Latest / The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell / iAlign #68 - Split Your Attention, Lose The Only Good Part

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iAlign #68 - Split Your Attention, Lose The Only Good Part · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the I Align podcast with Flint Mitchell, where I provide stories, resources, and tools for ambitious builders who are ready to gain control over procrastination, overthinking, and distraction.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hola, hola.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is currently 11:52 p.m.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: on Friday in a small coastal surf town in Chile.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And something just happened that I wanted to just rape up my camera and speak to, which I think most people in the modern day who work on computers or off their phones, stuff like that, who have access to technology when they're working go through.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it reminds me of this quote of Emerson, which is the true scholar grudges every opportunity of action passed by as a loss of power.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that I personally read that is not just a loss of power, but it is the loss of action is a giving away of your soul.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: In that moment, when you give away, when you choose not to act, or when you choose to cope effectively, scroll your phone, kind of thing, you are giving away your soul, your capacity to experience life in that moment.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so the thing that came up was I'm I have like a couple more hours of work that I want to get done.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still kind of on PST hours, it doesn't really matter.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: I normally don't stay up this late.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I had this voice in the back of my head that was like, oh, it's it's late, it's Friday.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't you put up a movie while you do your work?
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we've all done this, I've done it in the past.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's this sensation of, oh, well, why don't you give yourself some relief from the action that you're taking?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because the action is so, it's like work, right?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so you need something to balance it out.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: That'll be joyful, be happy, right?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality is if I choose that, I won't be focusing on either.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I will be effectively giving up, relinquishing my soul.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that might sound a little bit serious.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I don't mean to take it too seriously, but I do actually think that there's something there, which is that if I'm going to do something, I should do that thing.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm constantly splitting my attention between different things, the reality is I am preventing myself from experiencing like the wonderful, beautiful moment that is genuine focus on any one thing.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Something that I have found, both in my life, but also you know, through conversation with people that I admire and in all sorts of places, is the act of focusing tends to be pleasurable.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not the act of getting started, not necessarily the act of finishing, but that middle space.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Once you have started to genuinely focus on something, that experience, regardless of what you're doing, tends to be very pleasurable.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: An example I was talking to a client about recently that I came up with on the spot because I thought it was funny, was the act of gardening.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Gardening tends to be thought of as like a relaxing, not farming, different, gardening tends to be thought of as like a relaxing pastime.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is kind of zen, calm, and people decompress and enjoy your planting something, you're watching it grow, and it's beautiful.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: I am one of those people I love to garden.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: The act of gardening is literally moving dirt from one place to another.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Holes in the ground, move dirt, put it other place, put plant in, dirt in, water.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So there's more, it's more complex than that, sure.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: But like my point being, it's not a very glamorous thing.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You're literally moving dirt around.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, this unglamorous act, right, is very enjoyable if you are just focusing on it.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: In the same vein, if I choose to try to watch a movie right now and listen to that urge that's like, oh, let off some steam, then I will choose not to focus on the thing at hand.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I will split my attention and I will relinquish my soul in this moment, effectively pressing pause on my life and probably not fully engaging in either of those things.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I give up that experience, and instead of the pleasure that is focus, I get restlessness.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I get distraction, I get noise.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Likely I won't enjoy the movie and I won't finish the project, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll feel unsatisfied.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like all of these downstream negative emotions are a product of me choosing to listen to and not move through an urge or a desire to basically just watch a movie or watch TV or do whatever while I'm working instead of just working.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So just a thought.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the true scholar grudges every opportunity of action passed by as a loss of power.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed that episode.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been told your entire life that you're smart and you have potential, but you continue to see yourself not do what you said you would do again and again, and it's made you stop trusting in yourself or that you will ever achieve that potential, I want to help you.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Together, you and I will implement a core value-based system that will help you become decisive and focused.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel the relief from the weight on your shoulders because of the decreased noise in your head.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Strength each morning because you trust yourself to turn lost avoidant hours of your life into forward progress.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, when you no longer have to hide how you actually spend your time.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, pride in yourself when you close your eyes every night before you go to sleep.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: If that's of interest to you, click the first link in the show notes, fill out the 30 second application, and grab a time on my calendar.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Spots are obviously limited because of my time and availability, but if they fill up and you're a good fit, I'll make sure you get on the wait list.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to speaking with you.