Nobody Panic - How to Concentrate

Episode Date: January 28, 2020

Got the attention span of a small fish? So does Stevie. Thankfully Tessa has done some proper research to help her (and you) focus for longer than 8 seconds. Spoiler: it may or may not involve snacks. Recorded and edited by Naomi Parnell for Plosive Productions.Photos by Marco Vittur, jingle by David Dobson.Follow Nobody Panic on Twitter @NobodyPanicPodSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/nobodypanic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Carriad. I'm Sarah. And we are the Weirdo's Book Club podcast. We are doing a very special live show as part of the London Podcast Festival. The date is Thursday, 11th of September. The time is 7pm and our special guest is the brilliant Alan Davies. Tickets from kingsplace.com. Single ladies, it's coming to London.

True on Saturday, the 13th of September. At the London Podcast Festival. The rumours are true. Saturday the 13th of September. At King's Place. Oh, that sounds like a date to me, Harriet. Hello and welcome to Nobody Panic. How focused are you feeling today? Get involved, everyone. Get focused, get ready to concentrate. Concentrate.

Today's episode. So I'm Stevie. Probably to say that. I'm Tesla. There's no time for that. So there's no time. Focus. How to concentrate. I'm excited for this one. This one is dedicated to and requested by Fiona and Dan. They came to comedy night and then came to say hello. It's dog park. Yeah, they came to dog park. How is dog park going? So, so silly. Great, keep an eye on Tess's Twitter feed for more dog park. I announce it one day before it happens, so you've really got to be on your toes.

Very fast. Yeah, it's a monthly new material night that's just started, and it's real nice. But the exciting thing is the one this weekend, Fiona and Dan came to say hello. And I said, do you want to request an episode? And quick as a whip, Fiona said I'd like how to concentrate. Yeah, I think our attention spans are absolutely screwed. for lots and lots of reasons. Well, apparently, our attention span, the human attention span,

has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, which is around the time smartphones hit the scene. Oh my God, of course. To eight seconds today. And in comparison, scientists believe that the goldfish has an attention span of nine seconds. So we've fallen below goldfish levels of focus and concentration. It is unbelievable, but also at the same time, so believable because of the amount of information that we are constantly,

the amount of notifications, the amount of, just the concept of, Just the concept of tabs. We just can't... The amount of times I am doing something, I look away for one second, and I honestly cannot remember what it was I was doing. Yes. Like if you've gone to your head being like,

what were you doing on the computer? I'd be like, I don't know. I honestly don't know. Every time I go like, oh yeah, I'll check that and pick my phone up, then about half an hour later, I'm deep into kind of far-right Twitter threads. And then you put the phone down again.

You're like, fucking hell. Oh my gosh, I just put some email. It's so scary. It's absolutely terrifying. You suddenly feel like you're not very well. It's like, oh, and I think it's, yeah, happening more and more and more. I've noticed that, yeah, I used to be very, very good at concentrating for long periods of time on things I was excited about.

So not even actually things I was excited about. If I was working, I remember at uni, when I was like working on an essay or something, it was like almost going underwater, I'd go in, do it, and then I'd come back out like about five hours later and be like, oh, great, done. I cannot tell you the last time I did that, even when I'm like I'm writing articles or I'm writing new material or I'm doing anything, it's like 10 minute bursts. then I get bored and reward myself by making a cup of tea and then I'm on my phone for half an hour. Yeah.

It's really horrible. Well, as of course you all know, we went to university so long ago it was the Old West. It was the old and the wild West. And I would say, where did you do the majority of your essays? So I actually used to do all my like work and stuff in my bedroom with my laptop and I couldn't go into the library because other people walking around and stuff would just sort of distract me or, you know, you'd see a friend there and you'd be like, hi, and you haven't done it. thing. Whereas now it's the opposite. Now I have to go into town and sit in a cafe or if I'm on my own, I just, I'm on my phone. Or if like my laptop, I'll be like, so then I'm on Twitter on my laptop.

