can you believe that the average person has an attention span of just 8 seconds 8 seconds social media specifically mindless scrolling has caused the current attention crisis that we're living in and this is because we turn to social media often times as a form of escapism now I used to fall victim to procrastination every single day no matter how hard I tried no matter what productivity methods I try to stick to I always find myself procrastinating and so I really paid attention to this until I found the real C of it and that was discomfort you do not procrastinate or lose focus because you're self-sabotaging or you don't know how to study or you simply can't work or the task is too hard it's because it makes you feel uncomfortable sometimes this is due to a faar of failure sometimes it's because you have perfectionism in you or you worry that you're not going to be able to do the task in the first place and so we run to Social Media because it provides us that instant dopamine fix because it gives us that sense of comfort that our brain so deeply craves but if you've been here for a while then you know Comfort is the root of all misery and it will keep you from being your dream self and achieving your dream life the only way to be disciplined and the only way to be successful is to fall in love with the process of discomfort and that starts with breaking out of the pattern of scrolling on your phone which I already have an entire video on but in this video we are going to focus on getting our attention spaned back so that we can be our most productive selves so in this video I'm going to be breaking down 10 practical ways to increase your attention span and before we get into it this video has has been brought to you by Squarespace Squarespace is an all-in-one website platform designed for entrepreneurs to be able to stand out and succeed online whether you're just starting out and you just got your idea or you're managing a growing brand Squarespace has got 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back to this video and check out the link below in the description by going to squarespace.com slamcore to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain the the first step to improving your attention span is to shift your mindset and also do favors for your future self this takes a little bit of self-discovery in understanding why you're procrastinating in the first place I'll give myself as an example I absolutely felt victim to always picking up my phone or finding something else to do when I was in the middle of a work task or when I was studying and as I said before I found out it was because of my fear of failure and because the task just seemed too long and too exhausting and so my brain sought out this reward system that my phone was giving me while had immediate comfort and enjoyment from scrolling and it took away the discomfort that my present work task was showing me just simply understanding why you're procrastinating in the first place like that example I gave can allow you to become more intentional with your scrolling time and when you allow yourself to pick up your phone so once I realize that this isn't just a matter of my phone is just there so I pick it up or or I lose track of time I know exactly what's causing this I can then put in place personal measures that will prevent me from falling into that trap once again so for example I know that when I wake up and I start scrolling on my phone in the morning and I know I have to work I end up scrolling for a lot longer to prevent getting started in the first place so I put a system in place where I wasn't allowed to scroll on my phone until I had done 1 hour of work in the first place because if you've watched my past productivity videos then you know the main cause of procrastination is the fact that you haven't started we build up the process of getting started to be so big in our heads that we try to get rid of it all together but according to the most popular productivity method which is the 3 minute rule if you just get started for 3 minutes chances are you're going to be in a workflow and you can work for hours on end after so if you tell yourself you can scroll to your heart's desire after you complete 30 minutes or an hour of work you will find that you jump into work a lot quicker and it wasn't as painful as you thought it would be asking yourself the right questions is so important if you know that in your study breaks you tend to scroll on social media but then you stay on there for too long then you can do what I did which is blocking all social media sites on my computer you can even download apps that make sure that you cannot access any of those distracting websites for your computer I would recommend the website Pomodoro Timer to make sure that you're staying productive and using a website called leech blocker which is free for most browsers to make sure that you are blocking any distracting website so you literally don't have a choice to fall into that pit of procrastination and the thing with your attention span is the longer that you practice being focused for a longer amount of time the longer your attention span is going to grow step number two work in intervals and train your brain to be laser focused using timers I recently discovered this app which absolutely changed the game for me and it's called structured it's completely free and it is absolutely amazing now I used to plan my entire day in my calendar and I would do it in time blocks that already put so much pressure on me because I knew if I don't wake up at this time and if I don't start this task that means I'm going to fall behind on every other thing I've set for the day and I've said previously as well when you give yourself an infinite amount of time to do a task your brain will take up every single second of that time so let's say you need to study for a test and you've said well I have all of Wednesday to do it you're going to spend all of Wednesday procrastinating up until the last minute and that's why we find ourselves studying the night before a test because we have all of that pressure and so the key is to put that pressure on yourself now so when it comes to any task I give myself 2 hours to do it and then the next 2 hours I'm off I got lunch with a friend I've got something else to do and I know I cannot procrastinate during that time because then all of my other plans go out of the window and while calendar was working well for this I really like structured because when you're on the app it shows you how much time you have left for that task it's also very assertive and very fun so I highly recommend you use that it also works for Mac users step number three this is my favorite and it's monotasking you need to stop multitasking and start monotasking and essentially this means focusing on one task until it's complete and not doing anything else now I don't know about anybody else but social media got to a point where it frazzled my brain so much and my attention span so much that when it was my downtime in the evening and I wanted to watch Netflix or a movie I would be bored I would be bored and I would be scrolling on my phone or scrolling Pinterest while also watching watching a movie and that was the only way I could stay stimulated or entertained do you know how effed up that is so monotasking is all about committing to one task before you move on to the next one and I found that ever since doing this it allows me to stay more present in whatever I'm doing