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Brain Fact: Changing your surroundings to improve your focus · Do You F*cking Mind?

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, So the brain Fact of today is all about
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: why change. This was a very short and sweet one,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: but I thought it was interesting because I've been actually
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: applying this to my every day for the last probably
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: two weeks. I'll take you through a bit of a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: rundown on what I've been doing with my daily routine
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: because it changes from day to day. But the brain
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: fact is basically around why changing your location to work
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: or study is actually quite helpful for you and why
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: you actually get a whole lot more done. So I'm
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: not sure if I've ever mentioned this in the podcast before,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: but it's this idea of changing from location to location
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: every time you need to do a task that requires
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: either memory or focus.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: So this could be in a creative task.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So if you're a writer, if you're trying to brainstorm something,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: if you're trying to just snowball ideas.
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  Speaker 2: So this could work for a very creative endeavor.
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  Speaker 1: This could work for anything work related, depending on the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: industry you're in, but there's a lot of industries that
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: would require you to brainstorm or have creativity, but that
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: it also really works with studying for something. It helps
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: you retain information, it helps you pay attention and be
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: more on the ball when you're doing a task. Now,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: this is compared to you studying in the same location,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: let's take home as the primary example, or in a mundane,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: boring office. If you were always in these locations doing
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: that same task repeatedly, again and again and again, with
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: not much else changing, then that's what this is being
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: compared to. If you then were to take yourself out
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: of that environment and to change up that environment on
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a regular basis, you would find that your productivity would
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: likely skyrocket.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: And you would retain information a whole lot more.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: So. This actually comes down to the fact that when
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: you are in an environment where it's too familiar, it's
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: very easy to get distracted for many reasons. Because, well,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: you're very comfortable, you're in a place of comfort. You've
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: also got things around you that is likely something that
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: you can access quite easily. You could be getting up,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you know, going to the kitchen, the bathroom that you know,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: roaming around coming back. There might be certain things in
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: that environment that also distract you. Maybe if you work
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: in an office space and people are coming up and
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: talking to you, or they're asking you questions or you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: so when you're in these places that, even if they're quiet,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: they're actually for a lot of people. Again, this does
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: ultimately come down to the individual, but for most people
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: it has been found that this ends up being quite detrimental.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Even if you think, oh, I'm in a really quiet place,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: there's nothing that's distracting me, you know, But the fact
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: that you're just in this boring, same old, repetitive environment
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: is kind of like dulls down your senses a little
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: bit when you are out. Now, the thing to remember
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: is when you are out, you want to be in
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: a place where there's stuff going on around you, you know.
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  Speaker 2: So this could be a.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Library, it could be working from a cafe, it could
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: be sitting. So one thing I'd personally like to do.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: If you guys are from Sydney, or if you've ever
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: visited Sydney and you know the Queen Victoria Building which
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: is above Town Hall Station, it's this fucking awesome building
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  Speaker 1: with like it's really old and there's all these like
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: cool stores, and there's this big grand piano and people
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: sometimes play the piano. I like to go to the
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: top floor there and there's some like big benches there
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  Speaker 1: and I on occasion will just go and take my
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: laptop and we'll just do a bit of creative writing there,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: whether it be podcast planning or just throwing ideas down.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: For a book that I'm writing, or whatever it is.
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  Speaker 1: And I find that that level of external stimulation is
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: really cool.
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  Speaker 2: So it could be something like that. Just sitting in
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  Speaker 2: a place where there's movement.
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  Speaker 1: A cafe is really good because there's you know this
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: like hustle and bustle around you, but there's nothing specific
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: that's pulling your attention. So it's kind of that fine
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  Speaker 1: balance of being somewhere that's new, there's stuff going on
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  Speaker 1: around you, like other people just being there, but not
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  Speaker 1: enough that it's a full on distraction. So the flip
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  Speaker 1: side of that would be if you're a huge football
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  Speaker 1: fan and you go to a pub to do some
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  Speaker 1: work and there's your favorite footy team on TV. That's
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: not conducive to you being focused because you're constantly getting
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  Speaker 1: drawn to this game that's on TV, or just in general,
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  Speaker 1: if it's way too loud or if people are sitting
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  Speaker 1: right next to you screaming and laughing, that's probably not
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  Speaker 1: gonna help. But it's this, it's just enough of your
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  Speaker 1: environment has changed that without you being aware of it,
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  Speaker 1: you are now more alert. Okay, so this change of
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: environment causes you to be a little bit more on
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: high alert. You're more peaked. You know, something would happen
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  Speaker 1: and you're like, I'm aware that happened. You're not kind
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of like too relaxed and too dulled down. So when
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: you have this kind of like peak in in attention,
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  Speaker 1: you can and then apply that alertness to the task
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: that you're doing. And that's kind of the science or
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the or the theory behind why it is that changing
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  Speaker 1: your location regularly when you're trying to do creative a
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  Speaker 1: focus based tasks or memory based tasks is really beneficial
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: because you are a high alert you're trying to do
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: this task, and you're more likely to get a whole
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: lot done because that alertness gets funneled into the task
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that you're doing. It becomes easier to you know, remember something,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to read something, you could you know, comprehend something a
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  Speaker 1: lot better. And then if you're doing a creative task,
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  Speaker 1: you might notice that you're in a much much much
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: better flow state and things are flying, you know, out
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: of your fingertips as you're typing as fast as you
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: can keep up, because it's just all coming to you,
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  Speaker 1: getting all these great ideas, and then the moment you
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: come home and sit down, it's just not as good.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So it's it's that fine balance of being in an
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: environment that's stimulating enough that you're now going to feel alert,
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  Speaker 1: whether you really you shouldn't be anxious or stress, it
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be unpleasant at all, but it's just this subtle
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: change in alertness, and that alertness is what's helping you
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: funnel that focus into the work that you are doing,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: making sure of course that you're not in an environment
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  Speaker 1: that's way too stimulating and distracting, distracting being the keyword.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: So I personally find sitting at a cafe or even
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: at the Queen Victoria Building like I mentioned, really really good.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: I also like going to a massive public library where
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: it's not dead silent, but there's movement around me, you know,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: where there's like someone sitting down opening their books and
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: then getting up and someone else's leaving, so there's just
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: enough movement around me there's a really good atmosphere. Another
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: thing to also keep in mind is that good lighting
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: will also aid in that. So if you're in a
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: well lit place, that's really going to help as well.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: But taking away lighting altogether, just the fact that you're
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: in a different environment is just absolutely key to help
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: you stay focused. So if you're someone that's always studying
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: at home and you're like, fuck, how do I retain
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: this information? How do I stay on task? How do
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I do it? Go out and see if that makes
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: a difference. Start with a library, or start with a cafe.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Start with going outdoors. If you can find an appropriate
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: place where you can comfortably sit outdoors and do the
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: work that you need to do.