Like I never used to do that. It's really, really weird that it's fully switched around like that. Well, possibly it's that we didn't. It's real psychotherapy noise then just being like me like, go on. No, please. But how about your relationship with your father? Yeah. And what did your dad say when you? He said, okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm thinking maybe it's because we were in, at university, we didn't have, we had the internet, of course. Facebook had just started. So sorry. No, we had Facebook. Yeah, Facebook had just, we were like the second or third year of Facebook. So it was still in like university. It was still very fun. We definitely didn't have smartphones. No, I didn't have a smartphone. Oh, no, somebody did because I remember someone having the beer drinking app.

Yes, you could have that. But then if your phone connected to WAP, it was just like, WAP was like the old phone internet, Drembo. On an iPhone, you could get a whap. No, not iPhone, just like normal phone. Like non-smart phones. And if you connect it to the internet on your smartphone, or then sorry, on your phone, it would be like, this is costing me £10 a second, and you would lose your mind.

And it was called WAP. And I was constantly on WAP. I was constantly whopping. This podcast will not just be about us talking about the phones, we promise, but we do think it's very fascinating and we're sorry we wang on about it. Although I think it's even deeper than that, because I'm going to get into this,

but I said to Fiona, I said to Fiona, of course, Of Fiona and Dan? Of Fiona and Dan. And I said, well, tell me Fiona, why can't you concentrate? And she says, I'm reading and it begins. And then I just look at the wall. I just, I mean, fair enough? And I think reading in particular is something that so many people find much harder

than they're, like, willing to say. Because our school was very, we all went to the same school. No, school was very good at being like, you can't read. Oh, well, then you're an idiot. So you keep that very quiet that when people are like, I love books and you're like, I find books really hard. I was talking about this, but last night. Please.

With my friend who said like, so I put a thing on Instagram where I, because a lot of my friends have been like, oh, do you have me book recommendations? Yeah. And I always, I only go off book recommendations really because I don't know where everyone else gets their book like gosh. Where are you getting it from? I just look at other people's shelves. So I did one.

And I just did my favorite books, like the books that I really enjoyed that I read. And I got all these messages from people being like, how do you find all this time to read? Like, oh my God, I don't get to... You're only like, oh, God, I've made people for guilty. But the thing is, I don't watch TV, and that genuinely is true, which maybe like two series or something, a year.

Like, TV, I don't get absorbed in it, whereas books, I actually do. Because you can't concentrate. Because I can't concentrate. You just look at the wall, as soon as the show. Exactly what you're saying about Vienna books. I do with TV. I like films, but I just read more books, books are my thing.

And last night, my friend said the same thing. She's like, I just, how, well, When do you read? And I was like, I don't know, like literally all the time. Whenever I'm like, I come home from a day at work, I'll just sit and read for like six hours. And she's like, God, I really should. And it's like, no, this is awful. No, you should not.

If you don't sit down and like, and just easily just get fully absorbed in a book, that is fine. Do something that actually, I don't, I'm not reading Chekhov. Like, I'm reading like just silly, fun books. Like, they're not academic, but there's this thing that all books are academic and you are more like, it's more worthy if you're reading a book. And it's like you're this, you know, you're clever

and you can read. And I think a lot of way more people than we think or way more people than we're open about really struggle with reading. Yeah. And with... Just don't find it fun.

Don't find it fun at all. I don't like the opera. I don't go. Exactly. And so, you know, and I suspect in the same way that you find television similarly like,

when you're like, it's hard to get into. And I don't know. Yeah, I really find out. I understand how you're doing it. Because like, I think people's brains are just wired differently.

And if you haven't got one that like takes in words easily, then don't beat yourself up. That's just not what you got at the gene pool buffet. We're all different. Did you tell me the thing about those, a girl who did army training, they had to test what sort of reaction she would have in extreme cases of stress.

And it was like a recreation of a battleground. And they had to go in and save, save in inverted commas, a hostage. It was like a hostage situation. Okay. And so they were getting shot at and stuff. Not real. but like very stressful and they had to complete it in order to get to the next level.