incorporating meditation into your day is also a really great way of doing this and basically it's going to reverse all of the rot that social media has poured into your brain because most of the time we think we should multitask or that we're better at it but really all we're doing is opening up all these extra tasks in our brain and it makes us feel more stressed more under pressure and more frazzled which then reduces our ability to be able to be our most productive selves in every other task we need to do in the day when you're multitasking you are spreading your attention very thin across multiple groups or multiple projects but when you monitas you are laser focusing it on one specific thing meaning it's going to be of higher quality and you're going to be more productive and more immersed in that thing for that period and your attention span is literally getting shorter by the period because you're allowing it to do so you are validating that behavior every single time you multitask because you feel too bored or UND stimulated when you're just doing one thing and this links into step number four take a digital detox I have videos regarding this on my channel already which are complete guides on how to do this but essentially because this attention crisis is caused by social media in the first place it's time to cut the cord where this problem has been caused I took around 2 weeks off of social media 2 years ago and it absolutely changed the game for me and I've never looked at social media in at same way ever again I used to be scrolling for days on end I was always keeping up with everybody and nowadays I love a good scroll okay especially before bed I love to just check up on my social media but throughout the day nothing gives me the ick more than staying on my phone I could be on a train going somewhere with nothing else to do and I will sit there listen to music and stare out the window just to immerse myself in that experience because it is an experience I'm watching nature I'm remaining present with my own thoughts I'm building gratitude in being present with myself in that moment and people watching or watching my surroundings or even actually thinking about my day and so a digital detox doesn't even need to be like putting your phone in a drawer for days it could be practicing to switch it off in moments that you would usually use it to once again train your brain to remain stimulated without the need for that comfort and that instant dopamine hit because when you allow yourself to fall in love with that dopamine hit over and over and over again no wonder you can't study no wonder you can't work of course it's going to be so boring because you're used to having all of this fresh content at your fingertips every single second and the more you detach from that and the more you take breaks from it your brain can finally return to its regular state where it can read a document online or read a book for a few more minutes step five stop chasing instant gratification and also have a dopamine detox like we said before social media online shopping texting all of these things give us that instant dopamine fix that instant gratification and the way that you've grown so accustomed to gaining that instant gratification no wonder you you can't see out your goals and commitments because when we are on this path to making our dreams come true that is a long process that can take years and there will be so many failures beforehand and yet your daily routine revolves around getting things like that so no wonder you can't stay attentive or focused to things that are in the long game and so the best way to incorporate a dopamine detox which will help us grow and practice having a longer attention span to things which won't happen overnight is to start incorporating habits that are much slower and don't gives us instant gratification examples include reading a book if you're not a big reader I would honestly just challenge you to read one page a day and then build it up to three pages and then five pages and then read one whole chapter a day and I also encourage you to use your device whether that be an iPad or an iPhone to have a timer on it and this will pressure you it will make sure that you don't touch your device and also it will kind of instill this ambition and motivation in you to see how long you can read without having to turn off the timer another example is trying to cook dinner every night if you're someone who religiously orders food out because once again instant gratification and this leads us onto step number six which is mastering discipline as I said before discomfort is the key to building discipline and once you have discipline your attention fine it doesn't even matter anymore because even if you're not feeling like working and even if your brain is like I want to procrastinate I want to do this I want to do that you are not going to let yourself do that and you're going to get the damn task done anyway and the way that you master this is to consistently practice the pro process of ignoring your feelings and going ahead with logic in fact the worst that you feel about doing a thing the larger reward you will gain by doing it anyway because if you know you're going to wake up on a cold rainy morning and you told yourself the night before I want to go to the gym and you don't want to go but you do it anyway the next morning it becomes 10 times easier for you to go to the gym and a few more times you're going to do that and not only with the gym but with every other area in your life you're like I don't want to do this but then your brain goes wait but every other time you said I don't feel like doing this you do it and you survive and guess what you actually feel way more confident and way better about yourself that you did something you didn't want to initially do because yes your brain seeks out discomfort and it thinks you know I want that extra sleep or I want to be cozy in my bed but you don't go to bed that night feeling proud of yourself in fact you feel a little bit of Shame and you feel a little bit of guilt because you told yourself you were going to do something and you let your feelings take priority and now you're like damn there goes another day where I didn't contribute to my goals where I didn't do what I said I was going to do and the first few times you start committing to the practice of doing what you say you're going to do you build so much self trust and so much self-confidence that it becomes addictive and just the process of you living in that disciplined way is going to do amazing things for growing your attention span other ways to practice discipline and get outside of your comfort zone other than working out would be to go on a solo day to practice journaling if that's not your thing to read a book for an hour like I said before to sign up to a new class to meet new people anything that absolutely terrifies you I highly encourage you to do it that is when you master self-control and you don't fall victim to external things or devices ew step number seven is to practice slowness attention requires slowness and you will have a very long attention span once you fall in love with the process of living slowly this is all about incorporating moments of Stillness throughout your day to give your brain that break from constantly needing to feel stimulated that way when you sit down to work or when you're trying to focus on a project your brain is already used to that moment of Stillness and Chet