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Welcome to Feel Better Live More Bite Size, your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend.Today's clip is from episode 380 of the podcast with globally renowned brain coach, Jim Quake.
In this clip, we discuss why so many of us feel like we're lacking in focus, the power of a morning routine, and how to structure your day with intention. Many people these days are complaining that they can't focus.
They're struggling with their memory.They just can't pay attention in a way that they used to.So in your view, what's going on?
Yeah, I mean, the world has changed, certainly.Technology, and I'm pretty pro technology.It also, it maybe hasn't caused it, but it certainly has amplified some of that distraction, that digital distraction.
I mean, we live in an age of rings and pings and dings and app notifications, social media alerts.And so I feel like in a way that we're driven to be distracted.And how do you maintain your concentration, which is so important nowadays?
You know, we live in the attention economy. But we're rewiring our brains to react and to be able to focus every little thing that's in our purview.And how are you going to get things done?How are you going to learn?How are you going to study?
How are you going to be productive?In my book Limitless, I talk about four digital... It's like the four horsemen, if you will, of the mental apocalypse.And I tend to alliterate, so I made them all Ds. The first one actually is digital distraction.
With the rise of technology and every like and share and comment and cat video, and then we get those dopamine hits, we're kind of rewired to be distracted.
Another one that we're facing that people I think are struggling with right now is this thing called digital deluge.It's feel like there's too much information. But not enough time to go through it all.
Some people describe it as taking a sip of water out of a fire hose, maybe.Or they're drowning in information.And then there's one that I term digital deduction.
Digital deduction.That's the third one, right?
Yeah. Digital deduction, so you have digital distraction and digital deluge.Digital deduction is this phenomenon where it seems like this generation is not having the same ability to think or to rationalize.
You have applied logic, critical thinking, and it could be because of technology.With algorithms, a lot of technology is doing the thinking for us.
It's telling us, you know, giving us our recommendation, it's telling us how to get from here to there.
If you think about, you know, way back before GPS, you know, we would have to build visual spatial intelligence in order for you to be able to get from here to there.But now we rely on our devices, so we don't have to think through outsourcing that.
And then a big one is digital dementia. I mean, think about that.We're so reliant on technology to also be like our external memory drive.I mean, think about how many phone numbers, you know, your audience, you and I used to know growing up.
And how many do we know today, current numbers?You know, probably could count on one hand, maybe one, two, or three.
Not that I want to memorize 500 phone numbers, but it should be concerning that a lot of people complain about not being able to memorize one, you know, a phone number or a pin number or a passcode or a seed phrase or what they ate that day or conversation they just had.
I believe two of the most costly words sometimes in our life, certainly in our work are, I forgot.I forgot to do it.I forgot to bring it.I forgot that person's name.You know, every single time we have those lapses, we could lose time and credibility.
We could hurt a relationship.
So I want to sort of explore what's going on here.You mentioned these four Ds, right?And of course they all start with digital.And you also mentioned that you're pro-technology, right?So it's not necessarily technology that's
doing it, maybe it's the way we're using that technology sometimes that's problematic.So let's go through that.I know you've outlined that, but digital distraction.I think we all kind of get that, that
we can't focus because we're just drawn to our smartphone and we're just, before we know it, we should be doing a work project, but somehow we've ended up down a Twitter rabbit hole or we've been on Instagram for 10 minutes without even realizing it.
So what can we do about that?
Yeah, I mean, for me, technology is not necessarily good or bad.It's exactly what you said.It's how it's applied.Like fire is a form of technology and fire could cook our food or it could burn down our home.
But you're right, it's how we're using it as opposed to it using us.Technology is a tool for us to use, but if technology is using us, then who becomes the tool?Then we become the tool.
And so, having agency I think is very important in terms of that we're not a victim, that we always are the pilot of our lives. instead of the passenger.We're the pilot of our minds.We're not the passenger.We don't have to just be reacting to it.
My challenge is when people pick up the phone out of boredom.In terms of how many times have people opened up social media or touching their phone or if it's at the table during a meal, it creates that unconscious anxiety that's there.
It's just the impulse to be able to pick it up. And so part of it is obviously controlling the environmental aspect of it and knowing that we always have a choice, right?There's a quote in Limitless from a French philosopher.
And he says, life is the letter C between the letters B and D. Life is C between B and D. B is birth, D is death, life, C, choice.You know, we always have that choice every single day.
Our lives in effect is the sum total of all the choices we made up to this point. where are we gonna live?Who are we gonna spend time with?What are we gonna eat?What are we gonna do for a living?What are we gonna feed our mind?