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  Speaker 2: But you will find absolutely that it will change.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: It will feel very different and what I pust So
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: now bring it back to what I like to do.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: I will go and sit in a cafe or like
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: whatever I mentioned, qvb all of that, and I will
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: set a time a timer. I've mentioned a million times
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: that I love to do time blocking, but I would
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  Speaker 1: do around when and Okay, so if I'm at home
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  Speaker 1: and I'm struggling to really stay focused for a prolonged
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: period of time, I'll normally do forty minutes on twenty
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  Speaker 1: minutes off. When I'm at a cafe, I noticed that
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: I could do forty five fifty minutes on and the
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  Speaker 1: time flies and I get so much done, and then
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  Speaker 1: just fifteen to ten minutes off where I can you know,
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  Speaker 1: look something up, respond to some friends that have messaged me, whatever,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: fuck around, and I'll do maybe two of those cycles,
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  Speaker 1: maybe three if it's not a busy cafe and I'm
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  Speaker 1: not taking up a table or you know, if I'm
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: if my post is comfortable enough and i can stay
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: there for that amount of time, and if I'm feeling
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: really focused, I might do three rounds of that. But
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: what I've found lately is that I used to do
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: this all the time when I studied, and then for
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the last kind of year two years, I've kind of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: done it intermittently but not religiously enough. And what I
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: started doing in the last literally just two weeks from today,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: is that I have gone so in my morning, I've
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: got my morning routine. I wake up between five and
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  Speaker 1: five thirty. I'll do my whole like, you know, get dressed,
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  Speaker 1: wash my face, all of that. Then I get back
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: sitting on my bed and I'll do a fifteen to
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: twenty minute meditation. From there, I'll go and exercise for
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: thirty minutes no matter what no matter. And this exercise
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: that I do for thirty minutes starting from six am
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  Speaker 1: to six thirty six thirty six forty ish thirty to
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  Speaker 1: forty minutes.
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  Speaker 2: I will do.
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  Speaker 1: I have to do something that moves my body. So
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: if I'm really sore and tired, I'm just doing a
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: really good stretch. If I'm really in the zone, I'm
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: doing heavyweights or cardio, whatever it is, it doesn't matter.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: But that's just sticking to that routine of like getting
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: out of the home into the gym by six am.
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  Speaker 2: I use the gym in my building.
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  Speaker 1: And then come back showered, all that shit, you know,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: might socialize with someone, might get a coffee, whatever. But
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: then I come into the office and this is where
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: my energy actually starts to drop. So if I need
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: to record things, film things, I try and smash all
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: of that and get it out of the way, hopefully
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: around it by two pm. Because then this is what
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I've started doing, and I absolutely love it. I go home,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: get changed, and I head into the city. I'm fortunate
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: enough that I live quite close to the city, and
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: I want to live quite close to the city, so
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  Speaker 1: it works really well for me. But I head right
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: into the city, and I pick a cafe and I
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: will sit there for two rounds, like two, you know,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: around two hours, sometimes an hour and a half, smash.
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  Speaker 2: Out all the creative side of what I do.
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  Speaker 1: Podcast planning, book writing, you know, content creation basically, and
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: I'm like throwing things down, researching brain facts, doing all
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: that fun stuff. Sometimes I can be there for a
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: lot longer and then for the fun bit, I top
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: it off with a sauna. So I actually go to
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: a sauna in the city. It's actually part of a gym.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: So saunas can be quite expensive for a lot of people,
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: but I pay twenty six bucks a week, and this
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: is the gym in the city. It's a fitness first
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: and there's a sauna there, and so I've literally used
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: that sauna. I try and go most days, at least
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: most weekdays. I try and I aim to go five
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: times a week if possible, and that to me, is
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the best way to wrap up the day. So that's
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: what I've been doing, and I found that those afternoons
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: I have gotten so much more done than I normally would.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: So if you're someone that's studying at UNI or
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: Really trying to get into a routine with your creativity task,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: whether you're a writer or you want to be a writer,
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, definitely give that a go and see
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: if you notice a different