and it doesn't instantly crave that dopamine hit that social media or going out with your friends would give you so an example of this is if you are brushing your teeth or doing your skincare and you have a YouTube video on or you're like oh my God guys I used to do this I used to scroll on Tik Tok and brush my teeth with my other hand oh my God no wonder my attention span was a shambles I literally challenge you to keep your phone out of the bathroom all together you're going to pee you're going to do your business you have to sit on the toilet and you have to stare at the bathroom door and you cannot do anything else and that is honestly I think a great way to practice Stillness once again it goes back to sitting on a train try to people watch try to be present with your own thoughts incorporate things like yoga meditation and reading into your day if you say you're going to watch a movie keep your phone completely in another room if you're going out to lunch with a friend why are you even scrolling on your phone and this links into step number eight which is become an attentive listener attention and focus isn't necessarily just a about studying or working when you truly make an effort to listen to others and Converse in a deep and meaningful way you are training your brain to be able to focus better and for longer periods there is no better way to test your focus than the act of trying to actively listen to somebody else because it requires so much mental discipline to stay focused and avoid interrupting and actually absorbing everything they're saying so that not only do you know what to respond but you actually retain the information they're giving you most people lose track of what other people are talking about completely because a they're too worried about themselves or they're stressing about what to even say back because what if there's an awkward silence or they're looking around at other things in the room I've had people do all of the above to me before but when you master the art of detaching from your distractions and allowing them to take over and you are completely laser focused on the person in front of you and you shift your mindset to how can I create a meaningful conversation with this person how can I make them feel heard and understood and seen that is a completely separate way to improve your attention span which is separate from studying and working it's a great way to improve your mental discipline because now it's no longer about you or how stimulated or how much fun you're having but instead focusing on the other person's experience step number nine is to figure out your most productive time of day I think this is especially important when you're starting out in this journey of trying to improve your attention span there are countless studies that show that some people are night hours and some people are early risers and everybody actually has a different time of day where they fall more productive and when you're starting out and you know that you know it's very easy for you to get bored or feel procrastinated you need to do yourself that favor to make this process of working and being productive as easy as possible in the beginning so if you know you hate waking up early and you're more of a night owl don't start this journey trying to do work in the morning you're going to grow so frustrated the task is going to be a lot harder for you and you're going to be way more likely to give up a lot faster allow yourself the right environment to make sure that you are going to succeed at this the first few times which will give you that perfect momentum and also raised self-esteem which will encourage you to keep ongoing in increasing the level of time that you're reading or working or removing distractions for example when I used to have like a uni essay that I really used to struggle with and I did not want to do I always did whatever I wanted all throughout the day and then I would do it at night time and just the process of starting the essay itself doing at night time was so easy there was no one there to distract me I couldn't talk to my friends I couldn't go out I also felt the pressure and urgency of completing the task because I had none of the day left and then the next day because I had actually started the essay beforehand and had gotten just the hardest part out of the way which was beginning it and figuring out what I was going to write about it was actually easier to work throughout the day because I'd given myself the favor of making it as easy as possible according to my preferences in the beginning stages and this links into our final step to increase your attention span which is make the environment right for you you need to have a designated work or study space where only productivity happens there like your phone is absolutely banned from there no other distractions you cannot take phone calls there you cannot do your makeup there nothing this is why I'm also so against studying or working on your bed which is something I actually used to do for years until I found literal articles which showed that you're more likely to fall asleep or procrastinate or produce lower quality work when you work in your bedroom or on your bed because your brain actually Associates that with sleeping so you weren't even at your highest capabilities and energy levels when you were studying or working in that environment this is why it's much better to work at your desk and make sure that that desk is reserved for productivity only if you sit there and if you scroll your brain is now associating your work desk with scrolling and having fun and having that dopamine hit and then you are more likely to grow tired bored and frustrated when you work cuz your brain is like hold up but we were scrolling and we were watching YouTube yesterday so I want to do that now and this is also why I love to go to the library or a cafe to work not only because your brain can't associate it with moments of distraction but also more likely loads of people are going to be sat there working and being productive and it's going to put pressure on your next level that you're going to feel so guilty for talking on the phone or meeting up with a friend or scrolling on Tik Tok that you are just going to have long periods of productivity and then your brain will associate those environments with doing so making working a lot easier and slowly increasing your attention span as you continue to practice that essentially this is all about setting those boundaries between your personal life and your work life they can never cross over because that is when the lines get blurred and so does your attention span and that brings us to the end of this video I hope you guys enjoyed it please comment down below and let me know what your favorite fact was or what you are going to be practicing out of these 10 practical steps to increase your attention span I hope that you learned something from from this video I would love to learn about it I know a lot of you are students and you are entering exam season right now so I really hope that this is going to help you smash exams and make sure that you achieve all of your heart's desires when it comes to your studies or whatever you do for work I wish you the best thank you so much for watching be sure to check out all of my links in the description like my Vlog Channel my socials my podcast and the pre-order l for my book coming out this summer and I will see you same time next week for a brand new video bye [Music]