Distractions and focus, motivation, to-do lists, working from home, pomodoro method, rainy days

Ethan joins me for another episode. We talk 'distraction action', lists lists everywhere, how to focus with the ever-present distractions every day (notifications on your phone, anyone?), and even more with everyone working from home. Why the answer is breaking up large items into smaller chunks, and some software that can help you.

And a little of what we were up to during Easter weekend. Missing rainy days.

Focuster to-do list
Pomodoro method
Digital timer


Transcript:
[00:00:02] spk_0: Okay, what's up everybody? This is the life next level podcast. Got your boy here, Ethan guttsman sable and the great J gross. You

[00:00:14] spk_1: feel like you're buttering me up? It's nice,

[00:00:17] spk_0: Yeah, it's true. So, hold on, man, how are you doing? It was just the easter weekend. What? How was it?

[00:00:24] spk_1: Yeah, man, easter was great. Um so I didn't tell you, but I had a wedding, I was in a wedding. If I don't, we never got to the bottom of, if you remember to Stephen Rebecca, I know that you've met him a couple of times, you remember, you know? Yeah,

[00:00:37] spk_0: yeah, I do, yeah,

[00:00:38] spk_1: yeah. So they just got married over the weekend, over in, down here in Scottsdale Arizona. So it's perfect, cool, um whether it's beautiful, we we took a couple of days afterwards and just, you know, sit down some cocktails, grilled up some food, sat by a pool and I just haven't had relaxing days like that and so long, man, it's so nice.

[00:00:57] spk_0: Yeah, but

[00:00:59] spk_1: the flip side of that is that I felt so behind on everything when I actually sat down in front of my computer, because I just kind of detached, which I rarely do even from my phone. I didn't answer emails, I didn't do anything.

[00:01:12] spk_0: Uh

[00:01:13] spk_1: well,

[00:01:13] spk_0: yeah, right, it's kind of jump back in once you've had that break to, you would be like, well, once I hit it, I hit it. So

[00:01:21] spk_1: how about you man, do you do anything fun?

[00:01:24] spk_0: It was cool. So we just went to parents place and hung out outside a little bit and it was fun. The before easter, we hung out with some friends and uh yeah, it was feeling really, you know, here in Minneapolis, it isn't always as fresh out there, and so it's, it's up and coming now. But yeah, it felt really nice outside and there was a ton of people outside and that was uh yeah it's cool uh string up the hammocks or I don't even know if he did actually. Well whatever picnic table hammock one or another is next to the

[00:01:52] spk_1: opposite. Yeah so I heard the weather is pretty nice in Minnesota this weekend.

[00:01:57] spk_0: Yeah it's been raining a bunch now. A bunch of thunder and thunder and lightning. Well not a bunch but there has been south but that's fun to honestly

[00:02:05] spk_1: mr actually I miss storms and because it never storms in Hawaii I'll never storms in Thailand at least where I was in Thailand never storms in Arizona and I miss him. I miss a rainy day even which seems crazy but

[00:02:22] spk_0: no totally I get it. Even the smell. Uh Yeah. Yeah it does help, it does help make it feel you know, I don't know this is obvious but like not dry but you know there's just a specific like summertime storm smell, especially post storm when the sky is out.

[00:02:41] spk_1: Yeah, I totally agree. I mean you can smell at least in the country, I don't know about like downtown Minneapolis but you can like smell rain coming. Yeah, totally. Such a beautiful thing. Yeah,

[00:02:52] spk_0: I feel like it's different in the city because you can smell the pavement and then it's all about the city. Like smell that fresh wet pavement smells

[00:03:00] spk_1: the pavement, all the pollution like exhaust.

[00:03:04] spk_0: Yeah, I

[00:03:07] spk_1: shouldn't talk I shouldn't talk correct because I love living in the city. But yeah, you just don't get that's kind of a benefit of living outside in the country somewhere. You get just all the fresh cut grass smell, all that.

[00:03:18] spk_0: Yeah, just the banks of trees and stuff, definitely. Yeah, there's a reason we hunt for the parks and stuff you know. Yeah. But yeah man

[00:03:27] spk_1: we're good it was good.

