26:32neural networks related to the problem
1:26:34are still active or they're recently at
1:26:36least active. So then you get in the
1:26:38shower and you introduce new variables.
1:26:40Now you're not scrolling either because
1:26:41again the scrolling is a distraction. If
1:26:44you distract yourself with I got to text
1:26:46these people back. I got to get on
1:26:47WhatsApp. I gota all these things.
1:26:50>> Yeah.
1:26:51>> You're not going to solve any problems
1:26:53because now you're just doing more
1:26:54stuff.
1:26:55>> True.
1:26:56>> You're doing more stuff. You have to not
1:26:59do stuff to give your brain space to
1:27:01say, "Wait a minute, light bulb."
1:27:05Because the problem was still there and
1:27:06active. And then you're introducing new
1:27:08variables, whatever they may be. Have a
1:27:10little
1:27:12sip of water. put some water on your
1:27:14face. Whatever it is, you got to do
1:27:15something different. And then your brain
1:27:17goes at some point, oh, I got it.
1:27:22>> And that's why you because you're
1:27:25mindlessly just standing in sh all of a
1:27:27sudden you get that because you're not
1:27:30focused on problem anymore.
1:27:31>> Yeah. You loosened a little bit and you
1:27:35introduced new data. You introduced new
1:27:37variables and new data. It could be on a
1:27:39walk. You could start cooking dinner.
1:27:41You know, you could go exercise, go on a
1:27:44run, you know, whatever, whatever you
1:27:46want to do, [snorts]
1:27:48but not something so immersive
1:27:51that you can't keep thinking about the
1:27:53other thing. This is so don't like go
1:27:55sit down and watch a movie. Do you see
1:27:57what I'm saying?
1:27:58>> Unless you want to watch a movie you've
1:28:00seen 1,000 times.
1:28:02>> Do you know how like you can still
1:28:04think? Well,
1:28:05>> you now you get it. This explain See,
1:28:07there's neuroscience to explain all of
1:28:09these human experiences we have. If
1:28:11you're watching a rerun of an old, you
1:28:13know, sitcom you've seen like a million
1:28:15times, it's kind of soothing because you
1:28:17can kind of, you're not really just
1:28:19focused and paying attention. You're
1:28:21letting your mind wander a little bit.
1:28:23>> Yeah.
1:28:23>> But when you're scrolling, it's all
1:28:25novel.
1:28:26>> So, it's designed by people like me, by
1:28:29the way, cognitive neuroscientists,
1:28:32people like me who are hired by these
1:28:33companies. We use everything we know
1:28:35about how to capture your attention and
1:28:37keep your attention to make money off of
1:28:39you. It's all embedded in how all of
1:28:41these things work.
1:28:42>> Explain me what's happening to a person
1:28:45when they're consuming long- form
1:28:47content versus what's happening when
1:28:49they're consuming only short form
1:28:51content. Like what what's going on in
1:28:53the brain? Like if you have to draw
1:28:55parallels to long form brain and short
1:28:58form brain.
1:28:59>> Yeah.
1:29:01Well, it also depends on the content.
1:29:03Could I'll say that we've we've seen
1:29:05like negative content like the news
1:29:08honestly. Like I'll say something about
1:29:10the news briefly.
1:29:14News media
1:29:16also knows what sells and what captures
1:29:20attention.
1:29:20>> Yeah. That's why they do the negative
1:29:22stuff.
1:29:22>> Yeah. Cuz bad news, rage bait, it works.
1:29:26And listen, if one company starts using
1:29:29it, one news channel starts using it,
1:29:32and the other one goes, "Oh, that's
1:29:33well, that's not fair. They're going to
1:29:35hurt. The ratings are going to hurt if
1:29:37they don't also adapt."
1:29:39>> So now everybody's doing it.
1:29:40>> Yeah. Like since the time of like
1:29:43evolution,
1:29:45the most
1:29:48primitive
1:29:50feeling that human beings have is
1:29:52threat. Threat for survival. So the more
1:29:55you induce threat more people find it
1:29:58like more people get anxious and more
1:30:00they get anxious they want to keep
1:30:01consuming that content and that's why a
1:30:03lot of news media all around the world
1:30:05is just tapping on that one primitive
1:30:07emotion that is I'm going to make you
1:30:09sure that you feel keep feeling anxious
1:30:11and anxious and anxious and the way you
1:30:13feel anxious is when I tell you
1:30:15everything is wrong.
1:30:16>> Yeah. like no matter what you're doing
1:30:17is wrong. And I find out new ways to
1:30:21make you feel that everyone's against
1:30:23you. Everything's against you. Tomorrow
1:30:24morning you're going to get up and
1:30:26things going to go down. So we just tap
1:30:28on this emotion since the time of
1:30:31evolution. And that's why there's just
1:30:34negative stuff all around.
1:30:35>> Yeah.
1:30:36>> See, it's hard for us to make positive
1:30:38content and grow.
1:30:40>> It is.
1:30:41It is. It is hard. It would be easier to
1:30:43do it the other way. Oh, absolutely.
1:30:46Absolutely. If I start today,
1:30:48>> like you and I.
1:30:50>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
1:30:51>> Like this could we can make this go 10x
1:30:53more viral if we start just making it
1:30:56about threats and anxieties.
1:30:58>> Totally.
1:30:59>> About the world.
1:31:00>> And it's so sad.
1:31:01>> Yeah.
1:31:02>> But it is how the world it's how the
1:31:04brain works. It's not you know this is
1:31:06another biological law. You can ignore
1:31:09it but other companies know it and
1:31:11they're using it against you. So you we
1:31:13should learn the loss.
1:31:15>> But that's so sad, man. Shouldn't we
1:31:17change it? I mean, we're trying to
1:31:18change it from how what what we do.
1:31:22We're trying to teach people how to get
1:31:23better.
1:31:24>> Yeah.
1:31:25>> But
1:31:27I mean, to each their own.
1:31:28>> Yeah. But I will say we can't change our
1:31:31biology
1:31:33in that way. Like
1:31:35>> we keep thinking for
1:31:37>> survival and threat.
1:31:38>> We have to cuz this is an evolution. I
1:31:40mean, this has been like
1:31:41>> thousands of years.
1:31:42>> Yeah. What you're we're up that's going
1:31:44to be too hard. What you can do, though,
1:31:46is you can cut yourself off from things.
1:31:49Mhm.
1:31:49>> You know, I've met many really um
1:31:54high-powered executives that have had to
1:31:57do some pretty serious
1:32:00cleansing of their content because, you
1:32:04know, and some of them, if they're
1:32:05really in a dark place and their minds
1:32:07are just so foggy and so busy, we have
1:32:10to cut them off completely from the news
1:32:12for a little while. And you know what I
1:32:14tell them?
1:32:16the world's gonna go to whether
1:32:17you're looking at it or not. You're not
1:32:19that important. Like you're not involved
1:32:21in global news. I know you're, you know,
1:32:24fancy CEO running a company, but like
1:32:27>> Yeah.
1:32:28>> You're not like deciding on what's
1:32:30happening with the war.
1:32:31>> Yeah.
1:32:31>> Do you know what I mean? So instead of
1:32:34you every single day, 15 times a day
1:32:36checking all of the different updates
1:32:38that are coming in and it's completely
1:32:39fogging up your mind, it's now you can't
1:32:43anymore.
1:32:45At least until you re it's like
1:32:47rehabilitation until you rehab yourself
1:32:50back to you can hear yourself again.
1:32:53[clears throat]
1:32:54This is another big issue that I've
1:32:56seen. You know, people complain. They
1:32:59they say like they can't hear their own
1:33:01thoughts anymore. There's no internal
1:33:04narration. That's where all those ideas
1:33:06are going to come from too. It's coming
1:33:09from the inside. It's not coming from
1:33:10the outside. Of course, you can use the
1:33:13outside stuff to trigger some ideas, but
1:33:15ideas are still coming from inside.
1:33:17>> Yeah.
1:33:18>> Yeah.
1:33:19>> People have lost their ability to
1:33:21[snorts] actually have internal
1:33:23thoughts. That's so true. It's like we
1:33:26don't have internal thinking anymore.
1:33:29Very few people I meet these days who
1:33:31have their original way of thinking and
1:33:34some thoughts which there which are
1:33:36their own.
1:33:38>> Okay. Coming back to long form content,
1:33:40long form brain
1:33:42>> versus short form brain. So people who
1:33:46are watching long form content [snorts]
1:33:49have a sense of story and narration
1:33:52because long form think movies think a
1:33:55journey a long form podcast that you
1:33:57sink into there's highs there's lows
1:33:59you're learn you know there's there's uh
1:34:02turns that you didn't anticipate right
1:34:04like we didn't plan to talk about long
1:34:05form and short form but we arrived here
1:34:08you know it's it there's a whole journey
1:34:10that we're on so there's a sense of
1:34:12story and narration this is going to be
1:34:15critical again for that creativity and
1:34:17for something that we call
1:34:18autobiographical planning. This is all
1:34:21again DMN. So you're able to actually
1:34:23activate that more and do a lot more of
1:34:25your own internal planning. Right.
1:34:27>> Okay. What is autobiographical planning?
1:34:29>> Uh autobiographical planning is
1:34:32essentially you talking about the story
1:34:34of you and planning your future. M
1:34:38and the one where we have to change our
1:34:41future by thinking positive and optimism
1:34:43and having a belief where I am the main
1:34:45character and everything nice happens
1:34:47with me that narration is going to come
1:34:50through the story and narrative.
1:34:51>> Yeah.
1:34:52>> And that's autobiographical
1:34:54planning.
1:34:56>> Okay. That is literally the what we
1:34:57talked about in the very beginning. That
1:34:59is the definition of autobiographical
1:35:01planning is you sit down and you think
1:35:04you make the story and you say the story
1:35:07of who you are going to be.
1:35:10But think about kids these days. They
1:35:12almost never do that
1:35:13>> cuz they're scrolling most of the time.
1:35:15So they're letting the outside
1:35:16>> I know so many old people
1:35:20>> way old 10 years older than me. They
1:35:22don't know about their autobiographical
1:35:25planning. They have no idea about their
1:35:27story.
1:35:28>> So sad.
1:35:30>> But it's the autobiographical planning,
1:35:32by the way, is something that happens
1:35:33when we're bored.
1:35:35>> That's why boredom is so important.
1:35:37>> We have to find ways to force it. Force
1:35:40it if you need to be bored. And by the
1:35:42way, I'm not saying be bored for 5 hours
1:35:43a day. No, no, no, no.
1:35:45>> Yeah.
1:35:45>> We got to we got to get done.
1:35:47[laughter]
1:35:48But but a little bit
1:35:49>> Sundays are for boredom. Sundays every
1:35:51morning. I my personal opinion just a
1:35:54little bit in the morning and a little
1:35:55bit before bed. Pretty nice if you can
1:35:58manage it sometimes in the afternoon
1:36:00because sometimes the afternoons people
1:36:01have crazy ideas because they're tired.
1:36:04>> They have a little bit of a slump and
1:36:06when you are a little bit slumping in
1:36:08your energy often times your inhibition
1:36:11is lower so you come up with crazy
1:36:13ideas. You just go let's do this. You
1:36:16just like it's like being a little
1:36:16drunk. You're just like why not? Let's
1:36:19do it. Let's go after it. So, okay, long
1:36:21form, you got story and narrative
1:36:24because long- form content typically
1:36:27also does a lot of work around like
1:36:30character building, right? Like for
1:36:32example, think of the difference between
1:36:36your podcasts that are many hours long
1:36:38where you actually really get to know
1:36:40the guest
1:36:41>> really like there's a sense of
1:36:43personalization in in here like people
1:36:45will learn about the person. Then you
1:36:48actually develop empathy.
1:36:50>> Yeah.
1:36:50>> And by the way, there's a study for this
1:36:52that we can link here [snorts] where uh
1:36:56long form media like films have actually
1:36:59been shown to increase empathy in
1:37:00people.
1:37:02>> Wow.
1:37:04>> So the power of long- form media, the
1:37:06power of movies, long- form podcasts
1:37:09that are educational, you can actually
1:37:11increase different things and memory.
1:37:16You will remember long form media.
1:37:19>> True.
1:37:21>> Now we go to this side here. By the way,
1:37:25in case in case someone right now is
1:37:28watching this in a short,
1:37:30>> okay, that's fine. I dare you for just
1:37:35the next second, try to remember three
1:37:38reels ago.