And I'm also thinking that when it comes to choices and the decisions that we make, I believe that even at a meta level, that these difficult times, they could distract us.We're talking about distraction.
It could diminish us or these difficult times can actually develop us.We always decide because we always have choice.Every day we wake up with a chance because we have choice, right?
And to take responsibility of it as opposed to putting it out there like something... I always use this metaphor that it's important for all of us to identify more with a thermostat than we do a thermometer.
meaning a thermometer, let's say a thermometer is in your room, what's its function?It just reacts to the environment.Whatever the environment gives it, it reacts.And as human beings, we are sometimes like that.We react to how people treat us.
We can react to the weather, we can react to the economy, you know, all these different things.But ultimately, You know this, as you write about happiness, the people that are most fulfilled, happy, successful, they tend to not react as much, right?
They tend to maintain more of their agency.A thermostat has that agency.A thermostat doesn't react to its environment.A thermostat, it knows the temperature, it gauges.
It has awareness and though it sets a temperature and what happens to the environment, the environment reacts to it, right?
I love that, and when I've watched your videos online or listened to your podcast, I see a lot of shared philosophy.And I know first thing in the morning is a very important time for you, as it is for me.
I really do passionately believe that the way we start the day determines so much of what happens later on in that day.You know, if you start off consuming news,
don't be surprised that you feel anxious, a bit frazzled, a bit negative about the world later on, because the way we feel is often downstream from what we're consuming.
I have this kind of mnemonic for a morning routine that I've written about, I've made videos about, that the three Ms of a morning routine for me are mindfulness movement and mindset.So again, I'm not saying it's for everyone.
You know, we all got to find what works for us.But for me, I started with some form of mindfulness practice, could be breathing, could be meditation, something like that, some form of movement.
You know, I like to do a five minute kitchen strength workout while my coffee's brewing.It's a system I've got going.You stack those habits.Stack it, very, very small.And then the third piece of me is mindset.So I always finish off,
reading something uplifting or thought provoking every morning.That's kind of, I can do that in 15 minutes.If I have the luxury of 45 minutes, I can take 45 minutes, an hour, but it can also be compressed if I need to, to get those three Ms in.
But for me and for many of my patients, they found that that's a very helpful framework to think about starting their day, intentionally setting how your day is gonna be.Because here's the thing, if you don't,
I get it, some people say they're busy, they don't have time.But the problem is if you start the day reacting, consuming, watching the news, your thermostat is set at a different temperature.
Everything you experienced that day is likely to be affected by that.
It's kind of like there's an algorithm to our mind.Like the algorithm is whatever you engage with, you get more of.You watch all the cat videos and like, share them and everything, comment.Your newsfeed is gonna be full of cats, right?
And your minds are the same way.If you're just watching the news and everything that's dark and threatening and scary, Whatever you engage with, you're gonna get more of.
So you're just gonna start, your RAS, your reticular activating system, your nervous system is just trained to look at what's threatening.And chronic stress will shrink the human brain.Chronic fear will actually suppress your immune system.
Chronic fear is a whole area of science called psychoneuroimmunology.It just make you more susceptible to colds, to flus, to viruses.So we have to stand guard to our mind in terms of what we're letting in.
I know you're big on morning routines.You're big on not looking at your phone for a period of time in the morning.And if we use the analogy of the thermostat, I guess,
we get a chance every morning to set the thermostat on our life, depending on what we do, right?So you're a brain coach, you're a world renowned brain coach.
So to you, what does an ideal morning look like if we're thinking about the health of our brains?
And specifically towards things like focus.You have better focus throughout the day.
For me, when I wake up, my goal is, while I do some of the biohacking people see on social media, the cryotherapy and the saunas and all that, most of that I like to get nowadays from nature because it's free.I feel like it's very natural.
It's very duplicatable for all of us.
Is that when you spoke about recently, you'd like to get the four elements first thing in the morning?
Yeah, I do, I do.That was beautiful, could you elaborate on that?When I was researching another book, I was reading about the elements and how, you know,
Ancient cultures like from Babylon and Babylonian times, they used to believe in ancient Greeks, they used to believe everything was made up of these four elements, air, fire, water and earth.And I thought, wow, that's very beautiful.
It sounds very natural and organic for me.And so for me, I like to infuse my day with those elements.Maybe first thing in the morning, you can do it by going out and getting grounded.I love taking off my shoes and being barefoot.
