00:00it's 9:00 a.m. and I've just sat down to
00:01work I've got lots to do and I want to
00:03get going but first I remember I need to
00:05quickly reply to a WhatsApp message I
00:07open my phone and see that there are a
00:09whole bunch of other whatsapps that I
00:10need to reply to my heart sinks and
00:12instead of replying I find myself
00:14opening YouTube to avoid thinking about
00:16being a bad friend suddenly I've spent
00:1827 minutes watching as and gold talking
00:20about how World of Warcraft is dead in
00:222024 my brain fills with guilt and
00:24frustration and I decide I need another
00:26break before I start working and maybe a
00:27third coffee for the day followed by a
00:30now this is the modern struggle the
00:32world today is constantly competing for
00:34our time and attention and the ability
00:36to focus has become even more difficult
00:38and for that reason it's even more
00:39important than ever so in the first
00:41video of this three-part series about
00:42Focus we talked about five mistakes
00:44people make when it comes to focusing
00:46but in this video we're going to be
00:47going through five actionable
00:48evidence-based tips that you can use to
00:50improve your focus all righty tip number
00:52one is to make a ready to resume plan
00:55now to understand what the hell this is
00:57and why we should do it we should look
00:58at this 2018 paper by Sophie Leroy this
01:01paper was published in the Journal of
01:03organization science and it looked at
01:04the effects of interruptions on our
01:06ability to focus the researchers got
01:08some people together in a lab and they
01:10got them to work on a word puzzle which
01:11is Task a and then after a while they
01:13interrupted them and asked them to
01:15review some resumes and select the best
01:16candidate for a job which was task B now
01:18where this gets interesting is that the
01:19researchers split the group into two one
01:22group was interrupted while they were
01:23doing task a and was immediately told to
01:25switch to task B but the second group
01:26was interrupted doing task a and before
01:29moving to task B B they were told to
01:31create a ready to resume plan I.E to
01:33make a plan of where they were during
01:34task a the word puzzle and what they
01:36were planning to do when they got back
01:38to it now when the researchers measured
01:39the group's performance on task B the
01:41resume task they found something pretty
01:42interesting they found that the second
01:44group the ones who had made the ready to
01:45resume plan performed significantly
01:48better on the second task okay so this
01:49might be a little bit confusing to
01:50follow but basically what's happening is
01:52that the group that made this plan of
01:54action this ready to resume plan did
01:56better on the second task probably
01:58because they had less attention res now
02:00attention residue is this idea in the
02:01research and psychology that's been
02:03around for a while where basically if
02:04you're focusing on one thing and then
02:06you switch to another there is part of
02:08your brain part of your attention that's
02:09still thinking about the previous thing
02:11that you were doing this is part of the
02:12reason why multitasking and trying to do
02:14lots of things in one go is a terrible
02:16idea because every time you switch task
02:18part of your brain is still on the
02:20previous task and so you're really like
02:21nerfing yourself by not allowing your
02:24entire brain to be focused on the thing
02:26you actually care about but the key
02:27point of this study is that if you are
02:28going to switch tasks to something else
02:30you want to create a bit of a plan of
02:32action so that you can resume the first
02:34task initially and this is actually a
02:35thing that Writers Do quite a lot and
02:37it's called the Hemingway trick and this
02:39obviously came from the writer earns
02:40Hemingway but the idea is that when
02:42you're writing you want to stop in the
02:44middle of the sentence never stop your
02:46writing at the end of the sentence or at
02:47the end of a paragraph you want to sort
02:49of stop in the middle because when you
02:50stop in the middle the idea is that it
02:52becomes much easier to return to the
02:54thing that you were doing because you
02:55have stopped in the middle of the
02:56sentence and I used to use this trick
02:57very extensively when writing my own
02:58book feelg good productivity with which
02:59if you haven't checked out you should
03:01link down below and if you have I would
03:02love a review cuz reviews are nice but I
03:04used to use this trick all the time when
03:05I was working on the book and I really
03:06had to focus for hours and hours and
03:07hours on end but I also wanted to take
03:09breaks and I also might need to kind of
03:10check a slack message or hop onto a team
03:12meeting I would always make a point to
03:13stop in the middle of the sentence or in
03:15the middle of the paragraph rather than
03:16at the end to be able to get back into
03:18the focus mode so tangible actionable
03:20takeaway when you are doing something
03:22and you want to do something else and
03:23get back to the thing create yourself a
03:25ready to resume plan or find a way to
03:27whatever your work is for you to stop in
03:29the middle of the sentence so that the
03:30ready to resume plan is basically
03:32already created for you now focus is a
03:33skill that I've been trying to master
03:34for many years now but one thing that