1:37:40If you're scrolling right now, if you're
1:37:42scrolling right now, I What was the
1:37:45three reels ago? What did you see? If
1:37:48you can't remember, I don't want you to
1:37:49feel shame. You're not alone. I can't
1:37:51remember either. [laughter]
1:37:53And it's because short form scrolling is
1:37:55designed for you to just it's just like
1:37:58crack. You're just going to move from
1:38:00one thing to the other. It's just full
1:38:01novelty. So, there's no memory. So, you
1:38:04have less memory, which by the way,
1:38:07what's another word for memory?
1:38:09learning.
1:38:10>> Mhm.
1:38:11>> People think they're like exposing
1:38:13themselves to like new ideas and you
1:38:15can't freaking remember it. What's your
1:38:17It's not You're not absorbing any of it.
1:38:19There's no me. If there's no memory,
1:38:21there's no learning.
1:38:24>> Here, you have an opportunity to learn.
1:38:28By the way, not very many people know
1:38:30this, but um when I was growing up, um a
1:38:34lot of people think because I do so much
1:38:36research on like screen time and
1:38:38scrolling and technology and stuff that
1:38:39I like never watch.
1:38:42When I was little,
1:38:45I watched hours of TV every day, like
1:38:49unlimited television, no limits at all
1:38:51from my family.
1:38:52>> So, didn't your brain become this
1:38:54>> mush? Yeah.
1:38:55>> Well, we didn't have short form reals.
1:38:57I'm a little old, you know. [laughter]
1:38:58We didn't have there were no cell
1:39:00phones, man. This was before that time.
1:39:02We had old school uh you know, I even
1:39:05the the first TV I had to go and change
1:39:07the buttons on the on the actual
1:39:08television. [snorts] But no, my um my
1:39:11mom my mom and my dad uh requested that
1:39:15I watch television so I learn English.
1:39:19>> I was born in the United States, but my
1:39:21family didn't speak that much English
1:39:23because we had immigrated. They had
1:39:24immigrated. I was born here. Um, but
1:39:26they wanted me to learn English. So, and
1:39:28they couldn't teach me. So, then they
1:39:30said, "You have to sit. You have to sit
1:39:32down. TV time." I had to sit there and I
1:39:36had to watch. But everything is long
1:39:37form. And listen, [snorts]
1:39:41go look at an old TV show or an old
1:39:44movie from 20 years ago, 30 years ago,
1:39:48[snorts] and I want you to count how
1:39:50many times the scene changes.
1:39:54cuts.
1:39:56And now compare it to something that
1:39:58came out recently.
1:40:01Wildly different. Our attention [snorts]
1:40:03spans have gotten so bad. And
1:40:07producers know this, directors know
1:40:08this, editors know this, that the more
1:40:11you cut things up, the more it's going
1:40:12to capture attention.
1:40:13>> Yeah.
1:40:14>> This is even in shows for little kids.
1:40:17Little kids shows are total to totally
1:40:19different than what they used to be.
1:40:21>> Yeah. Like I know this there's
1:40:24now Netflix in all of their meetings
1:40:27they they ask this one question to the
1:40:30person who's selling them the show is
1:40:31like is it second screen viewing or no
1:40:35>> because Netflix wants to make all their
1:40:37shows
1:40:38>> based on second screen not the first
1:40:40screen because they know they're already
1:40:42watching like phone. So is it
1:40:45>> is it like when someone's on their phone
1:40:47can they still watch it and be engaged?
1:40:49Can you actually make them stop their
1:40:51phone and watch and then come back or
1:40:54no? Like you don't have to make like one
1:40:58long scene where somebody if they go to
1:41:00their phone they forget what was
1:41:01happening. So they have to make it like
1:41:03super
1:41:04>> Yeah.
1:41:04>> super quick.
1:41:06>> You know how depressing that is when we
1:41:09think about how many billions of people
1:41:11right now on this planet want to become
1:41:13successful?
1:41:15Listen,
1:41:17you've started your own empire.
1:41:21Do you talk about how hard you've had to
1:41:23work to make that happen? How much focus
1:41:25it requires? Dedication.
1:41:29Nobody's taking that many off days. I
1:41:31can tell you this. I have a business. I
1:41:34tell people this all the time. If you
1:41:36want off days, go get a job.
1:41:38>> Yeah.
1:41:38>> Because they give you time off.
1:41:39>> True.
1:41:41>> I run a lab. It's my heart and my soul
1:41:43is in it. I don't I'm always thinking
1:41:45about it. It's like my baby. Your
1:41:47business is your baby. There's no off.
1:41:50You don't become not a mother just
1:41:52there's no off day. It's a It's
1:41:55>> true.
1:41:56>> So if we know that's what it takes to
1:41:59succeed.
1:42:01And we right now are letting these
1:42:04companies
1:42:06train our brains in such a way that it's
1:42:09making it impossible even to watch a
1:42:11movie and focus.
1:42:13Think about how boring it is sometimes.
1:42:16Sometimes, not all the time, but to run
1:42:17a business and start a business,
1:42:19sometimes you got to do some boring
1:42:21It's hard, but you got to get
1:42:24through it. Listen, I do science. Like,
1:42:26you got to It's a slog. You got to
1:42:27analyze data. You got to be looking at
1:42:29stuff. You have to sit there. You have
1:42:30to work late at night sometimes. You're
1:42:32working hard. [gasps]
1:42:33And it's not fun. It's not always like a
1:42:37movie. If we are training the next
1:42:40generation of brains in the world to be
1:42:42so distracted
1:42:44and so unfocused that they need two
1:42:47script I mean this is crazy. It to me it
1:42:51feels like mass manipulation.
1:42:54[clears throat]
1:42:56The world doesn't want people thinking.
1:42:58It's easier to control people
1:43:02if they're dumb and not thinking at all.
1:43:04They're distracted.
1:43:06Depressing thought. But we go back to
1:43:08this. [snorts] Okay. So you've got short
1:43:10form, there's story or in long form
1:43:13there's story and narrative. Here
1:43:15there's no memory. There's no learning.
1:43:18Short form scrolling has also this is
1:43:21there's data to support this increase in
1:43:23depressive symptoms. We know people are
1:43:25more sad. We see an increase in anxiety.
1:43:29The more you scroll short form reals,
1:43:32short form media, the more anxious you
1:43:35get. Really?
1:43:37>> Yes.
1:43:38>> But what if I'm I'm just laughing and
1:43:41I'm watching funny reels?
1:43:43>> It's about the cuts. It's about how
1:43:46short it is. Don't If you want to laugh,
1:43:49watch a 20 minute video on YouTube.
1:43:51That's funny. It's literally We're just
1:43:54talking about long and short. We're not
1:43:55even talking about the content. But
1:43:57[snorts] that jumpy back and forth, the
1:43:59the cuts create more, it seems, more
1:44:03anxiety. Now you get depressive
1:44:05symptoms, an increase in anxiety and an
1:44:08increase in loneliness.
1:44:11Whereas here in long form we see
1:44:13empathy. And empathy by the way allows
1:44:15you to connect more.
1:44:17>> So you'd have an increase in connection
1:44:19versus an increase in loneliness. So
1:44:22they're like opposites of each other.
1:44:23>> But what's happening in my brain which
1:44:25is making me lonier if I consume short
1:44:28form? What's the correlation?
1:44:30>> You know, I will say this. We're not
1:44:32100% sure, but I will give you my
1:44:34hypothesis
1:44:36as somebody who is studying this right
1:44:37now. What I believe is happening in the
1:44:40brain when like why is it that we are
1:44:44experiencing the loneliness epidemic
1:44:46right now? It's not just in the United
1:44:48States. We're seeing it pretty much
1:44:50across any part of the world
1:44:53>> that has embraced technology.
1:44:55>> We see this increase in loneliness. Why
1:44:58does it make any sense? Because think
1:44:59about it. You and I and your team, we
1:45:01were all able to connect when we were
1:45:03halfway across the world from each
1:45:04other. It's pretty cool. Yeah,
1:45:06>> technology is pretty amazing like that,
1:45:07you know.
1:45:08>> So, I'm not saying, oh, I'm not like
1:45:10anti-tech like, oh, it's terrible. It's
1:45:11pretty cool. It allows people to connect
1:45:13from all over. It's amazing. [snorts]
1:45:16>> But that means we're more connected. So,
1:45:18how could it be possible that we're more
1:45:20lonely? Well, again, let's think about
1:45:22the craving and then the behavior and
1:45:24that whole response loop we talked about
1:45:26before.
1:45:28when I am let's say for example I'm
1:45:31seeking connection and let me begin by
1:45:34saying one other important biological
1:45:36law there's a biological law that's very
1:45:39important for us to accept it's not your
1:45:42choice human beings are pack animals
1:45:47>> we're designed for a collective we're
1:45:49not designed to live like lone wolves in
1:45:51silos that means human connection is in
1:45:55need like food or like water. You need
1:45:58it. You'll get sick if you don't get it.
1:46:01And that's been proven.
1:46:03>> Yeah. Longhaul truck drivers who don't
1:46:06get a lot of socializing. They have
1:46:09nobody to talk to for days and weeks
1:46:11sometimes,
1:46:12literally their brains start to degrade.
1:46:15They start to atrophy like they're
1:46:17experiencing almost like accelerated
1:46:19aging or dementia. It's so sad cuz a lot
1:46:22of them are young guys most of the time.
1:46:25>> [snorts]
1:46:25>> Okay, going back to this uh when you are
1:46:29craving
1:46:31social connection, which is a natural
1:46:34need, we all do it. We all need it. So,
1:46:36we all have the craving. [snorts] You
1:46:39have two options. Let's say you can
1:46:41either reach out to a friend, somebody
1:46:44you're living with, your family, you
1:46:45know, talk to somebody, whoever is
1:46:48nearby, pick up the phone and call
1:46:50somebody, text some at least. You know,
1:46:52there's like a whole from the best is
1:46:54like in real life, real connection.
1:46:56>> Yeah.
1:46:57>> Live. Okay. Next best is maybe the phone
1:46:59or something or FaceTime or something
1:47:01like that.
1:47:02>> Maybe a text. But if you say, "Oh,
1:47:06I want to know what other people are
1:47:07doing." If you get on social media,
1:47:09listen, let's be honest, social media is
1:47:12not social anymore, right?
1:47:15When you open up Instagram,
1:47:18it used to be when they first started,
1:47:20you would see the pictures and videos
1:47:22that your friends would post.
1:47:24>> Yeah.
1:47:24>> It's not like that anymore.
1:47:26>> True.
1:47:26>> It's other people you don't know. It's
1:47:29other people you don't know. So, you are
1:47:32seeking social connection and then you
1:47:34get you go on to short form media
1:47:37and then you start scrolling.
1:47:40>> So, you're distracted. Sure, you're
1:47:42distracted, but it feels kind of good in
1:47:44the moment, doesn't it?
1:47:45>> Yeah. Distraction feels good. So, it's
1:47:47like eating candy when you're hungry.
1:47:50So, you're hungry. You're hungry for
1:47:52something real. Really? Food, but you
1:47:55eat candy instead. What happens when you
1:47:57eat candy when you're hungry?
1:48:00>> In 1 hour,
1:48:02>> you feel more hungry.
1:48:03>> Yeah. You're you're hungry again because
1:48:04then you never filled yourself with
1:48:06nutrition,
1:48:07>> with the food your body needs. So you
1:48:09were, let's say, you were seeking social
1:48:11connection. It's like hunger. So, but
1:48:14instead of really seeking true
1:48:16connection, you instead went to short
1:48:18form media and you're scrolling. It's
1:48:20like candy. So, you're just going to be
1:48:22even hungrier in another hour. So,
1:48:24you're even So, then you were maybe a
1:48:26little lonely before. Now, you're even
1:48:28more lonely because it's never
1:48:31satisfying that need. It never satisfies
1:48:34that need. My [snorts] hypothesis is
1:48:36that what's happening in the brain is
1:48:39there's first dopamine.
1:48:43Dopamine is the brain's primary
1:48:46motivation molecule. So dopamine is all
1:48:50about motivation.
1:48:52You have dopamine and you have you have
1:48:54a desire for social connection.
1:48:58[clears throat]
1:49:00That's what you want. So you're
1:49:01motivated towards it. So in order to get
1:49:04this need met, what do you do? Let's say
1:49:07you do the there's two options. Option
1:49:09A, option B. We'll go two options here.
1:49:12One option is you go short form, you
1:49:15scroll. Okay, so you grab the phone
1:49:19versus you grab a person. We they're
1:49:23friends. There we go.
1:49:25>> Yay. Okay, so there's two other two
1:49:29other uh brain chemicals that I want to
1:49:31bring into the mix here. Okay, there's
1:49:33[snorts] something called oxytocin
1:49:36and there's something called serotonin.