Your bathroom now in the studio as I am?Yeah, exactly.Yeah.And walking around your beautiful yard and it's very peaceful, you get grounded.And, you know, some people use biohacking like PMF mats, you know, at certain frequencies.
But, you know, I feel like all of those are meant to kind of imitate nature, like the infrared, you know, the red lights imitate the sun and so on. So I'm going out there, I'm getting the direct sunlight, which is very important.
You know, we know many people talk about getting direct sunlight first thing in the morning to reset your circadian rhythm, to help you sleep better at night.So that's the fire for me.And I have the earth.
I hydrate because we could lose a good amount of water through when we sleep, through respiration and perspiration.And, you know, just staying hydrated could boost your reaction time, your thinking speed upwards of 30%.
I mean, it's a huge, not a small boost, but a huge lift. I do some electrolytes.That really works well for me, the salts and the minerals.A nice tall glass works for me, usually room temperature.That's my personal thing.
And then the last one is air and that's just doing some breathing exercises.Sometimes people feel sedated or they feel like they have that mental fatigue and I feel like a lot of times it's just because we're not getting enough air.
I mean, sometimes we have to just even check our posture when we're at our desk, because sometimes when you collapse your diaphragm, the lower one-third of your lungs could absorb two-thirds of the oxygen.
So, you know, it's really important to get that blood flow and that oxygen to where it really matters.So those are the kind of things I do, but intentionally what I'm thinking about in the morning And I've done this for the longest time.
I do these thought experiments, you know, where I'm, I just, I'm going to imagine myself at the end of the day, I could do this in bed or I could do this outside.I can imagine a family member asking at the end of the day, how was your day?
And I was like, today was really great.You know, I'm very blessed.You know, I crushed it today, something like that.And then I asked myself, if that's what I say, then what had to happen in order for me to feel that way?
And I work backwards, I kind of reverse engineer it, meaning I think about three things personally and three things maybe professionally that happened.
And they don't have to be huge, big things, but that's where I kind of put my focus and my intention.I kind of work backwards.I was like, okay, if I do this, if I have this conversation with you, that's a big check mark for me and I'll make me happy.
If I walk the dogs or play with my son or do specific activities, that's a win.I work backwards from that. I'm very intentional and when I go through some of the things I talk about in my morning routine, I'm not suggesting it's for everybody.
I don't think necessarily everything is for everybody or everybody's for everything.You know, I do ask people to maybe experiment.
I think ultimately we are our best coach and it's nice to have mentors and others and get their feedback, but to test it on themselves and then, you know, everyone's situation is a little bit different.
Yeah, you mentioned before about being the pilot, right?Rather than a passenger.
And I really like that practice where, yeah, you've mentioned the four elements, that'll be a very, well, literally a way to ground at the start of the day, root yourself, give yourself the kind of core ingredients that a healthy human needs each morning.
But I really like that exercise where you fast forward to the end of the day and almost visualise saying to yourself, that was a great day.And so what do I need to do to make that a great day?I think that's a really nice practice.
And how does this change things?Does it automatically change the way you approach the day?Are you thinking about actions, behaviors, but of both? Yeah, yeah.
And I've done both and or created a composite.I think to-do lists, most people listening have some form of to-do list way of tracking the tasks that they have to check off.I think it's important to also have a to-be list.
It kind of, maybe it sounds a little corny, but a to-be list, it's, you know, the whole idea where we're not human doings, we're human beings. When we're faced with a decision or dilemma, often people are like, what do I need to do?
And I think if people took a step back and say, who do I need to be at this moment?It changes the reference point, meaning that maybe you're in a spirited debate with someone at work and you say, who do I want to be?
Maybe I want to be compassionate, right?Or I want to be loving.And then the behaviors take care of themselves.
Hope you enjoyed that bite-sized clip.Do spread the love by sharing this episode with your friends and family.And if you want more, why not go back and listen to the original full conversation with my guest?
If you enjoyed this episode, I think you will really enjoy my bite-sized Friday email.It's called the Friday Five, and each week I share things that I do not share on social media.It contains five short doses of positivity
articles or books that I'm reading, quotes that I'm thinking about, exciting research I've come across and so much more.I really think you're gonna love it.
The goal is for it to be a small yet powerful dose of feel good to get you ready for the weekend.You can sign up for it free of charge at drchatterjee.com forward slash Friday five.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend, make sure you have pressed subscribe and I'll be back next week with my long-form conversational Wednesday and the latest episode of Bite Science next Friday.
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