[00:03:29] spk_0: Yeah no it's good. But yeah what are we talking about? What are we talking about today J we're doing a little distraction action. Yes

[00:03:42] spk_1: yes we're going to talk about distractions a little bit man because ever present in our current environments now especially even before the whole working from home thing man. No it's it's even worse for real for real. So yeah we're gonna talk about some some ways to avoid distractions in ways to help you out with distractions. Um Some some ways to tackle the day so that distractions aren't prevalent and at the end of the day you look at your to do list and you have like two things crossed off and then you're like hit your life down on yourself.

[00:04:20] spk_0: We've

[00:04:20] spk_1: all been there. It's an exaggeration, but if I don't get enough on my to do list by the end of the day, I'm very mad at myself. Yeah, it's really hard to do it with distractions.

[00:04:31] spk_0: Absolutely. Yeah, sometimes it's not even an exaggeration, I feel like it really is like, you know, especially if they if you feel as if you've been succumbing to distractions, you know, a little more whatever in any period of time, I feel like it totally precipitates kind of like this like oh God, you know like the weight keeps getting bigger and bigger because you're like I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do this. But every time you know the thing that you don't do then also lumps onto the distraction train and it's just it totally, it can it can get deep in there with the mental

[00:05:05] spk_1: man big time. It just creates like an avalanche.

[00:05:11] spk_0: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah man. Yeah. Well it's funny too because I feel like I mean you know full disclosure, I struggle with distraction all the time you know or like and I know that's what we're talking about but even even finding ways to feel, you know uh effective in dealing with them. But that's why it's fun to talk about. I feel like it because because I feel like that's so common. Like everybody, everybody even if we don't notice it, like not to jump around and get distracted but that's like one of the big things with meditation is just I love how it helps to point out like oh I am like getting distracted even way more than I realized or notice. You know like I I thought it was this much but it's this much you know, and that's helpful already.

[00:05:56] spk_1: Well, a cross that one off my list Ethan. Thanks.

[00:05:59] spk_0: Oh, you

[00:06:01] spk_1: know, it

[00:06:03] spk_0: wasn't the whole thing, it was an appetizer. There's still the whole meal for you.

[00:06:06] spk_1: Well, I think what I think this is a really cool topic is because a lot of our topics are very Almost largely themed a little bit more, you know, like visualization and whereas distractions, I mean we could just rattle off 20 different ways that we helped to overcome distractions. So I think this one will be a little bit more fast paced because I think we'll jump from subject to subject a little more, which is cool. So hopefully we'll give the listeners a bunch of things that they can try out and it won't take, you know, don't they don't have to change their entire morning routine or all this stuff just to try it out. You know, they can just give things a shot. So

[00:06:39] spk_0: Absolutely, yeah,

[00:06:41] spk_1: Why don't you lead us off? Lead the charge man.

[00:06:43] spk_0: Yeah, Well, I mean, so first of all, I think, um one of the ways that I deal with distraction, I feel like it's just getting lucky uh in terms of like if I'm lucky enough to catch the flow of just like jumping into something before I get a chance to get distracted, you know, I think that, I think anybody who gets the uh, well yeah, I think all people get distracted a lot. I think people who are familiar with being distracted a lot after a while, you start to notice, you know, like, especially if you're paying attention the trends, what starts to pull you off track, you know, uh, which is another thing that let me get distracted, but I think it's fun to talk about the notion of the antithesis, you know, being getting traction for stuff because I think that's really helpful. But but to stay on point, I think my thing is um is that when my expectations start to run a little rampant, it's basically what I'm saying is when I can notice what my expectations are before I even start doing something, I can make it easier to not get distracted because if they start to, if I, if I, so even if I'm talking about small to do this stuff, like take care of this tax thing, then do whatever, you know, I'll start to be like, okay, well I got this also pertains to the tax thing and this and this and it's like I am focusing on so much of the task that I never start going. And so I get lucky by just being like here's what I want to do, this is this one thing I just wanted to send this email before I get pulled off, I'm just gonna do it because you know because yeah, because otherwise it's going to sit there forever and so yeah, a lot of times it feels like getting lucky enough to just jump in, but I think it comes from paying attention to you know like really adapting my expectations consistently, like not in a negative way, not like I'm cutting myself short but just like always working with myself to be like okay here's all I am asking myself right now, I can do that and then move from there, you know,

[00:08:42] spk_1: it's it's breaking off smaller chunks because if you have um you know just big large things to do, but you don't have it broken off into smaller chunks, it's so much harder to get something that takes four hours done in a day than it is to get a bunch of stuff that takes last time. And I think by by breaking it up into smaller chunks and even putting that on your to do list, just putting that check mark there for smaller things gets you more motivated to keep going and avoid avoid getting distracted because you're on a roll, then you're marking things off and it feels good where it's almost more distracting when you're not when you're already distracted or you don't feel like you're getting enough done, it's like more distracting and then you start to drift off and check your email or do other things instead of the task at hand.