1:49:40Okay, so you've got oxytocin and
1:49:43serotonin. Oxytocin, if you've ever
1:49:46heard of this, this is a hormone that's
1:49:49the known as the bonding hormone. So
1:49:52this is what bonds humans together. So
1:49:54if your dopamine levels are high, so
1:49:56meaning you're motivated for what?
1:49:58Social connection, that means what you
1:50:00want is oxytocin. you're you're seeking
1:50:02it.
1:50:02>> Okay,
1:50:02>> this is might might be what we could say
1:50:04this is what's satisfying it. This would
1:50:06satisfy it. And also serotonin is
1:50:08another neurom modulator that would that
1:50:10makes you feel good and content.
1:50:11>> Okay,
1:50:12>> makes you feel content and good.
1:50:14>> So bonding satisfaction.
1:50:15>> Very good. Yes.
1:50:16>> Okay.
1:50:17>> So this is really like the science of
1:50:19what it is that we're looking for here.
1:50:21I'm looking for this but really like I
1:50:23need these things in order to check this
1:50:25box.
1:50:26>> Okay. [snorts] If you go to short form,
1:50:29do you think what are we bonding with? I
1:50:31don't know. Like if I get on and I see
1:50:33one of your reels or I see one of my
1:50:35own, right? Where we both have short
1:50:38form media. I'm not bonding with this
1:50:40person. I don't even know them.
1:50:42>> True.
1:50:42>> So, I'm not getting any oxytocin
1:50:44contentment. I'm not getting because I
1:50:46already told you it increases anxiety,
1:50:48right? And depressive symptoms. So, it's
1:50:50leaving the person more sad. So, while
1:50:52they're doing it, they don't notice
1:50:54because while you're eating the candy,
1:50:56come on, man. It tastes good.
1:50:57>> Yeah, [laughter]
1:50:58>> we all think it tastes good. It's
1:51:00delicious. But afterwards is when you
1:51:02feel bad. It's afterwards where you're
1:51:04like, "Oh my god, I ate too much and I
1:51:06now I feel like crap. It is It wasn't
1:51:09nutritious."
1:51:10Now, if you actually seek real social
1:51:12connection, then you get the oxytocin.
1:51:14You get the serotonin. So, you actually
1:51:15get to check the box. So, you had the
1:51:17dopamine, you were motivated, you sought
1:51:19social connection, you got social
1:51:20connection. Good.
1:51:22>> But that doesn't happen.
1:51:24>> Not if you go this way.
1:51:26If you're if let's say for example
1:51:28dopamine goes high cuz you're hungry or
1:51:31you're thirsty. Like right now you and I
1:51:32have water. I go I I am thirsty. So I
1:51:35have this need.
1:51:37Dopamine goes up. That's motivation.
1:51:39Motivation so I can recruit
1:51:43my motor cortex and everything else to
1:51:44go and grab the water to drink from it.
1:51:49If I drink from it, then I satisfy the
1:51:51need.
1:51:52>> I got a little bit of hydration, so I
1:51:54feel better. Now, if I had the same
1:51:57loop, but I never get the water. I I
1:52:00don't know,
1:52:01go eat a cracker or something like this,
1:52:05then I might feel even worse than when I
1:52:07started.
1:52:09>> Yeah. The need's never satisfied.
1:52:11>> Well, this is how we look when we
1:52:15>> Oh, [laughter] yeah. I did. I told you
1:52:17before. I've I've always had a sweet
1:52:19tooth. So listen, I no shame in the
1:52:22game. I've always loved sweets.
1:52:24>> Yeah. So this is this is how we look
1:52:26when we are going for this candy. So
1:52:28this is what's happening.
1:52:29>> Yeah. Yeah. [laughter] Pretty much. I
1:52:33hope that you know I I I tell my
1:52:35students this all the time that um I'm
1:52:38passionate about a lot of this stuff
1:52:40because I'm not better than anybody
1:52:42else. I struggle with it myself. I've
1:52:45been addicted to scroll. I've struggled
1:52:47with addiction to many different things
1:52:49in my life.
1:52:50>> Mhm.
1:52:50>> Many things in my life. I've had to
1:52:52break addictions.
1:52:55I'm not above this. I studied this
1:52:58stuff. All of this stuff. I even studied
1:53:01addiction and I still became addicted.
1:53:04Like nothing can prevent this. Like you
1:53:07just need the awareness, the discipline,
1:53:09the desire for better. You have to just
1:53:12do the hard work, right? It's and
1:53:14listen, maybe it's like the the question
1:53:16you asked before about the billionaire's
1:53:18brain. It's like, are they just born
1:53:19different? Maybe some some people are
1:53:21probably lucky enough where they don't
1:53:23have a lot of this addiction stuff, you
1:53:24know? I was not one of those people. I
1:53:27love chocolate. I love sweets. I would
1:53:30eat dessert all day if I could. So, I
1:53:32have to create systems in my life in
1:53:34order to create balance. It doesn't come
1:53:36naturally.
1:53:38You have to be systems minded, aware,
1:53:41systems minded. You got to have the
1:53:42discipline. Um, I think that's the only
1:53:44way around it.
1:53:45>> So, we're going to do, what are we going
1:53:46to do? I'm going to show you a city map.
1:53:49>> Okay.
1:53:49>> Okay. Explain me how my brain works as
1:53:53if it was a city.
1:53:54>> So nice looking, huh?
1:53:56>> Okay. All right.
1:54:00Where shall I begin for you? [snorts]
1:54:02So, not that this is what the brain
1:54:04actually looks like, right? It's not
1:54:06perfectly accurate in terms of
1:54:08locations, but I what I think is really
1:54:10beautiful about this particular setup
1:54:12you have here is [snorts] you have so
1:54:15many of the different brain areas and
1:54:17the neural networks that I think are the
1:54:19most important for performance. They're
1:54:22the most relevant. You know what I mean?
1:54:23We don't nobody not every single person
1:54:25needs to go get a PhD in neuroscience.
1:54:27You know what I mean? This is like tell
1:54:28me the stuff I need to know.
1:54:30>> Yeah. The meaty stuff.
1:54:31>> The meaty stuff. Yeah. Okay. So, let's
1:54:34use actually an example because we're
1:54:36here to learn about getting done
1:54:38and being productive. I have a goal. I
1:54:40want to meet my goals, right? How do I
1:54:43do that?
1:54:43>> Yeah. How do I become this person who
1:54:45ends up achieving all the goals?
1:54:47>> Yes. Yes. Okay.
1:54:50Let's say what does that look like for
1:54:52you by the way? But you want to achieve
1:54:54your goals. A lot of it is like stuff on
1:54:56the computer. Yeah. Right. You sit down
1:54:57and you're reading, you're writing,
1:54:59>> researching, coming up with questions,
1:55:01thinking a lot. Yeah.
1:55:03>> Beautiful. And it's on the computer,
1:55:05right? In your office
1:55:06>> or wherever somewhere. Okay. [snorts]
1:55:09>> So, in order for that to happen, a few
1:55:12things.
1:55:13>> One,
1:55:15the default mode network that we talked
1:55:16about before here called beautifully
1:55:19story studios, right? It's where all the
1:55:22stories are made. This is the story
1:55:23making machine.
1:55:24>> So, the story about myself that hey, I
1:55:26want to be this podcaster and this and
1:55:28that. It's here.
1:55:30>> Beautiful. Yes. and how you're going to
1:55:32get there too. Like it's going to
1:55:33happen. I need to do research blah blah
1:55:34blah. So this story network is sending
1:55:38information and that information is
1:55:40going into city hall.
1:55:43This is your CEN, your central executive
1:55:46network, the CEO, the very front section
1:55:48of the brain. And this is going, okay,
1:55:50Raj wants to be the number one podcast
1:55:53in the world. Okay, you want to build
1:55:55that. That's what we're that's the goal.
1:55:57That's what we're going towards. Then
1:55:59your CEN, this sort of frontal parietal
1:56:02area that's going to be focused on how
1:56:04you do that goal achievement, goal
1:56:06directed attention, it's going to try to
1:56:09quiet everything else down and just stay
1:56:11focused on whatever it is you're doing.
1:56:12So let's say you're doing research. So
1:56:13you're on your computer and you're doing
1:56:15research on it on the next thing, right?
1:56:17[snorts]
1:56:18You have meaning. This is where the
1:56:20meaning is coming from. Why? Why am I
1:56:22doing it? It's coming from the story.
1:56:24Then you have city hall that the CEO
1:56:27that's actually going towards the thing
1:56:28making it happen. Okay. Then you have a
1:56:32really important place here. It's
1:56:33another neural network. It's not just a
1:56:35place. It's a network. The dorsal
1:56:37attention network. The DN.
1:56:40The DN is like the watchtowwer
1:56:44looking.
1:56:45>> I don't know if you've seen Lord of the
1:56:46Rings.
1:56:47>> No.
1:56:47>> No. It's the Eye of Sauron. Okay. For
1:56:50those that have seen it, [snorts]
1:56:52>> this is the Watchtower. The DN is
1:56:54looking look and it's pointing a
1:56:56spotlight, you know. So, it's like a
1:56:58like a flashlight or a spotlight of your
1:57:00attention on whatever it is that it
1:57:03needs to focus on. Whatever it is that
1:57:06and this is the tricky part. It says it
1:57:07needs to focus on. Who's telling it
1:57:12where to shine the light?
1:57:14>> The city hall.
1:57:15>> Sure. The city hall can do that. You
1:57:17know who else might [snorts] in the
1:57:19middle? Not this one necessarily. the
1:57:22alarm tower. If there's an emergency and
1:57:26this one says, "Hey, oh my god, panic,"
1:57:28then the DN will say, "Raj, stop
1:57:31focusing on your Google doc. We have
1:57:33there's emergencies happening. Go look
1:57:35at this." Or, for example, the dispatch
1:57:38center
1:57:39salance network. This is like emergency
1:57:42calls, your satellite system.
1:57:44Something's happening. I don't know what
1:57:46it is. Maybe it's not an emergency.
1:57:48Maybe it's not an alarm. That's your
1:57:50amydala. It's a walnut- sized area deep
1:57:52inside of the center of the brain. And
1:57:54that brain area is the brain's alarm
1:57:56system
1:57:58every time there's some sort of
1:58:00emergency. Okay, so that's [snorts] the
1:58:01alarm tower. You've got this amazing
1:58:06team.
1:58:08>> Okay, that is either going to help you
1:58:10meet your goals or it's going to make it
1:58:13potentially more difficult. But it
1:58:14depends on how you set yourself up for
1:58:16success. So going back to the example,
1:58:19you sit down and you have a goal.
1:58:21>> H
1:58:21>> you have that's your meaning.
1:58:22>> Okay,
1:58:23>> your CEO, your CEN, but it's your CEO.
1:58:26Let's say that's going to start
1:58:28focusing.
1:58:29>> Okay.
1:58:29>> Okay. Your DN says, "Got it. No problem.
1:58:32Let's focus on the computer. Let's focus
1:58:34on the research." So your DA, the
1:58:36watchtowwer goes, it's focusing on the
1:58:38work.
1:58:40As long as you keep focusing and as long
1:58:43as nothing distracts you or interrupts
1:58:46you, then maybe as long as you can, you
1:58:49will keep focusing.
1:58:50>> This is my tension.
1:58:52>> Yeah. But what's the usual setup?
1:58:55Remember when we talked about your phone
1:58:56and where you keep it?
1:58:57>> It's like
1:58:58>> here
1:58:58>> there's one notification, another there
1:59:00are five tabs opening, two people
1:59:02talking, and then I have to be
1:59:03everywhere and then I have to message
1:59:06>> probably scroll a little in between.
1:59:08That's what always happens. So now
1:59:10you've got every time the notification
1:59:12comes in, salance network goes, "Hey,
1:59:15look over here. What's over there? Oh,
1:59:18what's that?" And then when 911, this
1:59:21dispatch center, the salance network
1:59:23says, "Look over here." The watchtowwer
1:59:25goes, "What do you want me to look at?"
1:59:27So it looks at something else. So this
1:59:30area, the salance network is what is the
1:59:34external essentially distraction. It is
1:59:37it is telling you where to orient your
1:59:39attention.
1:59:41>> So that's why you need to keep your
1:59:42digital hygiene clean. You need to have
1:59:46good digital hygiene when you're sitting
1:59:47down to work. Otherwise, you're setting
1:59:49yourself up for failure instead of
1:59:50success.
