Transcription
Hey friends, does this ever happen to you, that you finally sit down to do one task with focus, and then you remember another task, and as soon as you think about the second task, a third task comes to mind, and if you open your mobile in the middle of all this, then you're done for. Reels start playing, and your entire focus shifts here and there. The task you intended to do doesn't get done, but your time is definitely wasted. Basically, the problem is that you are unable to sit in one place and focus properly. And this isn't happening because you are weak, lazy, or anything like that. Well, neuroscience says this happens for a reason, which is called cognitive overload or overheating of your brain. For example, you've spent a lot of money to get a strong Wi-Fi installed in your home. Now you expect to stream smoothly and use everything. But then some people come to your house and start watching videos in 4K resolution. Now, no matter how strong the Wi-Fi is, if too many people start consuming your data, will the Wi-Fi run smoothly? No. It will start lagging. Not because the Wi-Fi was weak, but because your bandwidth has been divided. Something similar happens with your brain, which you often call a lack of focus or motivation. Whereas in reality, what's happening is that your mental bandwidth is getting overloaded or overheated. Your brain is a supercomputer. But no matter how strong a computer is, if you start 10-15 big games on it and open many tabs, even the best computer can lag and hang. Similarly, if 100 things are running in your mind, 50 different thoughts are running, some work-related thoughts, some money-making thoughts, some notifications that have arrived, some family issues, some different worries. If so many things demand data from your brain, your mind will also start buffering, losing focus, and shifting here and there. Again, not because you are lazy, but because your inner Wi-Fi cannot handle so many things. What do neuroscientists call this? Cognitive overload. And I like to say it a bit more fancily: Cognitive Overheat Syndrome. If you are also unable to focus like this, your brain just jumps from one idea to another, and no single task is getting done properly, then understand one thing. You don't need more motivation. You need a system that will cool you down, reduce the load on your system that has become overloaded. And today, I will teach you how to do just that, very easily. Using a simple method, I will tell you how you can make your mind focused and sharp. In the next few minutes, you will understand why your brain repeatedly loses focus. The neuroscience behind it. Then I will tell you a Japanese-inspired ritual: Shodo Brain Dump. Then I will tell you two to three Japanese-inspired philosophies, with the help of which you can create a routine, create a ritual, and save your brain from getting overloaded. And this will be the first step of the three-step system, which I call the Unburdened Mind Protocol. It will reduce your mental noise, increase your concentration and focus, and bring you into a flow state when you want it. And again, I am not here just to give motivational talks. Everything I will tell you will be based on science-backed mental engineering. By the end of the video, I will also tell you how you can apply these things daily in your life, so that you never say, "Oh, I just can't focus." Because nowadays, see, this has become the problem for most people. Whenever they try to focus, voices start running in their minds, thousands of things like, "Oh, I haven't replied to that email. I couldn't talk to that person on DM that day. Oh, I need to call my parents too. Oh, I need to think of another way to make money." And if not this, then notifications and videos from all over the world keep coming. But the truth is, our brain is not designed to handle so many things. It is designed for stillness, clarity, and going deep. And when you learn this from today's video, your performance will naturally improve. You will be able to move from chaos to calmness, overcome mental fog, frustration, and everything else. How? Well, for that, you need to understand this science. In 1970, a psychologist named John Sweller noticed something strange. He noticed that some children, despite working very hard, were not able to achieve better results, while some children were solving problems faster than others and getting better marks. And the interesting thing is that it wasn't that the children getting good marks were more intelligent or more motivated. No. There was some mental strategy behind it that he noticed people were using. And to prove this, he designed a setup, a problem-solving experiment, where he gave some mathematics and geometry problems to children. Group A was told, "This is the problem. Solve it however you want." Basically, it was a complex problem with no clear path, no plan. The children had to find every possible step themselves. That's why they were unable to solve it. Whereas Group B was given guided steps. They were given examples of other problems related to the same problem and some step-by-step instructions on how they could find the solution to that problem. And what were the findings of this experiment? Group A, who tried a lot, worked very hard, juggled multiple options in their minds, but their outcomes were worse. Whereas Group B, who followed