What they didn't know is that there were two ways to complete it. One was audio and one was sight. Okay. And so in matters in times of stress, some people literally just didn't. There was like, I can't remember. There was like a question at the end. It was like, I don't know, what color flag did the survive? Did they, you know, hold up or whatever?

And half the people just could not see it. Like, they just did not see it. It didn't mean that they were stupid. It just meant that because they heard the instruction. So it was like, that was a, that that was like part of adrenaline and how you cope. And then there was presumably like something being spoken and did you retain that. So something was like shouted and order was shouted and half the people followed it and half

people didn't. Then that other half did see the thing and the other people didn't. So it wasn't a win or lose situation. Yeah. It's not just like you're not wrong. You're not right or wrong or clever or stupid. I think there are believe there's like seven different ways that people process information. Yeah.

And if you didn't happen to get the one that happened to be the way they taught maths or whatever at school, then you're just like, well, I guess I'm. I'm thick. I missed it. But actually people take it in as like, you're a kinetic learner. You need to physically hold something in order to understand how it works. You need to hear it. You need to read it. Or be taken through it physically later.

Like there are so many different ways. And so if you didn't get, if you think you aren't good at it or something, you're probably just attempting it slightly the wrong way. Yeah. I remember when we like doing revision for exams and people were like, if you're like a visual learner, then he's like color coding. And I was like, I don't know what sort of learner I am. Yeah. So when I realize that when people give me instructions, I forget them. When they're written down, I was like, I'm so thrilled.

old. I was like, now I know. I get it. I wish I'd known that all along. Yeah, it would be nice if kids, you got that a bit earlier on. Yeah, you should get tested on various things and then they can be like, this will help you in the future. Yeah, because if you're constantly just being given colours and being like, why don't you make like a fun map and have colours? But if you're not interested in that, which I'm not at all,

I'm like, I love colours, sure, but that's not helping me. But if I can make up a fun little poem about an Oxbow Lake, then I'll remember it. So I'm an acoustic and sound one. And also, I love to dance. I love to dance. No, I love to hold. I love to be shown the, like, to be able to...

Yeah, when like someone explains something to you and goes, so you just put that in there and you're like, you're going to have to do it and I'm going to have to watch. Or no, no, I'm going to have to do it. I need to do it in my... You could tell me 100 times, but I need to put it in my hands. And then once I've done it that, I'm like,

we're good to go, baby. I have unsurprisingly, but on brand, forgotten my adult thing. Mine's easy to remember because I'm wearing it. So I have this nice little tart and dress. and I loved it and then one of the buttons fell off around the boob area and then another button started to like the button hole became really big and so the button kept flopping out of it

and it was right where my nether regions are so essentially a very x-rated dress and then I went home and my mum got her button box out hello I was very ex-rated and showed me how to she just like talked me through it and then I sewed a button onto my boobs and then I also made the buttonhole smaller on further down with some thread. And that's the first time I've successfully altered some clothes. It's not me just cutting off a pair of jeans and being like, their shorts.

So I'm very happy. The button is slightly different to all the other buttons, but it's like barely noticeable. Barely noticeable. Oh, mine is, I have got it. It's that I currently have in my bag some strands of my own hair in a small airtight container. How adults. Thank you. And I'm going to put that in the post and post it away.

I mean, the beginning is unaddle because it was drunk Instagram purchase. I mean, it's not a child thing to do to be drunk. No, it's not. But it's also not like, you know, I wasn't living my best life. Or was I? Who's to say? Listen to Instagram adverts. If you're looking for an absolute sap, they've recently sold me some earrings that look like leopards. And an intolerance test, a food intolerance test.

But you send us some of you. A tiger. Well, no, the picture that popped up. And there's a girl bent double on the toilet. not being sick, but like just lay and she didn't have any, not really many clothes on. Yeah, and you famously get so hot in the toilet cub where you take her your clothes off.

Correct. It's not a joke, that has happened. That has happened. I've got some quite intense food intolerances. And I was like, that me. And I was like, I'd never really seen a picture. She had a head between her knees. Yeah. Like the whole thing. Oh, yeah.