1:59:51>> So to shut this down,
1:59:53>> you have to shut that down. Well, it's
1:59:54not shut it down. You can't shut it
1:59:56down. It's there to keep you alive. You
1:59:59[snorts] have to clean your environment
2:00:02and control your environment
2:00:05so that you set this whole system up for
2:00:07success. This is you can't shut this
2:00:09down.
2:00:10>> The brain is going to do its thing.
2:00:12These are the biological laws. Remember
2:00:14like gravity, you can't fight this
2:00:16thing. This is the brain.
2:00:17>> Okay. But then I want to clean my
2:00:18environment in a way so that it it
2:00:20doesn't get triggered.
2:00:22>> Yeah.
2:00:23>> Okay.
2:00:23>> Think about, you know, um a lot of
2:00:25people have young kids, right? Imagine
2:00:27if you have a kid and they get go to
2:00:29school and then they come back with a
2:00:31bad grade and they really studied hard,
2:00:34you know, and then they're like so sad
2:00:36about it. You find out that the teacher
2:00:40let them all be on their phones talk.
2:00:42There was like a party. They're playing
2:00:43music. Like all these things were
2:00:45happening. People were chitchatting with
2:00:47each other. People were coming in and
2:00:48out while they were sitting down and
2:00:50taking their exam.
2:00:52All the parents would go crazy. They
2:00:54would be like, "This is not fair. this
2:00:56is not how you run a classroom. This is
2:00:58not how you give an exam. And then they
2:00:59would pretty much, you know,
2:01:01>> say like we demand a redo. You have to
2:01:04redo it.
2:01:06But how do you sit down and work?
2:01:10You're a leader like I am. I run a team,
2:01:12right? When our teams sit down to
2:01:14actually get work done, how what's their
2:01:16environment like? Is it built for focus
2:01:19or is it built for distraction?
2:01:22So this is this is all of these amazing
2:01:25different brain areas are there to keep
2:01:27you alive. They're there for a purpose
2:01:29for sure.
2:01:30>> But what are these two?
2:01:32>> Oh,
2:01:32>> hippocampus. It's library and archive.
2:01:35>> This is just your memories. And your
2:01:38memories by the way are very very close
2:01:39typically to the amydala. So your
2:01:41hippocampus and the amydala are rather
2:01:42close. This [snorts] is an important
2:01:46I would say maybe an important note.
2:01:49[snorts]
2:01:49Your amygdala is the seat of a lot of
2:01:52fear, right? Fear and anxiety, negative
2:01:56affect.
2:01:58Your hippocampus is the seat of a great
2:02:01deal of memory.
2:02:03Things that are negative and scary are
2:02:07more memorable.
2:02:10So, and this is actually true
2:02:12technically for all emotion. If you can
2:02:15heighten your emotions, you will
2:02:17remember the situation better. If you
2:02:20can increase, for example, even your
2:02:22anxiety about whether you'll forget it
2:02:25or not. If you're afraid of forgetting
2:02:28something, you're less likely to forget.
2:02:33>> So, how do I improve my memory then of
2:02:36the positive things? M in general
2:02:40improving your memory and this is
2:02:43actually a a I think kind of a fun fact
2:02:46that's a little bit um counterintuitive.
2:02:50>> If you want to strengthen your memory,
2:02:52open the aperture of your attention if
2:02:55you you can only remember what you're
2:02:58attending to,
2:03:00right? You can't remember something that
2:03:02you weren't paying attention to.
2:03:03>> Yeah. So if you can heighten and sharpen
2:03:06your focus and your attention,
2:03:09then your memory will get better.
2:03:12It's like the funnel, right? The
2:03:14attention is what you're paying
2:03:16attention to. All the stuff that's
2:03:17getting in. So if you want more stuff to
2:03:19get in,
2:03:21focus on your attention if you want to
2:03:23remember more stuff, right?
2:03:24>> Things h you have to come in in order to
2:03:26go down into memory.
2:03:28>> Yeah. But
2:03:30>> that's pretty much the end of the brain
2:03:31city map. One thing that I keep failing
2:03:35at is waking up super early. And I've
2:03:38tried so many times. Some like I I've
2:03:42somehow
2:03:48what do you [clears throat] say? Somehow
2:03:49trained myself to get up at like 7:30
2:03:538:00 a.m. But I'm still not able to do
2:03:55the 5:00 a.m. club. Like I've tried
2:03:58really hard. Why do you want to do the 5
2:04:01a.m. club?
2:04:02>> Is it like you become better, your
2:04:03energy gets better, you focus better,
2:04:05all of a sudden your life turns around.
2:04:07This whole hype around 5:00 a.m. club,
2:04:10early to rise, early to bed, all that.
2:04:13Isn't it like that?
2:04:14>> It's
2:04:16For some people, yeah, for some people,
2:04:19but not for everybody.
2:04:22The most important is the foundation,
2:04:24the principle, the biological law and
2:04:26the principle is that you need to be
2:04:28getting enough high quality sleep.
2:04:31Shoot for 7 hours minimum.
2:04:34That should be the goal. So if you're
2:04:36getting enough sleep, that's the most
2:04:38important. This is the foundation.
2:04:41Doesn't really matter what time you wake
2:04:42up, right? this myth uh this is truly
2:04:47like people get off on this idea that um
2:04:50you know we have the saying the early
2:04:52bird gets the worm right
2:04:55we have all of these sayings because
2:04:57waking up late and staying up late has
2:04:59been historically associated with being
2:05:01lazy with sloth doesn't have to be that
2:05:03way I'm actually really proud of so many
2:05:06I would say modern-day leaders that are
2:05:09actually coming out of the closet
2:05:11of being night owls of being PM shifted
2:05:14Um, Sundar, [snorts] the CEO of Google,
2:05:16has come out and and admitted that he
2:05:18does some of his best thinking at like
2:05:1910:00 p.m.
2:05:20>> I didn't know what did he say
2:05:22>> that he does his best thinking at like
2:05:24late at night and some days he like, you
2:05:26know, after like dinner, blah blah blah,
2:05:27he like likes to really like that's his
2:05:30sometimes his really high quality focus
2:05:31time. That's like that's some of the
2:05:34because he's PM shifted. Mhm.
2:05:36>> Now, I know that we gave you
2:05:39>> to do it,
2:05:39>> a biological chronotype assessment as
2:05:41well, but I [snorts] want to first talk
2:05:43about chronotypes in general. So, this
2:05:46whole idea of being in the 5 a.m. club
2:05:49and all of this stuff, this comes from
2:05:50society and it's honestly BS. We don't
2:05:54need it.
2:05:54>> Why do you call it 5 a.m. club porn?
2:05:56Like 5 a.m. pawn? What is [snorts]
2:05:58>> it's okay? There's this there's this
2:06:01whole
2:06:03I don't even know what to call it.
2:06:04There's like it's like a club of people,
2:06:06okay, that believe that and they they
2:06:09love doing this as a habit. And you know
2:06:11what? Listen, if it works for you, do
2:06:13it. I think it's great. I know lots of
2:06:15people that wake up at 5:00 in the
2:06:16morning. And listen, I'm not getting up
2:06:18super late either. I think it's great,
2:06:20but the most important thing is to
2:06:22listen to your body. I call it 5 a.m.
2:06:25club porn because there's so many blogs
2:06:27and books and other podcasts, tweets. Uh
2:06:31you see all of these different like just
2:06:33articles and all of this content about
2:06:36people. It's like if you want to be the
2:06:38most successful version of yourself, you
2:06:40need to wake up at 4:30 in the morning
2:06:42and then you need to do 25 push-ups and
2:06:45then you need to drink a tall glass of
2:06:46lemon water with cayenne in it and then
2:06:48you need to do a cold plunge and then
2:06:50you need to do this and then you need to
2:06:52what a sauna then this and that and it's
2:06:54like oh my god what are we doing? Like
2:06:57if listen, if you are not getting at
2:07:00least 7 hours of high quality sleep,
2:07:02what's the point of you waking up at 5,
2:07:05right? Because of this like idea that
2:07:07we're all like addicted to that like see
2:07:09it's like I call it porn because it
2:07:11seems like such a great idea, but it's
2:07:13not. It's only a good idea like if
2:07:16you've got all the other things like
2:07:17lined up truly like it's this thing that
2:07:20people are obsessed with. So, they're
2:07:21talking about it and writing about it,
2:07:22and it's like, look, this one CEO woke
2:07:25up at 5:00 and he does all this
2:07:26before 7:00 a.m. and that's why he's
2:07:28successful. And it's just not true.
2:07:31That's not why he's successful. It's one
2:07:33of his strategies. But some other CEOs
2:07:36do some of their best work from 8:00
2:07:38p.m. to midnight. It doesn't matter
2:07:40which time it is. It matters which time
2:07:44it is for you. And each person is a
2:07:47little bit different.
2:07:49>> [snorts]
2:07:49>> In 2017, the Nobel Prize in Medicine
2:07:54went to three researchers who discovered
2:07:56that human beings do not share one
2:08:00circadian rhythm.
2:08:04So, circadian rhythms are the biological
2:08:06sort of clock that we have that that
2:08:08that tells us when that we have high
2:08:10energy, low energy, so on and so forth.
2:08:12Peaks and troughs of energy throughout
2:08:14the course of the day.
2:08:17We thought that all humans generally
2:08:20speaking, we wake up with the sun,
2:08:21right?
2:08:22>> Yeah. And
2:08:23>> creatures of light, we wake up with the
2:08:25sun and we go to bed at night.
2:08:26>> Yeah.
2:08:28>> Story is a little more complicated.
2:08:30Welcome science to science, right? It's
2:08:32like a little more complicated than we
2:08:33thought. In 2017, the Nobel Prize in
2:08:37medicine went to these three researchers
2:08:38who discovered we don't share one
2:08:40circadian rhythm. We at least have three
2:08:42genetic what are called chronotypes.
2:08:46Now your chronotype
2:08:48is the your genetic optimum of when you
2:08:51feel the most energized when you feel
2:08:53the most uh motivated. It's even for
2:08:56physical f fitness it makes a big
2:08:58difference. Ideal times you should wake
2:09:00up go to sleep so on and so forth. Okay.
2:09:03Now the three major chronotypes
2:09:05are am shifted
2:09:08which are the folks that wake up
2:09:10naturally hormonally pretty early in the
2:09:12morning. [snorts] bifphasic
2:09:16which is in the middle it stands for the
2:09:17Latin two phases or two peaks
2:09:19>> okay
2:09:20>> and the third PM shifted
2:09:24the AM shifted people they linearly
2:09:27decrease in energy over the course of
2:09:29the day
2:09:30>> now these individuals usually by even
2:09:34early evening are struggling a little
2:09:36bit right and their bodies will
2:09:37naturally wake them up how do you know
2:09:39your AM shifted versus the second type
2:09:41by phasic
2:09:43if you wake up super early in the
2:09:46morning. No matter what, even if you go
2:09:47to bed late, your body will wake you up.
2:09:49Can you imagine? Like, you go to bed at
2:09:50like 2 3:00 in the morning. For some
2:09:54people, it doesn't matter. Their body's
2:09:55going to wake them up at 5:00.
2:09:57>> I know. You're like, "Not me." No,
2:10:00[snorts]
2:10:00>> I can sleep at 10:00 and still not wake
2:10:02up at [laughter] 5.
2:10:04>> Good for you. Wow. Really? You're a good
2:10:06You can You can do that.
2:10:07>> Yeah. Yeah, I can sleep very long. As
2:10:08long as Alam doesn't hit it, I I don't
2:10:10get up. Rarely, I get up. That's a
2:10:13blessing. Congratulate. Seriously.
2:10:15>> Yeah. Either I can't sleep or if I sleep
2:10:18then
2:10:19>> you're sleeping.
2:10:20>> It's such a It's a gift by the way. It's
2:10:22such a blessing. It truly I sometimes
2:10:27I'm like I have to I have systems for it
2:10:30>> but I am PM shifted which means
2:10:33naturally I could if left to my own
2:10:36devices I would be up until like 2 3:00
2:10:38in the morning.
2:10:38>> Mhm.
2:10:39>> Easily.
2:10:40>> Same. like by 4 I'm like now I'm ready
2:10:43maybe to go to bed.
2:10:44>> Yeah,
2:10:45>> but this is not functional. [laughter]
2:10:47If I'm going to bed at 4, then I
2:10:50probably wouldn't wake up and I have
2:10:51like blackout curtains and an eye mask
2:10:53and all of this stuff to help keep me
2:10:54asleep and then I'm not waking up until
2:10:56way late in the morning. And you know,
2:10:57you get this. You run a business. I run
2:10:59a business. Like this is not possible.