[00:09:26] spk_0: Exactly, yeah. Yeah, because the thing feels like, oh it's too you know, I don't have a chance anyways, I got all this stuff, it's gonna take me four hours and I'm only I've only got 20 minutes of attention span here, I can tell, you know?

[00:09:39] spk_1: Yeah. Do you use to do lists it up?

[00:09:44] spk_0: Yeah. When I I but I my thing is that I make a ton of them and I put them all over, so I just like, hide them from myself, you know? I'm like, it's like to do this in my alarm clock, you know, that it's like, yeah, so I know that's my that's one of the things is uh I always uh and then I get distracted because I think that I'm always like, oh, there's gotta be a better way to do this, and then I'm like, I don't know what it is, Okay, I won't. But but yeah, so but I do like lists because when I do, you know, find one that I'm ready to attack. It feels so good to just check off and

[00:10:22] spk_1: move. It's funny that you said that man. I just I just dropped some stuff, but it's funny that you said that because I do the same thing. Like I have a to do list. Uh well I put it in a note and note in my phone. And then I have like, I always write stuff down. Just something about writing stuff down like the night before I'll write down everything I want to do the next day. Like writing this cathartic plus it makes me remember it. I'm trying to put it all in an online to do list that I found that works really well. But a lot of times, yeah, I have to look at my phone, look at the online to do listen and look at my note pad and it's all over. And then I have I'm really stupidly obsessed with sticky notes, sticky notes all around my computer. When I think of something I read it down totally. No. Yeah, I'm not the best at that. But I'm starting to get into a bit of a cadence with with this online at the one that I have is called focused, er It's pretty good, I'm gonna pay for it. But I've tried a bunch and they don't work. It's on focus is really cool because it has this option that you can just you can have 100 things to do in that day, but it's just, and then you can put it in like the time frame that you want to do it and then it will just show you the first three, like focus on these three things today. And I think that's a really cool aspect because then once you get one down, another one feels it. And so rather than looking at your whole overwhelming to do lists, which yeah, it's just overwhelming and distracting and of itself, like I'm never going to get everything done just like you just look at the top three. That's cool. I think that's a really good, that's a really cool thing to get into. Even if you just write your to do list, if you can somehow have a post it note or a separate one that just has the top three things that you want to get done. Um And by top three, I mean like the most important three because once you do those, the rest of your day is a breeze and if you don't know what your top three are, they're almost always the ones that you put off to the end of the day, like most important things, the biggest things you want to tackle, like if you can get into a habit of tackling those first thing in the morning, your days are going to go so smooth. Yeah, so I think those are good ways to avoid distractions, you get on a roll

[00:12:28] spk_0: totally, totally. Yeah, it's kind of like beating up the biggest person in the prison, the first name, you know, if you there the rest of like smooth sailing, uh but

[00:12:40] spk_1: it is a little bit, that's a good analogy.

[00:12:43] spk_0: Yeah. Yeah, I also, you know, I think it's cool to before we talk about another one, just like being open to doing what you talked about number one and like using resources that are out there to help, you know, if it's challenging and then number two, I think what's cool and what makes it more genuine is if a person you, I know you like to, you know like dabble in a lot of try out different resources that people have made and I think that allowing oneself the freedom to be like, oh I'm gonna try this and then be like, I don't like it and then like be okay with trying other stuff because I feel like you will settle on something that you like nice, this one is cool and uh yeah, just just letting that, you know, process, be organic and not having to rush like, but but being open to trying different ways of helping yourself to focus is

[00:13:32] spk_1: cool. Well you're right because it is stressful too continually work with this to do list that's ever growing and you're trying to mark mark stuff off, it can be very stressful. So by trying new things and new methods to tackle it, I think there's something out there for everyone and everyone is totally different when it comes to it. That's why there's there's probably 1000 to do list things online. I've tried at least 999 of them. Um But I've tried a lot of them and I've tried him for even, you know, up to a month, two months sometimes, and it's just like I know when it's just falling behind and I don't go, it's not set up for the next day, and I don't set it up, right, and then I just go off in my notebook again. I'm like, okay, this one isn't working, but there are so many resources out there to help and we'll go through some other resources that aren't just to do this today. There's there's a lot of help with distractions, so.

