TJ Power

In the moment that you have that first experience arise, you say to yourself the sentence, I'm going to fight the urge. You repeat this as a mantra, I'm going to fight the urge for the distraction effectively. You do that as many times as you can. Maybe you successfully do it three, four, five times. I'm going to fight the urge.

In the moment that you have that first experience arise, you say to yourself the sentence, I'm going to fight the urge. You repeat this as a mantra, I'm going to fight the urge for the distraction effectively. You do that as many times as you can. Maybe you successfully do it three, four, five times. I'm going to fight the urge.

Eventually, you find yourself irresistibly needing to go on YouTube or needing to go onto Twitter or whatever it might be. In that moment, you can do that, but before you do it, you head back to the stopwatch that you had on one of those tabs and you look at the number. You look at the number and the first time you ever do it, it says six minutes and 27 seconds.

Eventually, you find yourself irresistibly needing to go on YouTube or needing to go onto Twitter or whatever it might be. In that moment, you can do that, but before you do it, you head back to the stopwatch that you had on one of those tabs and you look at the number. You look at the number and the first time you ever do it, it says six minutes and 27 seconds.

That's what we then call your baseline attention span. That's how long you manage to push yourself for to stay in a state of concentration. We know from recent research that it takes about 15 minutes for the brain to start to lock in, for the attention span to really start to zone into one place. Maybe you got six minutes the first time, the next time you get 12.

That's what we then call your baseline attention span. That's how long you manage to push yourself for to stay in a state of concentration. We know from recent research that it takes about 15 minutes for the brain to start to lock in, for the attention span to really start to zone into one place. Maybe you got six minutes the first time, the next time you get 12.

Eventually, once you get to 15, that's when your brain is really locking in. It's staying centralized on one thing. What we've then found is because it's very difficult to get to 15 minutes of only focusing on one task, when you fight the urge, you give up on fighting the urge and you look at the stopwatch and you see it's beyond 15 minutes, you think, wow, I've actually managed to climb here.

Eventually, once you get to 15, that's when your brain is really locking in. It's staying centralized on one thing. What we've then found is because it's very difficult to get to 15 minutes of only focusing on one task, when you fight the urge, you give up on fighting the urge and you look at the stopwatch and you see it's beyond 15 minutes, you think, wow, I've actually managed to climb here.

I've actually managed to get to the number that I was targeting. And then people have this elevated motivation to maybe I should just stay in this. We're way more productive. We complete tasks in 40% less time if we get into flow state. So it's extremely advantageous. We go through that process, separate from the phone, select the task, open the stopwatch on a new tab, target the 15-minute number.

I've actually managed to get to the number that I was targeting. And then people have this elevated motivation to maybe I should just stay in this. We're way more productive. We complete tasks in 40% less time if we get into flow state. So it's extremely advantageous. We go through that process, separate from the phone, select the task, open the stopwatch on a new tab, target the 15-minute number.

And if you can get beyond it into 30, 45 minutes, that's incredible for flow state, incredible for dopamine.

And if you can get beyond it into 30, 45 minutes, that's incredible for flow state, incredible for dopamine.

Yeah, I think it's so important to understand, even if it wasn't productive, like doing work in that 30 minutes, it would arguably be productive just to go and sit on the sofa and not go on your phone or just to go and stand outside for a period of time or to call someone and talk to a human being. But the nuance of this is so important to understand because this is huge.

Yeah, I think it's so important to understand, even if it wasn't productive, like doing work in that 30 minutes, it would arguably be productive just to go and sit on the sofa and not go on your phone or just to go and stand outside for a period of time or to call someone and talk to a human being. But the nuance of this is so important to understand because this is huge.

Everyone basically completes one task on their list and then seeks for some kind of reward. And it's like, now I've earned my next dopamine hit on the phone. Next task, next dopamine hit. And it's not even necessarily a whole task. Sometimes we do a little bit of a task and we think, that's enough of this task done. Now I deserve my dopamine here.

Everyone basically completes one task on their list and then seeks for some kind of reward. And it's like, now I've earned my next dopamine hit on the phone. Next task, next dopamine hit. And it's not even necessarily a whole task. Sometimes we do a little bit of a task and we think, that's enough of this task done. Now I deserve my dopamine here.

And this is something I've struggled with massively. Like I grew up with no attention span. I really struggled with hyperactivity in school, really struggled for my whole life to get in states of focus. It was in the process of writing this book that I had to figure out how the hell do I concentrate for a prolonged period of time.

And this is something I've struggled with massively. Like I grew up with no attention span. I really struggled with hyperactivity in school, really struggled for my whole life to get in states of focus. It was in the process of writing this book that I had to figure out how the hell do I concentrate for a prolonged period of time.

And in those moments where I'm about to go onto the phone, I actually consider like, what is the ultimate impact that's going to have on this task? Because as soon as you go on the phone through that dopamine lens, you're not just rewarding yourself for a little bit and going back to the task. You're spiking the dopamine, crashing it out.

And in those moments where I'm about to go onto the phone, I actually consider like, what is the ultimate impact that's going to have on this task? Because as soon as you go on the phone through that dopamine lens, you're not just rewarding yourself for a little bit and going back to the task. You're spiking the dopamine, crashing it out.