03:36actually helped me and I watched it a
03:37few years ago was Thomas Frank's course
03:39on productivity and this was kind of fun
03:40because I watched Thomas Frank's course
03:42and then we started talking and then he
03:43became a friend and then we met in real
03:45life as well and there's actually a
03:46video on my second Channel which is like
03:47an interview with Thomas Frank which is
03:48super cool anyway in that course he goes
03:50through task management getting better
03:51at email and all the things that mean
03:53you're more organized which frees up
03:54your time to focus on the most important
03:56things now Thomas's course is hosted on
03:57skillshare who are very kindly
03:59sponsoring this video in case you
04:00haven't heard by now skillshare is the
04:01largest online learning community for
04:03creatives with thousands of classes led
04:05by industry Pros across film
04:06illustration design freelance and so
04:09much more and I've personally been
04:10teaching on skillshare since 2019 and so
04:12I've got around 10 classes on there
04:13myself all of which are completely free
04:15to watch during the free trial so you
04:16can check them out to your heart's
04:17content but In fairness sometimes with
04:20so much stuff it can be overwhelming to
04:22know where to start and so skillshare
04:23have designed learning paths as well to
04:25help you go from beginner to Pro in as
04:27short a time as possible if you're
04:28interested you can check out my own
04:29learning path which includes four
04:31classes all about productivity which
04:32I've made which will help you do more of
04:34what matters to you so if you're
04:35interested in checking out any of those
04:36classes or anything else that skillshare
04:38has to offer then check out the link in
04:39the video description and the first 500
04:41people to use my link will get a
04:42one-month free trial to skillshare so
04:44thank you so much skill Chef sponsoring
04:48video okay so does listening to certain
04:50types of music affect your ability to
04:52focus well this is what two researchers
04:54at the University of Toronto wanted to
04:56find out and so in 2020 they decided to
04:58test whether the music at two different
05:00frequencies could help improve our
05:01attention now this is an example of
05:09frequency and this is an example of
05:17frequency and the point of their study
05:19was to test is there a difference
05:20between how much you focus based on what
05:22frequency of Music you're listening to
05:24and so they took a group of people as
05:26researchers tend to do and they
05:27separated them into two groups group a
05:29and group Group B group a listened to 40
05:31HZ music while working for a day and
05:33then 16 HZ music on the second day Group
05:36B did the same thing but in Reverse so
05:37they had 16 Herz on day one and then 40
05:40HZ on day two and with both groups
05:42weirdly they found that their
05:43concentration was better on the 40 HZ
05:45day compared to the 16 HZ day now
05:48apparently the reason for this is that
05:49when our brain is doing stuff that needs
05:51more mental effort like problem solving
05:53or remembering things it generally has a
05:55brain wave pattern between 25 and 100
05:58Herz but the 40 HZ frequ frequency is
06:00particularly good for extra focus and
06:01concentration because these are
06:02allegedly the waves that our brain
06:04produces when we're focused and doing
06:05these more difficult tasks but for this
06:07to work you actually have to be wearing
06:08headphones because to create that 40 HZ
06:10frequency these beads actually play two
06:12different tones each with slightly
06:14different frequencies into each ear and
06:15your brain hears a third tone based on
06:17the differences between these two
06:18frequencies and this is something called
06:20binaural beats which is a phrase you
06:21might be familiar with if you're
06:22interested in this experiment to help
06:24improve your focus see what it's like to
06:26put on headphones and listen to 40 HZ
06:28binaural beats which you find on YouTube
06:30and on Spotify and a bunch of other
06:31places and see if these things actually
06:33help you focus better by the way if you
06:34are enjoying this video then you might
06:36like to check out my completely free
06:377-Day Focus crash course it's completely
06:40free and it's a series of seven emails
06:41that I'll send you each day that each
06:43have some evidence-based principles
06:44strategies and tools that you can use to
06:46improve your focus as well and the
06:47reason we've put that together is
06:48because whenever I pull the audience and
06:50ask like what are you guys struggling
06:51with focus and like consistency seems to
06:54be the the highest thing on that list
06:55basically all the time and so we thought
06:57you know what let's just turn this into
06:58a bit of an email course cuz there is so
06:59much to share and so many strategies
07:01that are really helpful when it comes to
07:02focus which are sort of outside the
07:04scope of this three-part video series
07:05even though we are doing a three-part
07:06video series about it so if you're
07:08interested it's completely free you can
07:09sign up you can unsubscribe whenever you
07:10want head over to focus crashcourse
07:12tocom or hit the link in the video
07:15description okay this is a fun one let's
07:17play a little game I'm going to show you
07:18two different workspaces and I want you
07:20to have a guess as to which workspace is