[00:14:28] spk_0: Yeah. Yeah. Well what's so what about you? What's one? Uh

[00:14:33] spk_1: Yeah, I'll nail one man and I'm going to show you this right now. Your cell phones. Yeah. Yeah. Cell phones are like the biggest distraction and we could go, there's like six degrees of cell phones, you have text messages, phone calls, social media alerts and these are not only distractions to get your work done, but the the worst thing I ever see and we're all guilty of it. Me too, but walk into a restaurant sometime and look around at everybody that's in a conversation. And like 90 of them will have their phones out. Neither not being a conversation or they will be texting while nodding like as if they're paying attention to conversation. And then I feel like is what our conversations have turned into. They so it's not only distracted at work, but we're distracted, we're talking to friends and family or at company meetings because of cell phones. And it's hard because there's a lot of great with cell phones, the ability to take phone calls anywhere and keep in touch anywhere. It's awesome. I mean, I can talk, I can call my friends in Thailand right now, you know, and like just like that they're there to talk to, so it's great, but it's also ultimately distracting. So what I do, you know, go into this other other method in a little bit called the Pomodoro method. But what I do with my cell phone is when I want to really get into it, I mean, I turned my phone at the very least I turn it on silent, put it face down, so I'm not distracted by lighting up or whatever when I get a call because what I found out in doing that is because I used to be the someone called, I would answer it didn't matter what I was doing if I was in the middle of something and same with text messages and you know, the whole distraction thing, like once to get back on track after a distraction, it takes takes like 20 minutes. So you're in the middle of something that's like every time you get distracted, It's like 20 more minutes to try to get back into the groove you were in. So it's not worth it. Very rarely are the messages and stuff so important that you have to be home right away um, on your time, You know, you know, either, either put some time in your calendar. It says, okay, I'm gonna go through emails is another one. I'm going to go through emails because emails can just distract you all day. I've been there, you keep getting emails. And it's like, all right, I'm gonna shut my email down, even the alerts and then I will work for 30 minutes and then I'll check my email after that. Yeah. Right.

[00:16:53] spk_0: Yeah.

[00:16:54] spk_1: I think cell phones is a huge one. It's just uh it's become the new norm. It's like the new social norm now to drop everything. Even a conversation with a friend to answer a facebook alert, gotta know somebody like your post, you know?

[00:17:06] spk_0: Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy too because just because of the like, you know, it feels like access to not the highest quality of, but like our missions, you know, you know, everything that's going on, you have the ability, you know, it's kind of like so crazy to think about that. Like oh, well. Yeah, but but but it also just thinking too about like, you know, the actual like, you know, things that pop up and whatever, but then also like the more nuanced, like uh you know, I'm mostly distracted not by notifications, but just by like the place that I can go that exists inside of instagram. You know, this is

[00:17:47] spk_1: absolutely

[00:17:48] spk_0: climb into just, you know, like whatever and uh, but, but you know, emails can be that and checking emails can be that. And so maybe it's not even like, you know, whatever and uh yeah, so it's just crazy even just recognizing that, you

[00:18:02] spk_1: know, Well, I mean, have you been, have you been like supposed to be working or doing something and you get up the instagram is a good one and instagram notification or you're like, I'm just gonna check instagram quick. Youtube is a huge one, and then five hours later you're still on this like Youtube rabbit

[00:18:20] spk_0: hole watching

[00:18:21] spk_1: videos in the suggestive for you.