2:11:00Okay, [snorts] so I got to get up. So
2:11:03that means I have to create systems. So
2:11:04I go to bed usually around like 11:00 by
2:11:07midnight. I'm asleep. This is my
2:11:10>> Okay. That's good. That's not bad.
2:11:12>> No. And you can do that. So, I'm telling
2:11:14you genetically, biologically, my body
2:11:17wants to go to bed in the 2 to 4 a.m.
2:11:19range. I'm able to shift it back at
2:11:21least 3 hours through behavioral
2:11:24adjustments. Those behavioral
2:11:26adjustments I can outline with you
2:11:27because
2:11:29Do you want to share your results?
2:11:30>> Yeah. So, you gave me this whole uh
2:11:35questionnaire to fill.
2:11:36>> Mhm. to find out can we do something
2:11:39like so I filled that question and it
2:11:41took me like 3 4 minutes it didn't take
2:11:42me long can we do that for people as
2:11:45well can you give me some link so that a
2:11:47lot of people who want to find out what
2:11:50are they what's their natural type of
2:11:53sleeping and waking up and what is the
2:11:55hour where they feel the most energetic
2:11:59versus when they feel really sloppy if
2:12:02they want to find out can we have some
2:12:03link of this this test to something
2:12:05>> yes yeah we our lab has um it's it's
2:12:08www.mmyronotype.com
2:12:11and we can absolutely give give folks
2:12:13access to it so they don't have to pay
2:12:15for it but to get the assessment done
2:12:17the same assessment you did.
2:12:18>> Perfect. Done. So we're going to we're
2:12:20going to go through my results.
2:12:22>> Okay.
2:12:22>> And then we'll put out a link in the
2:12:24description for anyone who wants to
2:12:26actually go test it.
2:12:27>> Okay. So this is what the report was.
2:12:30>> Yes. Let's look at it. So here's an
2:12:33outline first of just the three types,
2:12:35right? the three different types we
2:12:37talked about AM shifted bifphasic and PM
2:12:39shifted and anybody else who's watching
2:12:41if you also take the assessment you're
2:12:43going to get a report as well a PDF
2:12:45report that's going to go over all of
2:12:46this information so these are the three
2:12:48main chronotypes now as you can see here
2:12:50in the center we have population
2:12:52distributions the population [snorts]
2:12:53distribution here shows that the
2:12:56majority of people in the world are
2:12:58bifphasic
2:13:00>> even they are not like 5 a.m. type
2:13:02>> no [laughter] so that's why I say it's
2:13:03stupid this 5 a.m. club for everybody
2:13:06like, "Oh, if you want to be the most
2:13:07successful version of yourself, you got
2:13:08to wake up at 5." No, you
2:13:10don't. No, you don't. This is great for
2:13:12like a quarter of the human population
2:13:14that naturally they prefer to go to bed
2:13:16early and wake up early. Amazing. If
2:13:18that's you, enjoy.
2:13:20>> Brilliant. Yeah.
2:13:20>> Brilliant. Good for you.
2:13:22>> Don't force that on me.
2:13:23>> Yeah. Go work in finance. Everybody's
2:13:25waking up at 5. Great. Awesome.
2:13:26[laughter]
2:13:27Awesome. [snorts]
2:13:28The majority of the human population is
2:13:30bifphasic. Also research from my lab
2:13:32shows by the way PM shifted is actually
2:13:34closer to 10% of the human population.
2:13:37So super minority. So the bifphasic
2:13:39energy curve bifphasic stands for the
2:13:41Latin two phases or two peaks. So that
2:13:45means these individuals have a midm
2:13:47morning peak. So not first thing in the
2:13:49morning. So they need like 45 minutes
2:13:51maybe an hour to kind of ramp up. but
2:13:53they're going to peak in their cortisol
2:13:55levels, their epinephrine, all of this
2:13:56amazing hormones that keep you focused
2:13:58and alert and awake and excited. They're
2:14:01going to get there. Give it an hour. So,
2:14:03if you wake up in the morning and you're
2:14:05like, "Okay, but then within 45 minutes
2:14:09you're like, I feel amazing,
2:14:11>> but in an hour you feel amazing,
2:14:13probably you're bifphasic."
2:14:14>> Okay,
2:14:15>> now these individuals, that's their
2:14:17first peak in the morning. second and
2:14:19then they come down for an super
2:14:22afternoon dip. Super afternoon dip. Like
2:14:25they're crashing. They're these folks
2:14:27crash harder than anybody else. So they
2:14:29could really take a nap, you know, in
2:14:31the middle of the day. But if they
2:14:34listen to their body, maybe they take a
2:14:36break, maybe they do a workout, maybe
2:14:37they do some other stuff, they take a
2:14:39little bit of a break. After that, they
2:14:41get a second wind
2:14:44of
2:14:44>> focus again.
2:14:45>> Yeah. A second peak. So sometimes it's
2:14:48early evening, sometimes it's later
2:14:49evening, sometimes it's late afternoon.
2:14:51You know, it really depends when you
2:14:52wake up. But you will have another peak
2:14:55if you're bifphasic, if you play your
2:14:56cards right, you this is what I mean by
2:14:59leverage your biology
2:15:01>> because these people if they don't take
2:15:03a proper break midday and they don't
2:15:05listen to their body, that second peak
2:15:07will be less peaky. They won't take
2:15:09advantage of it.
2:15:10>> Got it?
2:15:11>> So this whole 9 to5, it doesn't really
2:15:14serve. It's not the way this is
2:15:16designed. You should be you should learn
2:15:19what your chronoype is so you can take
2:15:20advantage of your peak performance
2:15:22hours. 2 to three hours every single day
2:15:25your brain is at its best.
2:15:26>> Is it you know [clears throat] what I
2:15:28know somebody I'm not allowed to take
2:15:30their names but super [snorts]
2:15:32successful multi-billionaire lives on an
2:15:34island bunch of things right?
2:15:37He did some tests with his performance
2:15:40coaches and all over all all those
2:15:42things right and he says that he sleeps
2:15:454 hours then functions then sleep 4
2:15:48hours he doesn't sleep at he doesn't
2:15:50sleep like 8 hours a stretch will he
2:15:52come in by phasic
2:15:54>> no that's that's an old school tactic
2:15:57called like split sleep listen it's hard
2:16:00on the brain and the body that's not how
2:16:02our brains and our bodies are designed
2:16:05Matthew Walker who's also at UC Berkeley
2:16:07one of the world's most, you know,
2:16:09renowned sleep psychologists in his
2:16:12book, all of his research. Yeah, exact,
2:16:14you know, it y [snorts]
2:16:16>> literally it spells out, all of the
2:16:18sleep research spells out pretty clearly
2:16:21that we need
2:16:23sustained contiguous hours of sleep. You
2:16:26even get some higher quality benefits if
2:16:28you go to bed before midnight.
2:16:30Not really sure why. Kind of sucks for
2:16:33the PM shifted people, [snorts]
2:16:35but it is what it is. So science would
2:16:38definitely disagree with that strategy
2:16:40for sure. Now, if it's working for
2:16:42performance, you know, fine, but it's
2:16:45it's not going to work for his health.
2:16:47>> It's going to be a sacrifice. You know,
2:16:48it would be like I've also met people
2:16:50that drink like five cups of coffee a
2:16:51day and they're just like, okay, but
2:16:53you're doing something not so great for
2:16:55yourself long at some point there will
2:16:56be consequences.
2:16:58>> Yeah. Oh, [snorts]
2:16:59>> good. So okay you've got bifphasic
2:17:01people as mentioned majority of the
2:17:02human population and then you have the
2:17:05tired the lonely the few now really 10
2:17:10to 15% of the human population is PM
2:17:14shifted PM shifted people prefer to go
2:17:17to bed later and wake up later
2:17:19biologically
2:17:21>> that's me
2:17:23>> it is you you are PM shifted it is your
2:17:26chronotype we were able to actually test
2:17:28this and see that your chronoype is PM
2:17:32shifted. Now, every chronoype has a
2:17:35peak, a dip, and a recovery period.
2:17:37Okay. Now, for a PM shifted person, and
2:17:40maybe for this so that you can see it
2:17:42too, we do it this way. [snorts] Okay.
2:17:45So, for a PM shifted person,
2:17:47>> all right, if we take the hours, let's
2:17:49say, of like 9:00 a.m. to to to 1:00
2:17:51a.m. that you see here on the x-axis,
2:17:54you've got creative work ideally being
2:17:57done
2:17:59in the morning.
2:18:02This might be when you have some of your
2:18:03best ideas. Why? Because you're probably
2:18:06a little tired of the mornings, aren't
2:18:07you?
2:18:08>> Yeah, I'm very tired in the morning.
2:18:09Because when you're tired, you're more
2:18:11likely to allow yourself to activate
2:18:14that DMN and be bored. You can just kind
2:18:17of sit back, give yourself a few
2:18:19minutes, let your mind wander, journal a
2:18:20little bit, brainstorm, just expose
2:18:23yourself to like really interesting,
2:18:25good content, and see what comes up, see
2:18:27what ideas you might have. When we are a
2:18:29little bit lower in energy levels,
2:18:32you're less inhibited.
2:18:34So, you're going to come up with a few
2:18:36more ideas.
2:18:37So, I should do my reading and like just
2:18:39thinking work during this time.
2:18:42>> You could experiment with it. At least
2:18:44try it.
2:18:46It's [snorts] possible you've already
2:18:47trained yourself enough to like be able
2:18:49to still get a lot of really like to
2:18:51activate that central executive network,
2:18:53that CEN to get stuff done really early
2:18:56in the morning. But probably, and you'll
2:18:59tell me if this is true, that you likely
2:19:02hit your
2:19:05peak
2:19:07>> in the evening for sure.
2:19:08>> Yeah.
2:19:09>> That means I'm like, "Go, go, go, go
2:19:12during the night."
2:19:14>> Really?
2:19:14>> Yeah.
2:19:15>> That's when you should be doing your
2:19:16focused work. You got to get done.
2:19:18You got to be doing that stuff at night.
2:19:20That evening range is when people, and
2:19:23by the way, I'm PM shifted, too. Women
2:19:25who are PM shifted are even more the
2:19:27minority of the human population.
2:19:29There's very few of us. So, but PM
2:19:31shifted in general, we're both
2:19:32minorities in the human population. So,
2:19:35this is we need to be taking advantage
2:19:37of this time. And listen, not every day
2:19:39because I don't know about you, but if I
2:19:40stay up super late working, it's going
2:19:42to ruin my work day and all of this
2:19:43stuff. I have stuff to do during the
2:19:45day. I have meetings sometimes at 8:00
2:19:46in the morning. So, like I can't do this
2:19:48often, but sometimes I give myself the
2:19:51gift of allowing myself to work in the
2:19:54evenings and then when I have time to
2:19:56sleep in the next day, it works really
2:19:59well. I can take advantage of it and get
2:20:01more done. So, [snorts] that's what I
2:20:03recommend people do is really um
2:20:05>> and what do I do in the dip?
2:20:07>> Oh, administrative work. Stuff that is
2:20:09less important for you. We all have
2:20:12administrative work. Even if you
2:20:14outsource most of it, we still have some
2:20:16administrative work like less important
2:20:18work
2:20:18>> like checking emails and
2:20:20>> Yeah. Take your calls then.
2:20:22>> Send message then.
2:20:23>> Yeah. Send all the messages, take your
2:20:25calls then and get that stuff done. You
2:20:26have some shopping to do, do it then.
2:20:29Get a workout in. If you work out here
2:20:32during your dip, your peak will be even
2:20:35pickier. You're going to feel amazing.
2:20:38>> So many people wait until after work to
2:20:40go work out.
2:20:41>> Yeah.
2:20:41>> I do it in the morning. That's great.
2:20:44Especially for a PM shifted person. I
2:20:46have recommended to a lot of um CEOs
2:20:49that uh are A.M. shifted for them to not
2:20:51work out in the morning.
2:20:53>> Why?
2:20:54>> Because they wake up at 5
2:20:565:00 a.m. club porn, right? They wake up
2:20:59at 5:00 a.m. and their their brain is
2:21:01already on, man. It's like what your
2:21:03brain is like at night time. They're
2:21:05ready. They're fire.
2:21:06>> So, I should work out in the morning,
2:21:08not at night.
2:21:08>> For you, I would say for me, too. Yeah.