07:22going to improve your ability to focus
07:24this is round one which of these
07:26workspaces do you think is going to make
07:27it easier to focus this is round two
07:29same question and finally this is round
07:31three now here's the question which of
07:33these sorts of workspaces is your own
07:35desk more similar to do you have like I
07:37sometimes do random crap absolutely
07:39everywhere thrown about all over the
07:41place or do you have a little bit more
07:42of a vibby cleaner nice minimalist setup
07:45now intuitively we should hopefully feel
07:46that a cleaner tidier workspace is
07:48actually going to help us Focus but is
07:50this actually true well conveniently
07:51that is what Professor Joseph Ferrari
07:53decided to study in a paper called
07:55procrastinators and clutter now this is
07:57a really fun study cuz what they did is
07:59that they surveyed around 350 people to
08:02measure their tendency to procrastinate
08:04but they also asked them to fill out a
08:05survey called the Clutter quality of
08:07life scale which is apparently a thing
08:09and this scale basically asks them a
08:11bunch of questions about how cluttered
08:12and disorganized their life is and tries
08:14to measure the negative impact of that
08:16clutter and disorganization now a I
08:18think that's just interesting generally
08:19because it does actually show that the
08:20more clutter you have in your life the
08:22more chaotic and stress you generally
08:23tend to feel but the study also found
08:25that there was a strong relationship
08:26between clutter I.E having too much
08:28stuff and feeling overwhelmed by it and
08:30our tendency to procrastinate now the
08:32study doesn't go into reasons why but
08:34like if we were to just speculate a it's
08:35intuitively obvious that that's probably
08:37going to be the case and B you know if
08:38we imagine our peripheral vision if
08:40there's like loads of stuff it's going
08:41to create lots of these open Loops of
08:43like oh I should put that away I should
08:44pay that bill I should do that thing uh
08:46whereas if the space is a little bit
08:48more clean a little bit more minimalist
08:49and we're just focused on one thing it
08:51allows a brain to focus on the thing and
08:53the whole point of this three-part video
08:55series is to help us Focus now this
08:56concept of clutter doesn't just apply to
08:58our physical space but but it also
08:59probably applies to a digital space as
09:01well like if you're one of those people
09:02who has about 10,000 tabs open on Chrome
09:04at the same time right clicking on a
09:06particular Tab and clicking close all
09:08other tabs is an incredibly valuable
09:10strategy for just massively improving
09:11your focus because now your brain's not
09:13worried about all of that other stuff
09:14that you might have missed similarly if
09:16your desktop is very cluttered and you
09:17have hundreds of files on there you can
09:18just right click click clean up or
09:20arrange or arrange by Stacks whatever
09:21the system is and now you have a nice
09:23cutter free desktop which is just super
09:25super nice and so the third strategy for
09:27improving our focus is the 10 minute
09:29declutter if you are struggling with
09:31Focus before you start a focus session
09:33just set a timer for 10 minutes and just
09:35take 10 minutes or 7 minutes or however
09:36long you want to just declutter your
09:38workspace physically and digitally it
09:40does not take very long but if you get
09:42into the habit of doing this thing every
09:44day or every few days you will end up
09:45with a space that's way cleaner way
09:47nicer and way more fun and enjoyable to
09:49actually work in which is going to help
09:50improve your ability to focus all right
09:53next we have tip number four which is
09:54the 9020 rule so over 50 years ago sleep
09:58researcher Nathaniel kman discovered
10:00that we move through five stages of
10:02sleep from light to deep and then out
10:04again in roughly 90minut periods at
10:06night what's less well known than that
10:08is that kman also found that our bodies
10:10operate in these similar 90-minute
10:12rhythms throughout the day as well not
10:14just when we're sleeping so when we're
10:15awake we tend to move from high to low
10:17alertness every 90 minutes or
10:19thereabouts at the start of the day
10:21we're generally full of energy and we
10:22have lots of focus our brain and bodies
10:24then start to burn through our stores of
10:26energy and in about 90 minutes or so we
10:28enter our ult tra and Peak and we feel
10:30invincible and super in the flow but
10:32while we're feeling Invincible all of
10:34these waste products from our mental and
10:35physical activity all of these are
10:37building up in our system and in around
10:3990 minutes is we start to feel tired and
10:41distracted and start losing focus and
10:44this is what's called the ultradian
10:45trough now this science of ultradian
10:47Cycles is super interesting and Powerful
10:49for anyone who wants to do deep work in
10:51a very focused way now because the brain
10:52uses up more energy than any other organ
10:54in the body it takes about 20% of our
10:56total energy intake the energy that we
10:58have in our brain is used quickly when
10:59we're focused and when we're working at
11:01an optimal level and that gets us to the
11:02tip which is the 9020 rule which is that
11:04for every 90 minutes is of work that
11:07you're doing you may want to take a 15