[00:18:23] spk_0: Yeah, just follow it 100%. You like come out of the surface of it and you're like, crusty and you know, it's dark outside. Oh my God,

[00:18:34] spk_1: you guys are just bloodshot. It's

[00:18:36] spk_0: Exactly, yeah. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. Um Yeah, you know another one that I like that doesn't well yeah, it doesn't necessarily uh it doesn't help defend against outside distractions, but it just helps me to like, know that I'm gonna mess with something, you know, for a certain period of time. And it's basically just that like, it's like, even not even like for me, and this is just like whatever little nuance thing, I don't know if it's actually helpful to anybody at all, but like, you can, like, not setting, not necessarily setting an alarm or a timer in order to like dictate the period of time that I'm going to work on something, but to actually uh like have it just be that okay, it's 7 15 right now and I'm going to study until age 15. And uh and I think, I think it makes it feel softer in my brain if it's not an alarm, because I know that I'll probably just ignore the alarm once it goes off, which sometimes it's cool to, you know, because then I'll keep going, but that one way or another, it's like then I don't even like check the clock a ton and be like, oh, oh, it's almost time to be done. But I I just feel like I usually I'm like okay that usually the main feeling I feel after that, it's just like, wow that our was shorter than most other hours I've experienced. You know, like that couldn't have been 60 minutes, but I know it was you know, it was an hour but just like it's like it changes how you experience time for a little bit because that's usually one of the big things, I'm just like I can't work on this forever, I'm gonna die, you know, if I work out I just won't last. And uh it's crazy how, you know. Yeah, it's uh it's all about how you perceive that time period I think. And so I really like doing that.

[00:20:27] spk_1: Well that brings me to another point and that's that is that we kind of discussed it a little bit, but that's the break things up. You know? I write articles for people man, if I just tackle the whole process of what an article is for me. Because it's research like SEO and keyword research, it's creating an outline, Its writing from that outline, it's checking the grammar, it's rereading like if I were to tackle the whole process it's mind numbing. Like it's just too much and then you're shifting gears the whole way instead of breaking up into section and maybe I'll have three articles. I'm gonna research write three articles after. Right? I can just do all the research for all of them and then I can move on to something else and I can go back either later or the next day. Like to break it up like that and even to do like things together. But the key thing is breaking it up because I've tried just um you know we're all master procrastinators. Me too, and I will have uh an article due at the end of the day to day and I just started in the morning and it's like the worst day even though I enjoy writing, but the whole process is it takes a lot out of you.

[00:21:31] spk_0: Yeah,

[00:21:31] spk_1: so to break things up anyway that you can find to break them up so it's just not so monotonous and so um brain draining especially if you're doing stuff that's that's really intensive mentally and uh totally going off the subject here. But I work to help my friends run a construction company in Hawaii um great people all around the people in the field and the people in the office, I was in the office and everyone in the field thought that at the end of the day they were more exhausted. But I felt that I was more exhausted and I'm sure some days are different. But my point being that mental, you can get really mentally drained and be completely fried at the end of the day from sitting in front of a computer all day. So it takes a lot out of you. So it's to be able to understand that kind of help yourself to avoid distraction because when you start getting burnt out you start losing some mental capacity will say throughout the day you start to look for distractions even if you don't know your mind, your mind starts to wander and you just start looking for other distractions like maybe I'll check email for a little bit like avoid doing the rest of it. So I think you can break it up, it just helps your cause

[00:22:43] spk_0: totally. Yeah. Uh Yeah for sure and and you know because so often it is usually quality over quantity you know that like you know reign supreme for like most things that you apply that to and so I applied the phrase quality over quantity you know like in my point is that uh just talking about that brain drain you know and talking about like that um Like just giving a good amount of effort but like not giving yourself the ability to recognize when those distractions when you're starting to look for them and maybe it's like okay maybe that means that you know that's all I got for today, you know like like figuring out how to just really facilitate the process from every angle because like you said it's so easy to be like why am I tired? All I've been doing is sitting here you know and then like almost judge yourself for it. It's like what you've been you know pay attention to the mental activity that that's been going on and like give yourself a break because. Yeah um or just maybe this is what I'm trying to say. If there is a time for distraction, try and make it more purposeful then, you know, like, like make it a real thing and do it for a little bit and then back off and go back and give you something

[00:23:55] spk_1: to that point, I think it's important to understand if you're going to have hell of a brainy day, you should understand that and figure it out, you know, how can I break it up into maybe two days, multiple days, or how can I keep giving myself the mental energy to continue to work through this? Or maybe it's that you have to take a four hour break from noon to four and I'm not everyone has this option, but maybe you take a four taking that, take a four break and then hit it again from 4 to 8, if that's what you have to do, because you will put forth better work. And as long as you really, as long as you apply that mentally at the beginning of the day, then it's not you don't feel bad about taking that time off in the middle of the day and finishing it. And I yeah, if you have that ability.