2:21:11because I'm not listen I'm not solving
2:21:13the world's biggest problems in the
2:21:14morning anyway I'm like drinking my
2:21:16coffee I'm like all right I'm like very
2:21:17meditative I'm very relaxed soft you
2:21:21know then later in the day I'm like all
2:21:23right let's go let's let's hit it so
2:21:26yeah I would my recommendation is
2:21:27everyone should figure out what their
2:21:29type is and strategically design their
2:21:32day when they can listen we all have
2:21:34meetings and responsibilities but at
2:21:36least know what your type is so that if
2:21:39you get an opportunity to protect a few
2:21:41hours in that peak performance window
2:21:43that for you is the evening. For most
2:21:46other people, it's going to be midm
2:21:48morning. That's the majority. Some
2:21:50people it's early morning. Protect that
2:21:52time.
2:21:53>> But I'm going to be anxious till 6:00
2:21:55p.m. If I don't do like the the minute I
2:21:58wake up and if I'm not like getting all
2:22:00the stuff done.
2:22:01>> Yeah.
2:22:03>> The whole day I'm going to spend an
2:22:04[clears throat] anxiety of what am I
2:22:07missing out if I'm not doing the work. I
2:22:09won't be able to think and brainstorm
2:22:11and read and like I won't be able to
2:22:13wander.
2:22:15>> How about if you wander tried wandering
2:22:17for you schedule it and you time
2:22:18yourself. You say I'm going to give
2:22:20myself one hour to brainstorm to see if
2:22:23I can come up with how many good ideas
2:22:26for the business and for the podcast.
2:22:29>> Does it does like scheduling wandering
2:22:32works?
2:22:33>> Mhm.
2:22:34>> Really?
2:22:35>> Yeah. We call it
2:22:36>> shouldn't it be like just it should be
2:22:37what do you call
2:22:38>> think time?
2:22:39>> Yeah, but then shouldn't think time be
2:22:41just out of nowhere random.
2:22:44>> Then it's not disciplined. [laughter]
2:22:46Then what what if you never do it? We're
2:22:49busy people. I think if you really care
2:22:51about something, you should schedule it.
2:22:53>> Got it. Interesting.
2:22:57Let me try this and then I'll tell you
2:22:58the results if I'm able to actually fix
2:23:00it or not.
2:23:01>> I love it.
2:23:02>> Here's one thing very interesting. You
2:23:05talk a lot about burnout,
2:23:07>> right? How is burnout different than
2:23:11anxiety or stress?
2:23:13>> Is it different? Isn't it like when
2:23:15you're when you're stressed all the
2:23:17time, when you're anxious all the time,
2:23:19you eventually burn out?
2:23:21>> This is such an important question. And
2:23:23the answer is no. They're not the same
2:23:25thing. But yes, if you keep stressing
2:23:28over and over and over again, at some
2:23:31point it is likely you'll burn out. It
2:23:33depends on how you are experiencing that
2:23:36stress. So let me let me put it this
2:23:38way.
2:23:40Humans are designed
2:23:43we're designed to experience stress.
2:23:47We're we're made for it. I know people
2:23:49like usually these days like hate the
2:23:51word stress. It's like a naughty word.
2:23:53They're like everything is about
2:23:54anti-stress and lowering your stress and
2:23:56all this stuff. Listen, stress just
2:23:58means like stress hormones. It just
2:24:00means focus, alertness, motivation. Like
2:24:02it's a lots of good stuff. Like stress
2:24:05is not just a bad thing. You need it. If
2:24:07you removed all the cortisol, for
2:24:09example, in your body, you would be in a
2:24:10coma.
2:24:12Truly, you'd be in a coma. So, you need
2:24:16cortisol. It's not a bad thing. It's a
2:24:18good thing. So, what is bad though? And
2:24:22and as I mentioned, the human is
2:24:25designed for experiencing stress cycles.
2:24:29What is a stress cycle? Stress cycle is
2:24:31the cycle of that cortisol going up and
2:24:34what goes up must come down.
2:24:38>> So stress goes up, stress comes down. So
2:24:40we're designed for experiencing these
2:24:42stress cycles. Get stressed, get
2:24:44stressed, get stressed,
2:24:46okay? And it's done. Get stressed about
2:24:48something and deal with it. And it's
2:24:50done. It's over.
2:24:53You can experience this dozens of times
2:24:55all day. Get stressed, complete the
2:24:59stress cycle.
2:25:01What [snorts] does modern life look like
2:25:03for so many people? They wake up in the
2:25:05morning, the alarm goes off, they grab
2:25:07their phone because that's the alarm.
2:25:10Then they start scrolling and looking at
2:25:12an email and messages that have come in,
2:25:14WhatsApp. They're just checking all the
2:25:15different things. Sending them yes,
2:25:17confirmed, thumbs up, heart, blah, blah,
2:25:19blah, blah. Yes, you all of these things
2:25:21already. checking the news
2:25:25immediately before you've even had the
2:25:27opportunity
2:25:29to listen right to that internal voice.
2:25:32Where are my priorities? What are my
2:25:34goals? Who am I? What's the story? Where
2:25:36is the mindset? Do any kind of work and
2:25:38training on yourself? You've [snorts]
2:25:39launched yourself onto this roller
2:25:41coaster ride that you didn't anticipate.
2:25:44And now, unfortunately, in my opinion,
2:25:48you've started that stress response. But
2:25:50what happens once you start that way?
2:25:52Usually people keep going until they
2:25:54start work and then they start work and
2:25:58then they're in their first meeting and
2:25:59then the next meeting and then more
2:26:00emails and then more calls and then this
2:26:02thing and then when does it ending? It
2:26:04just keeps going and going and going.
2:26:06When are you completing the stress
2:26:08cycle? Remember what we said before.
2:26:10We're designed for stress cycles. Stress
2:26:12goes up, stress comes down. Stress goes
2:26:15up, stress comes down.
2:26:16>> It's not coming down.
2:26:17>> It's never coming down.
2:26:19Stress doesn't kill.
2:26:22Never completing the stress cycle kills.
2:26:26So if you never complete these stress
2:26:27cycles, it just keeps going up up up and
2:26:30then you just pass out and go to sleep
2:26:31and then you wake up the next morning
2:26:32and you just keep doing this and you're
2:26:34on this roller coaster ride with
2:26:36yourself. Eventually, yes, you'll
2:26:38experience burnout. Your adrenals like
2:26:40will finally give out and you'll be
2:26:42like, "Okay, I'm done. I'm done giving
2:26:43you cortisol."
2:26:47Isn't how mostly everybody's living
2:26:50these days?
2:26:51>> Yeah. And that's why, Listen, can you
2:26:53imagine going back and talking to your
2:26:56grandfather and saying, "I'm burned out
2:26:58at your age."
2:27:01Why is it that all of a sudden
2:27:03everybody's burning out?
2:27:05I met a a kid, a guy,
2:27:1122 and a half, just graduated college,
2:27:14just started working. It had been the
2:27:16first quarter. I have a [clears throat]
2:27:18and I don't I met the kid, but my friend
2:27:21is the one who's supervising the kid.
2:27:24He's like, "This guy is already saying
2:27:25he's burned out." Like clinically, he's
2:27:27like, "I need to go to the doctor. I'm
2:27:29burned out." And I'm just like, "You
2:27:30just started. You're burn I'm burned
2:27:33out. [laughter] Like, how could you
2:27:35possibly be burned out? How is that even
2:27:37feasible?" But like right now, everyone
2:27:39everyone is saying that they're
2:27:40experiencing this burnout. Well, first
2:27:41of all, I don't think they are. Clinical
2:27:43[snorts] burnout is super serious. When
2:27:45people are stressed and they're anxious,
2:27:47sometimes they call that burnout. That's
2:27:49not the same thing. You can be stressed.
2:27:51It's not going to kill you.
2:27:54Chronic stress
2:27:56that never closes out for a very long
2:27:59time can have detrimental effects for
2:28:01your health for sure. So, the goal is
2:28:05close out your stress cycles. And
2:28:08there's a framework that I teach in my
2:28:11classes and in my lab called the 3M
2:28:14framework for preventing burnout.
2:28:16>> What is it?
2:28:17>> It's three different kinds of breaks.
2:28:20Breaks that everyone should be taking in
2:28:23order to actually prevent burnout from
2:28:26happening even if you work really hard.
2:28:28This is again made for super peak
2:28:30performers. We developed this framework
2:28:32and we've tested it and it works. Three
2:28:35different kinds of breaks. Micro breaks.
2:28:38This is every single day for a matter of
2:28:41minutes. You need to be taking a break
2:28:44every day for a few minutes. You can do
2:28:47that, right?
2:28:49Every week, 2 to 4 hours. Focus on the
2:28:52two. If the four is too much, 2 hours.
2:28:56And then every month, half day to a full
2:28:59day. You can focus on the half if you
2:29:01like. Half day off. When you put it that
2:29:05way, it doesn't sound that scary, right?
2:29:07Like, come on. What are you talking
2:29:08about? Few minutes every day. I do that.
2:29:11>> Yeah. The distinction is, and this is
2:29:14what's critical. In [snorts] order for
2:29:17all three of these kinds of breaks to
2:29:19actually be effective, biologically
2:29:22effective, for you to actually prevent
2:29:23burnout, you have to employ something
2:29:26that we call complete psychological
2:29:29detachment.
2:29:31>> What do you mean by that?
2:29:33Glad you asked. You need to be the
2:29:36mental equivalent of off the grid.
2:29:39Complete psychological detachment means
2:29:41you're not thinking about all of the
2:29:42stuff that's stressing you out. You're
2:29:43not thinking about your deadlines.
2:29:44You're not thinking about necessarily if
2:29:46you have kids, your family, whatever the
2:29:48people that is that you're responsible
2:29:49for. You are just mentally off. Your
2:29:52mind is not on all of the things.
2:29:56That's really hard, isn't it?
2:29:59>> So, what do you So, what do you do in
2:30:00the breaks then?
2:30:02Well, ideally you're just resting, but
2:30:04that's too hard, I think, for people.
2:30:06When they're resting, they're thinking
2:30:07about stuff.
2:30:08>> Exactly.
2:30:08>> Yeah.
2:30:10>> So, my recommendation is to do
2:30:13something. Do something active that is
2:30:16challenging enough. Active enough so
2:30:18that it's impossible for you to do that
2:30:20thing and be thinking about all of your
2:30:22stuff at the same time.
2:30:23>> Like playing something,
2:30:25>> like hosting a podcast,
2:30:28right? Like you you can't tune out. We
2:30:31have to stay here. Otherwise, we're
2:30:33[laughter]
2:30:33>> Yeah. I don't know what to ask then
2:30:35next.
2:30:35>> Exactly. We're just going to be like,
2:30:37>> "Okay, thank you for saying that. It's
2:30:38going to be [laughter] super awkward.
2:30:39You're going to host the most awkward
2:30:41podcast in the history of time." Right.
2:30:42You're just going to be like, "Oh, the
2:30:43host keeps like daydreaming and
2:30:45forgetting what he's doing and where he
2:30:46is." Right? Or like if I started
2:30:48daydreaming, you're going to ask me a
2:30:49question like, "What was the question?"
2:30:51Right? It's not. We have to. We're
2:30:53engaged right now in something that is
2:30:55cognitively challenging and engaging.
2:30:58>> [snorts]
2:30:58>> So right now for me and you, it's
2:31:01impossible for me to be worried about
2:31:03all the other stuff. I know you have
2:31:04work later tonight. So do I.
2:31:07>> Okay.
2:31:07>> Like this won't consider this won't be a
2:31:09break for me, right? Because
2:31:11>> it's work, right?
2:31:12>> It's work.
2:31:13>> Oh, it's work.
2:31:14>> I'm not I'm not like stressing about
2:31:16anything at all in this particular
2:31:18moment. But before and after, I will.
2:31:20>> Yes. So this is
2:31:23>> for these 4 hours. I'm just going to be
2:31:25like I don't care about the world at
2:31:27all. Well, then in that case, I would
2:31:29oddly maybe consider this a break for
2:31:31you because you're in flow
2:31:33>> at least.
2:31:34>> Absolutely.
2:31:35>> Your da that that right that watchtower
2:31:39>> it's here.
2:31:41>> It's we're not letting anything else
2:31:43take us away.
2:31:44>> So I would actually imagine for for you
2:31:47and actually for me too, we're both in
2:31:50flow. So, for this few hours, I've
2:31:53allowed myself to stop worrying about
2:31:56everything else and just be here present
2:31:58in this conversation with you. Now, for
2:32:01most other people, they're not hosting a
2:32:03podcast or not on a podcast. Okay? So,
2:32:04what can you do? If you're going to do a
2:32:07workout to de-stress,
2:32:09do a workout that is different, hard
2:32:12enough, novel. If a lot of people I know
2:32:15go on runs, don't go on the same run
2:32:18every single day because you're going to
2:32:19go on autopilot and just tune out.