That, you know, that was, it was that feeling of like, oh, I'm not describing it too much. If you've got it, you know, if you don't, you don't care for this. But it was, I'd never. never seen really a picture that wasn't just like someone being sick or whatever. I was like, oh, it's, yeah, yeah, that. Yeah, she's shitting herself. She's shitting herself. But also she knows that she's going to be here for ages. Yeah, she's bedded in. She's bedded in. She was, she was,

she was just, she was just, um, that's the worst. She's just resigned. That was what it was, the head between the knees was like resignation. So there was a free trial and then you just send off some of your hair in an envelope. Right. In the post. And I have Googled it. And it says it's a scam. I was, I was, I was, don't know that last week when I like, really, or I went by something before where I ruined your silk pillow on. Yeah. I was going to ruin this one. Then I thought, you know what, Stevie, I know.

Because it might be helpful. You know what? It was a free trial. I've had a nice time already. Pulling my own hair out. You know how bald? I'm bald. No, I don't have to do 10 strands and I got them out of a hairbrush. So it's probably, I've probably done it wrong.

You probably send someone else's hair. That's what I felt. I felt like Harry Potter where she puts the cat hairs in. Anyway, I say no harm, no foul. No money has changed hands. No money has changed hands. No, I have not truly entered into the scam. And we'll see what they say.

Anyway, so watch this space. Okay, let's get in. Let's get some laser focus going here. Okay. Okay, here we go. Number one. So the first thing we want to do is establish what are we focusing on. So you're saying, I want to focus better.

I do. And I want to concentrate. And I'm like, but specifically on what? So it's not just enough just to be like, I want to be a better concentrator. Yes. Like, that's not how the mind works. So like, pick the thing. So in Fiona's case, she was trying to read like academic textbook.

like boring, thick. And who among us is not? I don't know what she does. Perhaps a doctor or a lawyer or a scientist. Concentrating comes into it when it's something that you wouldn't necessarily want to focus on. I think anything work related for me, like I've been asked, I've been commissioned to do something.

And, you know, I've pitched for it. Sure. And they ask me to do it. And I'm incensed that they're asking me to do something. And then I find it difficult to just sit down and do it for a day. I spread it out for like over seven days. or something. Okay, great. Yeah. Great. And I think you've really hit the nail on the head, which is that you only struggle to concentrate on things that you do not want to concentrate on. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. And number one tip is what are we doing? What are we trying to concentrate? Okay. So, so say, you're going to sit down. I'm going to concentrate. I'm going to finish the article. You're like, I'm just going to do the research for the article. So it's not this like enormous like, just get it done. Just focus. It's like very specific. Start slow. So with the textbook, maybe it's like, I'm going to read this page. Or better. that I'm going to learn about the inner ear canal or whatever thing you have to learn about,

you know, so it's nice and specific and not just like, just do it. So we've a focus, we've laser focused on exactly what we're trying to achieve right now. Yes. We're about to sit down and do that or not sit down. Maybe we're trying to build something. Whatever. We're focused. Next thing we're going to do, prepare.

Oh, okay. How? How? Well, indeed. And so obviously this bit will feel like a waste because you're like, I've got limited time and I'm doing it. Get it done. Get it done. but better to spend this little bit of time at the beginning and then be given it 100% rather than giving it 40% over, you know, 17 days.

Over 17 days. Yes. Let's do this preparation time and then let's get this shit done. So it's preparation and like, what, like deep breathing? It's some deep breaths. Visualisation? It's some, let's do some visualising. It's some water.

It's only a couple of minutes long, but it's just like standing, focusing, maybe close the eyes. Wow. You're really going to get into it. Okay. Wow. Yeah. And you're going to do it. And so like, imagine.

that you're just sat on the sofa and maybe you're watching telly or the telly's on and then you're like oh i'll start that article and then you're like sat with it on your tummy you know when you i always start all right you type and you're lay down and it's like on your stomach and you're doing eight other things and you're like this is fine yeah yeah oh yeah this is nicer actually actually this is the most productive way to be actually this is getting the best work done and it does you've tricked yourself into like multitasking how many minutes can the human mind actively concentrate for. Oh, dear.