the step-by-step instructions, not only learned to solve the problem quickly but also their memory remained sharper. They could remember it, which helped them solve other problems too. And from here, Sweller realized that our memory has a limited capacity. Roughly, we can store four to seven chunks of information. And whenever more things start happening in our minds than that, cognitive overload or mental overload occurs, which then prevents us from focusing, working, and wastes our energy here and there. From here, he also coined a term in 1988, called Cognitive Load Theory. Neuroscientists later worked further on this and reached a conclusion that there are two types of networks that are always working in our brain. The first network is the Default Mode Network. Basically, when our brain works on this network, our mind wanders, thinks about things here and there, plans. This is the first network. And the second network is called the Task Positive Network. When our brain accesses this network, we can work well, do focused work. But sometimes, if we are under pressure, both these networks start working together, and this is where our brain starts experiencing traffic jams. We cannot focus, and we start doing things here and there. Sometimes, when both these networks are active, we might not even be working, yet we feel tired. You feel mentally exhausted. I know this has happened to me many times. When I am making a video for Seekho, and if I have ideas for 10-15 videos, I often start thinking, "Should I make this idea, or this one? How will the script for that be? How will the script for this one be?" And when I start thinking too much like this, whether any work gets done or not, my stress increases, and I cannot focus. But once I decide on a video, that this will be the topic, then I have the steps in my mind: first, create a hook, then do this, then do that. And as soon as these steps become clear, my work happens quickly, my script gets done faster, and I can deliver output quickly. So now, let's get to the main point: how you can also fight these problems. And here comes our three-step Unburdened Mind Protocol, the first step of which I call the Shodo Brain Dump. See, in Japanese philosophies, there is an art called Shodo. This is basically Japanese calligraphy. Here, the master doesn't pre-plan any drawing or make strokes. Whatever comes to his mind, he picks up the brush and lets the ink flow. Whatever comes onto the paper is not random. It is his own mind, the movements from within that are coming out. There is also a special style called Bokuseki. In this, usually, the master draws whatever comes to his mind in a single breath, without any second thought. No second chance. Just dump whatever is in the brain. And after a master does this, he reaches Mushin. Mushin is basically a philosophy again, a state of no mind, where your thoughts, your ego, have disappeared somewhere, and now your mind has become like a calm river. Well, why are all these things relevant to you? If you also have a lot of things in your mind, if your mind is also overloaded, then the easiest thing you can do is start applying this Japanese philosophy. I am not saying you should pick up a brush and start making art. But at least you can pick up a pen and start writing down whatever comes to your mind. In modern language, Western authors call it the Morning Pages exercise, as mentioned in Julia Cameron's book, "The Artist's Way." Basically, what you need to do is, every morning after waking up, write three pages, or as much as you can, about whatever is coming to your mind. Don't think too much. Don't do anything special. Just take out whatever you have stored in your mind and empty it so that you can work with focus. No structure, no editing, no reading. Because once you do this properly, you will automatically notice. Your mind will start to clear, and you will start to feel better. Start writing down whatever is in your mind. And don't just start writing on your mobile. If possible, pick up a pen and paper and start writing it down. When you write by hand, your motor cortex gets activated, and this helps your brain offload. Therefore, out of the three steps, use this first step. Understanding the Japanese philosophy, start writing down whatever comes to your brain. For example, I need to work on a script. I need to plan an outdoor trip a month from now. I need to work on my fitness. I need to do this, I need to do that. I know you have many tasks to do. But as long as you keep those tasks only in your mind, what will happen? Your brain will start overheating, getting overloaded. Because our brain is not made for storing information. It's not like a hard drive, but like RAM, which has limited space, and the more you empty that RAM, the better you can process. So, do this first thing. And then move on to the second step of the process, which is "Decide the Fate." Once you have written everything down with a pen and paper, you will have four options. You have to choose one option out of these four for each task. What is the first option? Do It. If whatever task you have written, for example, "I need to send a happy birthday message to my friend," and now this task can be completed within 2 minutes. If it can be done, then Do It Right Now. Start doing it immediately. Second option: If that task will take more than 2 minutes, then