[00:24:38] spk_0: Yeah,

[00:24:39] spk_1: absolutely. But that's so so I'm gonna just jump into the next one because that really correlates well with what I'm going with. And that's the Pomodoro method. So the Pomodoro method is really so I don't have the science in front of me or anything, but it's it's just we're distracted. Species, we like to be distracted in our brain, honestly isn't made to focus as much as it does for as long as it does, which is why we get so distracted. The Pomodoro method is a method by what you use a timer or you could use your phone, but again then you have your phone in front of your front of your face while you're doing it. So I don't do that. I just bought a kitchen timer from amazon And you usually do 20-25 minute sprints where you pick one thing that you want to work on, set the timer for 25 minutes, turn it upside down, you don't have to stare at it and then you just for those 25 minutes your phone's off or on silent and not not there to distract you. You put on headphones, which is another one of mine is noise canceling headphones and you work for 25 minutes or 20 minutes on that one thing. And then when you're done you take a five minute break and then you hop back into another 20 minutes, you do that four times and then you take a half an hour break and it's kind of hard to get into the habit once you get into the habit, it's it's you're just nailing and then you have a five minute break in between. You want to check your phone, that's fine. But you only have five minutes or check your email, respond to anything urgent. Save the other ones for later when you're not as busy and I don't do this all the time. But I do when I have a lot to do and I want to have to really focus, I do that. And even though I live by myself right now, I still use noise canceling headphones just because anything can distract. I don't know. So I think the puma or method is fantastic and I'll definitely put a link to it in the show notes. But I think people should try that because it works great. It gives you a little break multiple times a day, especially on those busy days. It gives you a mental break, But you're getting a lot done. He said it for 25 minutes and you focus on one thing you go charges, you can for 25 minutes in the greatest feeling once you get used to it is like, Wow, I just did what I feel is like 45-60 minutes worth of work in 25 minutes because I was so focused. So it's a it's a very cool thing. I won't go any more in depth than that, I think. Does that make sense to you?

[00:26:50] spk_0: Yeah, totally, totally. Yeah. Well, I think it's really cool to because just because I can totally see how somebody would think before trying it. And then I could see somebody thinking wow in the midst of you know, beginning trying it, you know, kind of like 25 minutes not you know, not enough and like five minutes to take a break. Also not enough. I could see, you know like a person just like the one leaks into the other. And so I just, what I think is cool is like if a person could could and I've never tried this, but I just can't imagine myself if I could even let myself let this habit live for you no longer than however long. But just a little while that I could totally get into um the other side of it where then I would like uh feel comfortable by depending on it, where it's like God I got a bunch of do but I'm gonna Pomodoro the shit out of it, whatever. And then that way, you know like it's just like making a list, take some of that pressure off of your brain because usually it's just that your brain is bopping that around and now you're getting tired trying to think of that. And so if you can externalize it to a list that's helpful same deal. If you can externalize that process to another process you know then you can just give your best effort For 20-25 minutes that's on. Yeah I really like that. That sounds super cool. So

[00:28:06] spk_1: For for starters they recommend starting at 20-25 minutes because if you start at 45 minutes it's a lot and you'll probably get distracted. But you can build up to that like five minute increments once you get used to it is how I would recommend to go about it. But also I think one of the key things with the Pomodoro method is that you focus on one thing for 25 minutes without distraction, you have your headphones on so nobody bothers you, your emails not up your phones on silent upside down and you find one thing to focus on, so you're not like I have to do this, I have to do this because just doing that is this is so distracting and just You can sit there and say I have to do this, this and this and then overwhelm yourself and sit there for 30 minutes or you can do it tomorrow, Right for those 30 minutes, just then pick the next thing after the next, after your five minute breaks up, you know?