2:32:21You're going to be like on the run and
2:32:22you know exactly where you're going
2:32:24every single time. So it's going to be
2:32:26too easy if you do the same exact
2:32:28workout every single time. So change it
2:32:30up, mix it up, make it novel so that
2:32:32your brain goes, "Oh, hold on a second.
2:32:33Where are we? What are we doing?" And
2:32:35when it does that, you can't think about
2:32:37anything else. You have to be present. I
2:32:39like to cook. I love food, so I like to
2:32:42cook. Okay. So, when I'm cooking, if I
2:32:45make the same recipes that I've made
2:32:47hundreds of times, I can be worrying and
2:32:51thinking while I'm chopping my
2:32:53vegetables, doing all the things, right?
2:32:55Easy. But if I do something I've never
2:32:58done before, new crazy recipe, totally
2:33:01different, and now I have to focus. I
2:33:04have to put the baggage down. My
2:33:06watchtowwer needs to be right here.
2:33:09>> I can't be anywhere else. That's
2:33:11[snorts] what I want people to find. The
2:33:14mental equivalent of off the grid. This
2:33:17thing is quieted down and you're focused
2:33:18on something else, immersed. Pick up a
2:33:20hobby. Like force yourself. Seriously,
2:33:22force yourself. [snorts]
2:33:24I'll tell you why hobbies are really
2:33:26important. Like active hobbies that are
2:33:29new and challenging, like you're
2:33:30learning a new skill. Learned how to
2:33:32play the harmonica. I'm learning by
2:33:34that, by the way. Maybe next time I see
2:33:36I'll bring a harmonica. Um or for
2:33:38example, whatever. Hacky sack. something
2:33:40silly juggling. You could learn how to
2:33:42juggle. You could pick a hobby for
2:33:44yourself and say, "I'm going to dedicate
2:33:46force myself even." Seriously, you don't
2:33:48actually have to be interested. It could
2:33:49be by force for burnout. You could be
2:33:51like, "Listen, I'm just a high
2:33:52performance junkie and but I'm worried
2:33:55about burnout." Okay, then you have to
2:33:57force yourself to have some other hobby
2:33:59cuz that's a part of your peak
2:34:01performance.
2:34:02>> Interesting.
2:34:03>> You force yourself to have the hobby and
2:34:05then you immerse yourself in it because
2:34:07it's hard. So if I want to learn how to
2:34:09play the guitar, it's going to take all
2:34:11of my energy and mind in that moment. I
2:34:13get a YouTube, you know, like video
2:34:14playing and the guy's like teaching me
2:34:16what to do and I'm like doing the
2:34:17things. I'm not thinking about anything
2:34:19else. I have to be right there. So
2:34:21that's those are my recommendations.
2:34:23Every day for a few minutes, you have to
2:34:25go mentally.
2:34:26>> What do you mean by few?
2:34:28>> 15 20.
2:34:30>> Sure. It's it's this is different for
2:34:32every person. So I can't give but I
2:34:33would say at least 10.
2:34:36>> Okay. 10 minutes even.
2:34:37>> So 10 minutes a day.
2:34:39>> Yeah.
2:34:39>> Then
2:34:412 hours a week.
2:34:43>> Mhm.
2:34:44>> Okay.
2:34:45>> And half day a month.
2:34:47>> And what do you call them? 3M. Why do
2:34:49you call it 3M framework?
2:34:50>> Micro, messo, and macro breaks. Easy to
2:34:54remember. Micro break, mess break, and a
2:34:57macro break. Three different kinds of
2:34:59breaks. You did a research right
2:35:00recently about people who were
2:35:06stressed, anxious, lonely, depressed,
2:35:10and then you did something about them in
2:35:129 weeks.
2:35:14>> Yes.
2:35:14>> And then you saw miraculous results.
2:35:16What was it?
2:35:17>> This is currently unpublished. So,
2:35:19you're like the first to hear about this
2:35:21right now. I was literally [snorts]
2:35:22looking at this data last night. It's
2:35:25kind of um amazing. I don't know how to
2:35:27describe [clears throat] it. I'm very
2:35:29excited.
2:35:30>> Okay.
2:35:30>> Yeah.
2:35:30>> What is it?
2:35:32>> Okay.
2:35:34I started teaching a class at UC
2:35:36Berkeley for undergraduates, so for
2:35:38younger people called mind machine and
2:35:40meaning.
2:35:42>> This class is a living experiment.
2:35:46Meaning instead of just learning about
2:35:48things in the class, I'm asking the
2:35:50students to change their behavior.
2:35:53New habits. We're breaking habits and
2:35:55building new ones. So, we're actually
2:35:58going through behavior change and
2:35:59neuroplasticity while the class is
2:36:01happening.
2:36:02>> Fascinating.
2:36:04>> Hard work.
2:36:05>> Okay.
2:36:05>> Class of 450.
2:36:08>> And you're actually making them go
2:36:09through neuroplasticity.
2:36:11>> Yeah.
2:36:12>> Each one of them. It'll be different for
2:36:13each one of them.
2:36:14>> Yeah.
2:36:15>> Okay. What is it?
2:36:16>> And we're tracking it all.
2:36:17>> We're doing research on the students.
2:36:20[snorts]
2:36:20>> So, we actually asked the students at
2:36:22the beginning of the class, sign up for
2:36:24science. Let's do this.
2:36:28come into the lab and we're going to
2:36:29test your attention span. We're [snorts]
2:36:32going to test your complex working
2:36:33memory. We're going to test your
2:36:35loneliness. We're going to test your
2:36:38meaning and life satisfaction.
2:36:41We're going to test your depression,
2:36:43your anxiety, your stress levels. We're
2:36:46going to test all these things. Then
2:36:48we're going to go through a 9week
2:36:50digital detox.
2:36:53You're [snorts] going to change your
2:36:54relationship with scrolling. Oh,
2:36:57>> the binging, the short form media. I
2:36:59tell them the same thing we talked about
2:37:00today. Long form could be fine. We had,
2:37:03you know, for homework one week everyone
2:37:05had to watch a movie without a second
2:37:07screen. That's homework in my class.
2:37:10This week you have to watch a movie
2:37:13minimum 90 minutes.
2:37:15They could also watch your podcast.
2:37:17>> What a privileged class you are in.
2:37:19[laughter]
2:37:19>> Well, we're we're but we're doing the
2:37:21hard work. I'm telling you because it's
2:37:22become hard. It's like we were talking
2:37:23about before, right, with Netflix.
2:37:25You're telling me for younger kids it's
2:37:27harder to watch a movie.
2:37:28>> Yeah.
2:37:29>> They can't sit through a 90minute movie.
2:37:32>> No. Even if it's a good movie to to me
2:37:35at least. I'm like this is crazy. I'm
2:37:37like completely like engrossed in the
2:37:39thing. But it's not their fault. It's
2:37:41because this the short form is so it's
2:37:43the candy. Imagine if you're addicted to
2:37:45candy and what you're saying is by the
2:37:48way do you have like a delicious
2:37:49favorite meal?
2:37:50>> Yeah. So many.
2:37:52>> What? Like give me like one example.
2:37:55pick up any like I said mapu tofu I love
2:37:57a lot [laughter]
2:37:58>> so good so good okay like a good one
2:38:00like okay so that has a lot of nutrition
2:38:04like it's going to fill you up right the
2:38:05tofu is also lots of protein and it's
2:38:07it's good stuff right
2:38:09>> if you were addicted to candy and it's
2:38:12not your fault right because it's in
2:38:14your p the candy's always in your pocket
2:38:16for some reason and it's always in your
2:38:17hand and you get hungry you're supposed
2:38:19to you're eating now you're addicted to
2:38:21candy do you think people who are
2:38:23addicted to junk food and candy like
2:38:24mapu tofu.
2:38:25>> Not at all.
2:38:26>> No,
2:38:26>> even I will.
2:38:27>> Oh, no. Exact. There you go. [snorts] So
2:38:31that's why so the movie is totally hard
2:38:33work for them. So we have them go
2:38:35through this 9 week digital detox.
2:38:38We have them change their relationship
2:38:40with scrolling. We have them put limits
2:38:42on how much they can scroll. We have
2:38:45them do it in such a way that if they go
2:38:46over the limit, it's going to send a
2:38:48text message to one of their friends.
2:38:50And I find out too. We all find out. So
2:38:52it like keeps them it's social
2:38:53accountability, right? And [snorts]
2:38:56because remember if you take away your
2:38:59coping mechanism for stress because for
2:39:01most people they're scrolling because
2:39:03they're stressed out and it's become a
2:39:05coping mechanism. They're numbing. If
2:39:08you take that away from them, they're
2:39:10going to feel even worse. They're going
2:39:12to have to sit with those negative
2:39:13feelings and it feels really, really
2:39:15bad. So we also brought in a therapist
2:39:18to teach them emotional regulation,
2:39:20healthier emotional regulation
2:39:22techniques and strategies. Then we also
2:39:25had other people who have been through
2:39:27serious digital addiction come and tell
2:39:29their stories. That's what was happening
2:39:31in class. They were getting the
2:39:32inspiration. [snorts] What did you call
2:39:34the highquality content? Bloom.
2:39:38>> Bloom scrolling.
2:39:39>> Yeah.
2:39:39>> Bloom scrolling. We were we taught them
2:39:41about the content diet and we said you
2:39:43need to make your doom scrolling into
2:39:45bloom scrolling ch following all of
2:39:48these accounts that don't teach you
2:39:50anything. They don't challenge you. They
2:39:52don't expose you to new ideas. Now I
2:39:54want you to actually go in and think
2:39:55about like find new accounts. Talk to
2:39:57each other. Do research which accounts
2:40:00are going to actually level you up and
2:40:02and all whatever in in everybody's
2:40:04different you know. Some of the students
2:40:06are really into like art. Some of them
2:40:08are into they want to start a business.
2:40:10They're all over the place, right? For
2:40:11you in your niche. Go find the bloom.
2:40:15Seek the bloom. Then we're also making
2:40:17sure that they in general have less
2:40:19screen time. And we are replacing
2:40:22the digital connection with real
2:40:25in-person connection. We threw a party,
2:40:30huge party, food, games, the whole
2:40:33thing. Live music. We people went on
2:40:36hikes. We set up the students on blind
2:40:38dates.
2:40:40>> What kind of class is this? [laughter]
2:40:43>> The best class [snorts] actually. That
2:40:45was a lot of hard work.
2:40:47>> The class is a study. It's research.
2:40:50>> I want to see and I know we can do this.
2:40:53But now I have the data to back it up.
2:40:56that
2:40:57people, especially young people, do not
2:40:59have to be as isolated and lonely, as
2:41:02depressed and anxious, and their
2:41:05attention spans do not need to be as
2:41:07shot as they are. Neuroplasticity is
2:41:10real. Neuroplasticity is real. That
2:41:13means that whatever we did, we did
2:41:16something to make this happen.
2:41:18>> You can undo it.
2:41:20It's like muscles, right? I can eat and
2:41:23never move and something's going to
2:41:24happen for sure to my body or I can
2:41:26force myself to eat good food and
2:41:29exercise and then other things are going
2:41:30to happen to my body.
2:41:31>> But what were the results like what what
2:41:33happened then? Like you at the beginning
2:41:36of the class you got their attention and
2:41:39like you tested bunch of things
2:41:41>> then you did all of this made it fun.
2:41:44>> Yes.
2:41:44>> What happened then?
2:41:45>> It was also hard. They a lot of tears by
2:41:47the way had a lot of students crying. It
2:41:49was really difficult because it's it's
2:41:51an addiction. Everyone is going through
2:41:53withdrawal together. If I have 450
2:41:56people, we are all experiencing
2:41:58withdrawal together at the same time.
2:42:00We're just trying to make it better by
2:42:01injecting connection and play. We I
2:42:04forced everybody for the final project.
2:42:06You have to pick up a hobby and work on
2:42:08it throughout the semester, you know.
2:42:11So, this was this was what we did.
2:42:12>> And for 9 weeks, they were not allowed
2:42:14to touch their phones.
2:42:14>> No, no, no, no. They all had their
2:42:16phones. M
2:42:17>> they just scrolled a little bit less.
2:42:19Specifically, also short form media.
2:42:20That was what I said. Social media and
2:42:22the scrolling. We're going to doom
2:42:23scroll a little less. Watch a movie.