schedule it, decide exactly when you will do that thing. Third: For whatever task, you can also ask yourself, "Can I delegate this task?" Meaning, do you really need to do it? If someone else can do it on your behalf, then start delegating it. Give it to someone else. And Fourth is Delete. If you look at the task you have written and feel that it will not add any value to your life, it's just a waste of time, nothing useful, then delete it. Just write it down and forget about it. This will clear your mind, and you will be able to perform better. And this is also called the GTD process. GTD basically means Getting Things Done. In a very beautiful book, the author explains how you can decide on your tasks and release the tension and issues in your brain. Now, although Allen's book doesn't use much of neuroscience language, modern research supports it. Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik discovered the Zeigarnik Effect in 1927. Basically, this effect states that if many things are running in your mind, and you keep unfinished tasks stored only in your mind, then this will create problems for you. And conversely, the opposite is also very powerful. fMRI studies have shown that if you simply start writing things down, start scheduling your tasks, your brain feels that you are handling that thing, and this significantly reduces your stress and also reduces your cognitive load. This is done. Then, just move on to step number three of the process, which is "Flow Sprint." You've figured out which tasks to delegate, which tasks to write down and forget, which tasks you can do yourself and finish. But for the tasks that remain, which you absolutely have to do, which you have scheduled, just go for it. Start doing them. Set a 25-minute timer, which is called the Pomodoro Technique. You can use that technique, which I personally use, and I also make my community members do it every day in the 21-day challenge. In the Pomodoro Technique, we start a 25-minute timer and pick just one goal, just one thing, and do that task for at least 25 minutes without distraction. So, I always do this, and I would recommend that you also do it. Because if you start doing this, studies from Harvard show that people who do this, who do brain dumps, who do deep work, their cognitive performance increases by 37% in just two weeks. In two weeks, you can change your entire life. Forget two weeks. I guarantee you, if you do this properly for even 7 days, your mental focus will increase significantly, the laziness you feel will start to disappear, and you will get a winner's effect within yourself, a power to do more work. Let's do a small visualization related to this. You will like it. If you want, close your eyes. Close your eyes and just listen to my voice. Take a deep breath. Take a long breath. Hold it. Release your breath. Calm down. Take a few long breaths. Keep your eyes closed. Sit up straight. Imagine your brain is like a lake. And every time you think about different tasks, open notifications, watch videos, you are throwing small stones into that lake, causing ripples, causing waves, and you can't clearly see or understand anything. The water in the lake is moving here and there. That's why you can't see the water properly. But then, slowly, slowly, if you stop throwing notifications, distractions, those stones that you are intentionally throwing, just calm down and give your mind time. Then slowly notice how your brain will move towards stillness and calmness. The water will become still, clear, reflective, and your brain will also be able to go into a flow state with focus. See, how good will it feel if this happens? And for this, you don't have to do much. Just protect your brain from being overstimulated. Consume fewer things. And just follow what I have told you today. Take a deep breath. Say, "Yes, I will do it." Say, "My mind is clear. I focus on one thing at a time. I control my actions." Take a deep breath. Feel this calmness within you. You can open your eyes. And I just want you to practice what I have told you at least two to three times for the next seven days. At least do a brain dump once and practice what I am telling you. If you want to do a 21-day challenge where we also do this Pomodoro, calm our brains, do visualizations, and don't just learn the things from books but actually apply them. If you also want to experience this, I have a product for ₹99 with a money-back guarantee. I am ready to give you a free version, a free demo of that product as a gift. Since you have stayed this far, I want you to see, we learn many things, and then we forget them. But if you want to apply what you have learned in your life and bring about changes within yourself, bring your mind towards calmness and focus, then we have hundreds and hundreds of community members whom I have helped to do this, to help them focus. I have helped them wake up in the morning. Many of our community members are now able to work consistently. If you want something similar to happen with you, I am offering a free demo. A spark routine with the help of which you will be able to apply all these things in your life and increase your brain power and focus more. If you want to access that for free, the link is given below. You can access it from there. That's all for today. See you in the next video, with the next book summary. Till then, bye.