[00:28:54] spk_0: Yeah, because both take energy like absolutely Pomodoro or you know, choosing what you want to do and I think that's another sneaky way of getting brain drain where you're like all I did was one of seven things and now I'm really key stout but that's because like you know you've been spending a lot of energy also just trying to decide what to do. So yeah that's I like that that sounds really cool

[00:29:16] spk_1: we have heard. So there are people that um what do they call it? Choice fatigue or Yeah, choice fatigue, something like that. So it's it's that they some people I follow uh like I've read their books and stuff, they follow hardcore and like they will go to the extent of going into their closet and grabbing their clothes for the next day so they don't have to make another choice in the morning so you can just get them and go yeah, so there's a lot of people that believe that I'm sure that is a thing. I haven't ever really tested it out I guess. But I mean it makes sense. Just another thing that you have to decide decision fatigue, not choice fatigue, decision fatigue. So every decision you make, it is draining you of decision power. So at the end of the day, you don't want to make a choice. So say um you go home like you go home and Caroline's there and she says, what do you want to eat? But you've made your decision fatigue don't, you're like, I don't care what we, you know? And then she's like, why do you never care what we so it starts a fight between you guys total theoretical fight, but that's kind of what people are going for, what people are saying will happen. Yeah.

[00:30:23] spk_0: Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting to think about that. Just paying attention to all the processes that take energy, you know?

[00:30:34] spk_1: Yeah, it is in the more than energy drains. I mean, it still seems unreal that I have to say this because people still don't really make the connection and I guess I didn't for a while either, but your brain is a muscle. So think of working out the same muscle all day, You're gonna get your you're going to be super sore, your muscles gonna be fatigued and at the end of the day you're not gonna wanna like you're working out your biceps all day at the end of the day, you're not gonna want to pick up anything, you're gonna want your arms to hang by your side. How I mean, that's the same thing that goes on with your brand. Yeah. You know, so you have to feed it, feeding it properly. Of course. That's another thing to but we're going another territory here. I just have just have one more. Do you have any more?

[00:31:18] spk_0: I think they all kind of tie in the

[00:31:22] spk_1: same way you a little bit and I already talked about this a little bit but if you know, so so noise canceling headphones I think are one of the biggest hacks for productivity and then you have a good a good source of music. I use brain FM But it has like neurological music or music that will help you focus music to help you relax. Music to help you sleep and you can pick it and it actually is like a normal beats, you know that that will help your brain to there at a certain hertz or frequency and that will help your brain too focus or do whatever you want to do. There's like a meditative one. So brain FM is one and they have like, you can do meditation, sleep relaxing, uh like flow state, studying hard work, you know, whatever. But you can also go to Youtube and look at binaural beats. Uh And I don't know, there's some other names for me. I'll find someone put them in the show notes, but that's a really awesome thing to do and that like that frequency that they play is like proven to help your brain get into this state. So it's pretty cool.

[00:32:26] spk_0: Yeah.

[00:32:27] spk_1: Yeah. Anyway.

[00:32:29] spk_0: Yeah, absolutely. Hacking. It feels you feel you definitely feel like a brain hacker to when you put your butts in and you're like, okay, you know, like, like what am I doing? Faith of the Day Delta. You know like, I don't even remember which ones are the right ones to do, but it's fun, you know? And that too. Like it's just like, just as much as you may get energy from like a cup of coffee in the morning or whatever when you wake up. But also like your expectation of the energy that you're going to get from. It helps a lot. And so like thinking about the same thing where like, you know, like you say like there's you know, uh tangible impact but then also anything, you know where your cape, you know, whatever it is if if it feels like the binaural beats really, you know, help. It's cool to be able to you know, like own that and then um and then have that be a part of the ceremony every time that you want to focus, you know or do whatever in having that routine. I think that's a cool part alone

[00:33:25] spk_1: as do I as do I Well there's other stuff we could talk about it. But do you have any final thoughts? Were definitely rick crushing or limit here? I think there's a lot to talk about with distractions and focus.

[00:33:38] spk_0: Well, we can definitely, you know, uh party as

[00:33:42] spk_1: well. Well, I think some of these subjects, man, we're coming around to hit him again, so for sure, Yeah. You'll get more about focusing distractions in the future.

[00:33:51] spk_0: Yeah. Stay tuned. Don't get yeah, undistracted. I uh

[00:33:59] spk_1: but yeah, well, I think that's it for today folks. So any last words to our, to our audience,

[00:34:05] spk_0: nah, not really. Get out there and live it.

[00:34:08] spk_1: Get out there and stop being distracted. All right, everyone have a great day. Hope to see you next time on the life next level podcast.