2:42:25Watch long YouTube videos. Watch other
2:42:27stuff,
2:42:28>> you know.
2:42:28>> And and by the way, they still scrolled.
2:42:31They just scrolled a little less.
2:42:33>> So if someone was doing for 2 hours,
2:42:34they did it for like 30 minutes.
2:42:36>> Exactly. Some of them were doing it for
2:42:376 hours and then they brought it down to
2:42:38like two.
2:42:39>> Okay.
2:42:40>> Awesome.
2:42:42>> Okay. Then what happened
2:42:43>> after 9 weeks? Scores showed
2:42:46significantly less lonely, significantly
2:42:49less depressed, significantly less
2:42:52anxious. Their attention spans went up
2:42:55significantly. Their complex working
2:42:57memory, which is a proxy for general
2:43:00fluid intelligence, significantly
2:43:02increased.
2:43:04It's it's almost unbelievable when I
2:43:06look at the results myself. I didn't
2:43:07think it was going to be this good. To
2:43:08be honest [laughter] with you, [snorts]
2:43:10I knew I knew my intuition told me as a
2:43:13scientist who's been working with people
2:43:15about this topic for a long time that we
2:43:17were going to see some benefits. I
2:43:19didn't realize we were going to see this
2:43:20many benefits so fast.
2:43:23And by the way, they came in at the
2:43:25beginning of the semester when everybody
2:43:27was just came back from break and they
2:43:29were all feeling good. And when I had
2:43:31them do the after test after, you know,
2:43:339 weeks, they were in the middle of
2:43:35midterms. So they were all super
2:43:37stressed out. Seriously. And even though
2:43:40they were during midterms, the results
2:43:41were still that uplifting and inspiring.
2:43:45>> But wouldn't their results be some
2:43:47somewhat biased as well?
2:43:49>> Because like because I've gone through
2:43:52such thing 9 weeks, I'm just going to
2:43:54take all the good things in a survey,
2:43:55right?
2:43:56>> Well, you can't really gify your
2:43:58attention span. That's a digital
2:43:59assessment. Those those cognitive
2:44:02assessments you can't really game. Sure,
2:44:03I guess you could like lie for some
2:44:05reason.
2:44:05>> Yeah, let's say I can say I'm less
2:44:07lonely, whatever.
2:44:09>> Sure, it is possible to lie, but this is
2:44:11this is But why would you? It's all
2:44:14anonymous.
2:44:15>> There's no benefit. If anything, the the
2:44:18the thing that I was worried students
2:44:20would do, especially during midterms, is
2:44:21just answer so fast that they're not
2:44:23even paying attention to the answers.
2:44:24They're just like, cuz it's anonymous.
2:44:29I you know I don't want to make them
2:44:30feel like you know they have to answer a
2:44:32certain way because you're right then as
2:44:33a professor they're gonna be like oh I
2:44:35need to say these things.
2:44:36>> Yeah. But then attention span like
2:44:38through the device you found out like it
2:44:40just improved.
2:44:41>> We have a test of attention that we do.
2:44:43It's a cognitive assessment. Um these
2:44:45are things I can test you on too. If you
2:44:47ever want you come to my lab at Berkeley
2:44:48and we'll get you fully tested.
2:44:50>> Okay.
2:44:50>> Complex working memory, visual memory,
2:44:52attention span, the whole thing. Okay.
2:44:55But you sit down and these are digital
2:44:56assessments that you do.
2:44:58>> [snorts]
2:44:58>> So there's no I'm not asking you
2:45:00anything. I'm actually testing it. Can
2:45:02you focus on this boring thing? And how
2:45:04long can you go before you make a
2:45:05mistake and miss something?
2:45:08And their scores improved in 9 weeks
2:45:11even though they were more stressed
2:45:12because it's now exam time.
2:45:16>> So just you're really making short form
2:45:19level.
2:45:22>> I'm making it candy
2:45:24and I have a sweet tooth like you do. I
2:45:27still eat candy, but eat them up with
2:45:30tofu first, you know? Like, don't fill
2:45:32up on the candy. I I I scroll. Be the
2:45:36first to admit on your show. I'm going
2:45:38to tell the world, the anti-crolling
2:45:40lady, I scroll, but I have limits on it.
2:45:43You know, like and I ask yourself the
2:45:46question, how much time is it worth it
2:45:49for you to give of your life, your
2:45:52precious life
2:45:55to scrolling every day. I'm not saying
2:45:58don't do it. 10 minutes is good. Maybe
2:46:0110 minutes of scrolling. And I'm not
2:46:03even saying that's all of your media.
2:46:05>> If you want to sit down and watch good
2:46:07quality YouTube videos for like, I don't
2:46:09know, 20, 30 minutes, like learn
2:46:11something, right? You could do, okay, I
2:46:13I want to do at least half an hour of
2:46:14that. I want to like I have these
2:46:16accounts I'm following. Bloom, you know,
2:46:18I want to bloom [snorts] scroll a little
2:46:19bit on these and then but like long form
2:46:22content that's actually challenging your
2:46:24mind that you remember you're learning
2:46:26something. You can pause the video and
2:46:27go look something up. These kinds of
2:46:30things
2:46:32as opposed to the doom.
2:46:36>> Interesting. I I heard the moment you
2:46:38were saying how much of the time you're
2:46:39going to do this. I'm I'm hearing how
2:46:41much of the time you're going to invest
2:46:45in becoming dumb,
2:46:47in becoming lonier, in becoming less
2:46:50empathetic,
2:46:52in becoming
2:46:54in ma in in making your memory worse.
2:46:58All of these things at the same time.
2:47:01Here's the last thing I ask everybody is
2:47:05when were you the most powerless or
2:47:09anxious in your life.
2:47:21I would say for me
2:47:24when I was struggling with addiction
2:47:28I felt powerless.
2:47:31And man, it felt like um a cruel joke
2:47:35from the universe. I study addiction. I
2:47:38study neuroplasticity. I study this
2:47:40stuff. And somehow I got tricked. You
2:47:43know, it's not really a trick. It's
2:47:45biology.
2:47:47It's science.
2:47:49But it's humbling.
2:47:51Um, and I think it's an important
2:47:53message because people need to know that
2:47:56everybody, we're all human, everybody's
2:47:59susceptible. It's about the choices we
2:48:01make. It's about awareness
2:48:04and being intentional about how you
2:48:07spend your time, and also what you do
2:48:10with your life, what you choose to
2:48:13ingest, what you choose to think.
2:48:15[snorts]
2:48:16Be careful about what you expose your
2:48:18mind to.
2:48:20What were you addicted to?
2:48:23>> I've been addicted to a great number of
2:48:25things in my life. I have been addicted
2:48:28to uh I've I've smoked, I've drank, I've
2:48:31done uh scrolling, uh sugar, you name
2:48:34it. Um
2:48:36it it has been my life's most
2:48:42You know what's interesting? I love the
2:48:44word you used, powerless.
2:48:47From what felt like the most powerless
2:48:51moment in my life,
2:48:54it gave rise to the most powerful
2:48:56feelings I've ever had in my entire
2:48:58life. [snorts] I feel unstoppable and so
2:49:03powerful
2:49:05because
2:49:07of overcoming addiction.
2:49:10So it was an opportunity.
2:49:13So now when you feel powerless again,
2:49:16what's your personal framework to become
2:49:18powerful?
2:49:21>> Well,
2:49:24this one is going to maybe sound even a
2:49:26little bit spiritual.
2:49:28[snorts] I have a few beliefs.
2:49:31One of my beliefs is that the universe
2:49:35and the world is not how it seems.
2:49:39that a great amount of my reality is a
2:49:42construct of my own mind, which means I
2:49:45can influence the world and my life
2:49:47through what's happening in here. So, I
2:49:50protect this thing.
2:49:53I protect it by not letting bad stuff
2:49:55in. I audit what it's doing and what
2:49:58it's thinking. And if I'm ever feeling
2:50:00powerless, I remind myself that I am
2:50:03God.
2:50:06I am all powerful. I create everything
2:50:08in my life
2:50:10because you can. You truly can. You can
2:50:13create your own reality, your
2:50:15consciousness. Like literally truly my
2:50:17conscious experience. If I close my eyes
2:50:19right now, and so do you. You can dream
2:50:22a reality inside of your mind. Now you
2:50:24might say, "But but that's not real.
2:50:26It's in your mind." But when something
2:50:29is truly real in your mind, it's real
2:50:31for you.
2:50:33So much research has also shown us that
2:50:35when you rehearse something and you
2:50:37visualize it, you daydream, you daydream
2:50:40about it, that the brain [snorts] can
2:50:42barely tell the difference between
2:50:43daydreaming about X and actually doing
2:50:45X.
2:50:46>> True.
2:50:47>> So if you're ever feeling powerless, you
2:50:49go into a daydream where you are the
2:50:51most powerful person in the world. Go
2:50:54into that daydream because then all of a
2:50:56sudden you're going to start to feel
2:50:57more powerful again.
2:50:59>> Nice. Here is the last question which is
2:51:02we always ask people about cost of
2:51:04ambition right? So what's the cost?
2:51:09What's the cost you have personally paid
2:51:12to become
2:51:14the person who you are today? What's the
2:51:16cost of becoming this top level
2:51:19scientist, researcher, businesswoman
2:51:22running 50 things at the same time and
2:51:24researching and probably telling the
2:51:26world about something that they don't
2:51:28believe in? What's the cost of all of
2:51:30this?
2:51:33>> My family and friends know the cost
2:51:36because they see it.
2:51:39There is always a cost. So, I'm so glad
2:51:41you asked people this question.
2:51:45I have been relentless and very focused
2:51:47in my life on building what I want to
2:51:50build and doing what I want to do.
2:51:54It doesn't allow for a lot of space for
2:51:58distraction.
2:52:00But the thing is, I've also sacrificed a
2:52:03lot of fun.
2:52:05I've sacrificed personal travel,
2:52:07vacations, leisure,
2:52:10um, scrolling. I avoided getting social
2:52:13media, by the way, just until recently.
2:52:15Completely avoided it.
2:52:18I have um
2:52:21given up friendships.
2:52:23I've lost friendships.
2:52:26I've lost a lot of very important
2:52:28relationships in my life because of my
2:52:30hyperfocus on prioritizing work. Um
2:52:35addictions, as I've mentioned before,
2:52:36that all comes out of this relentless
2:52:40ambition and relentless drive towards
2:52:43performance.
2:52:46And um yeah, I've I've nearly lost my
2:52:49life and given my life. I will say that
2:52:52in the pursuit of my goals and that
2:52:56amount of sacrifice, I can't say I
2:52:59regret it because even though regretful
2:53:02things have happened because of it,
2:53:05I'm happy with where I'm at today. Not
2:53:07just from a success metric perspective,
2:53:09but I learned and now I can teach
2:53:14and I've corrected and now I prioritize
2:53:19the people in my life, the most
2:53:21important people. I'm like extremely
2:53:23community oriented and there's people
2:53:26around my loved ones are around me all
2:53:28the time and I'm around them and it's
2:53:30completely shifted what I sacrificed and
2:53:34the
2:53:36the negative side effects I would say
2:53:40what I lost um I've learned from it
2:53:43which is all we can do right
2:53:46>> thank you for sharing that thank you so
2:53:48much for spending time with us and
2:53:50teaching us about brain and productivity
2:53:53and cognitive things. We have missed one
2:53:55very important topic. We need to do that
2:53:57next time which are the 10 laws. We will
2:54:00do that. How can a human being become a
2:54:03superhuman? We will go through it and we
2:54:07will do that next podcast. So thank you
2:54:10so much.
2:54:11>> Thank you
2:54:11>> and to many more podcasts together
2:54:13>> to many more podcast together.
2:54:15>> Cheers. Done.
2:54:16>> Cheers.
2:54:17>> How are you?
2:54:19Pleasure. Nice to meet you. No, we're
2:54:20here just for
2:54:22>> purely for work. Don't care about fun at
2:54:24least for next two, three years.
2:54:26>> Really?
2:54:27>> Oh, yes.
2:54:27>> Are you sure?
2:54:28>> Oh, how absolutely.
2:54:31>> Just whatever makes more sense in terms
2:54:34of
2:54:35>> impact maximization, [music]
2:54:36you know. Thank you for watching this
2:54:39episode till the end. We would love to
2:54:41know what you liked or disliked about
2:54:43this episode and which guests you would
2:54:45like to see on the show. Let us know in
2:54:47the comments. Your feedback help us
2:54:49improve and make every episode a little
2:54:52better. I'll see you next time. Until
2:54:54then, keep figuring out.

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