11:09to 30 minute break for me personally the
11:11way I think about this is that if I've
11:12been working for 45 minutes and start to
11:14feel myself losing focus I know I
11:15probably need at least a 10-minute break
11:17and if I've been deeply in the flow and
11:18I found myself working for 90 whole
11:20minutes I will give myself a 20-minute
11:22break these are experiments that you can
11:24apply to your own life and you can see
11:25does this work for me or does this not
11:27work for me there are people who swear
11:28by the p method which is 25 minutes of
11:30work 5 minutes of rest I personally
11:32found having run the experiment multiple
11:33times that is not a thing that
11:34particularly works for me I much prefer
11:36451 or 9020 you're putting your foot on
11:39the gas when you're when you're focusing
11:40and then you're taking it off when
11:41you're taking a break and you're kind of
11:42running with this Rhythm throughout the
11:44day and it's up to you to run the
11:45experiment on your life to figure out
11:47what are the ideal timings for yourself
11:50okay now we come to tip number five so
11:51you know how we talked about this idea
11:52of attention residue the idea that if
11:54you do one thing and then you move to
11:55another thing you're going to have some
11:57attentional residue that's sort of Left
11:59Behind kind on the first task so that
12:00you're less likely to be able to focus
12:01on the second task basically the
12:03solution to this is single tasking it's
12:06in a work session or in a focus session
12:08you are hopefully ideally just doing one
12:10thing and one way you can implement this
12:12into your daily life is to color code
12:14your calendar now hopefully you're
12:16following your calendar and living life
12:17by a calendar because actually creating
12:19an intention we talked about this in the
12:20last video creating an intention for
12:22what you want to do in a particular time
12:23block is one of the most reliable ways
12:25to actually be able to focus because the
12:27opposite of distraction is traction and
12:29if you don't know what you're doing you
12:30have nothing to get distracted from all
12:32of this stuff is in near E's amazing
12:33book indestructible which is about the
12:34science of focus and how to focus better
12:36so for example when I had lots to do I
12:37was running the business and also
12:38working on my book I knew that I
12:40couldn't just do like half an hour of
12:42book stuff and then switch to emails and
12:43slack and then the meeting and then
12:44another half an hour of book stuff and
12:46like when my calendar was scattered in
12:47that way I it was really really hard to
12:49focus whereas what I found was that when
12:51I batched similar tasks so for example
12:53in the morning 9 till 1200 would be my
12:55writing block I would color code that in
12:57Blue on the calendar for example then
12:5912:00 to 1 would be lunchtime then 1 to
13:001:30 would be like a little admin block
13:03for like checking messages and emails
13:04and all that kind of crap and then maybe
13:05you've got a meeting 1:30 to 2:30 and
13:07that's fine and then I do some work on
13:08YouTube videos which was another type of
13:09color block because it's a different
13:10sort of skill to writing and so I would
13:12color code that in green for example and
13:14so when I'm looking at my calendar for
13:15the week I want to make sure that it
13:16looks like there are lots of big chunks
13:20that are all the same color rather than
13:22kind of looking like a rainbow
13:23Kaleidoscope of like different colors
13:25everywhere that ensures that you're at
13:26least doing that thing where you're
13:27single tasking and focusing on one type
13:29of task at a given time and again just
13:30as a bonus tip the experiment that I
13:32found that works best for me for this is
13:34that I try and make it so that most of
13:35my time is deep work time focused on a
13:37single task but obviously we all have
13:39random admin and random crap that comes
13:40up that we have to do in my to-do list I
13:42make a list of all of the random admin
13:44that I need to do and I gather that list
13:46and when it gets to a critical mass I
13:47will give myself a Time block of 30
13:49minutes or 45 minutes that I call my fun
13:51admin party which kind of just tricks my
13:53brain into thinking it's fun which is
13:54like the whole philosophy of f good
13:55productivity to an extent but it tricks
13:57my brain into thinking it's fun and it
13:58means in that 5minute block my only goal
14:00is to just bash through as much admin as
14:02I possibly can and I generally do it in
14:04a coffee shop I generally have upbeat
14:05music in the background on my headphones
14:07and it's sort of I'm trying to turn it
14:08into a bit of a party because I know
14:10that like if I tried doing those little
14:12tiny boring admin things throughout the
14:14day it would just derail my focus in all
14:16of the other more important areas of
14:18life so this was video number two in our
14:20three-part video series about how to
14:21focus if you missed it that is video
14:23number one which is about five mistakes
14:25that might be ruining your focus and
14:26over there is video number three which
14:28is going to be a handful of tools that I
14:29personally find super helpful to improve
14:31my focus as well so thank you so much
14:32for watching have a great day and I'll
14:34see you in the next video bye-bye
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