I want, like, I want to say like, oh, half an hour, but it really isn't for me. It depends what I'm doing. If I'm concentrating something we don't want to concentrate on, I'll have said like 10 minutes. It's 25 minutes. And obviously, if that might be longer or shorter for you, but the average, then that is like total concentrated focus before. And obviously you could stay in your seat, continue to do the task for several hours. but after 25 minutes you have passed the point in which you're giving that 100%.

You are no longer firing on 100%, basically. And so the longer you just stay there, like plowing through it, the increasingly decreases. So you need a break. Correct. Go back for a moment to preparing. Okay. We're preparing. Yes, yes, yes.

Here I go. I'm going to get this done. We're having a lot of water. We're staying hydrated. And interestingly, we're doing some poppers. We're having a quick shot of peppermint. Just want to make this clear. Yes.

Hello. Are we doing some poppers and then having some peppermint? Guys, we're talking about peppermint. Oh, so yes, you didn't mean poppers. You meant you were going to do a shot of peppermint to keep you concentrated. I want you to smell some peppermint. Okay. So I stand.

What will that do? It's nice, isn't it? Next tip. No, supposedly. You'll feel fresh. The smell of peppermint increases your concentration by up to 8%. Oh, okay. Can I chew peppermint gum?

You can. It won't do anything. is doubly effective. Okay. On account of the chewing releasing oxygen, which is crucial to you because supposedly when we do emails or use electronic devices or send a text or play Nintendo, we don't breathe. We like, and obviously we're breathing, we're still alive, but we aren't like properly breathing.

We're doing that like, you know when you take, you know when you suddenly get an email, you're like, oh my God. And then you like, do it. And then during that whole time, you haven't been breathing properly. That's interesting. And if we're saying it for a long time, it can be called email apnea. This is some fascinating shit. I thought you'd gone mental, but now you're talking for about it more. Yeah.

Yeah, you're completely right. I don't breathe properly when I'm on the interweb. Now you've lost it. Sorry, everyone. So you don't. So when you're chewing, so you breathing? Chewing gum, particularly minty gum, has the double effect of some peppermint. And you constantly chew.

and moving your mouth, and so you are remembering literally to breathe and take in plenty of oxygen. Excellent. And so obviously the higher oxygen you've got, the more your brain's like, we can stay in the game. Okay. So actually meditation is just so people can breathe a bit more. Yes, that is basically it. And also breathing, of course, we're all like, I'm breathing, yes, what's the problem? Yeah. Of course, it's this deep stuff from the stomach and... Breathe in through your stomach. If, incidentally, if you are panicking about anything, The nervousest, you've got like, do you know when you, they say like, don't run after you eat or like don't go swimming after you eat or whatever because your body's like, but we're doing the boring bit. We're doing the processing the food. Yes. And you've got like one system that just does like eating and getting through the day and ones that's like adrenaline running. Do we need to go anywhere? And if you transition into the like adrenaline bit when you're panicking, it's really, really hard to get yourself out. And the quickest way out is to like is to switch up your breathing because your fast breathing is this like shallow, shallow, shallow, like get it in. We just need to get out of the situation. And if you can go back to like, we're good.

Like, everyone's calm. Oh, that help you concentrate. It immediately switches your back over into like the nice calm one. And that's when your brain can be like, okay, sorry, I'm ready now. What do you mean to take in? That's great. Okay. So make sure we breathe.

We're breathing. We're having the water. We're chewing some gum. Maybe we're having a little popper of peppermint. Or rosemary does the same thing. Interesting. So maybe get some of those plants in your space, which we're going to move to, which is like, have a nice concentration space.

Okay. you go to it's like this is where the work happens oh so then like the Pavlov dog thing yes you just then start to because one of the things about i mean is there is there a podcast episode that we do that i don't mention sleeping but one of the things that's very helped it really helped is like having the same routine every single time so then your body's almost i start kind of drifting off before i've even finished doing the routine because it's like so i guess with the concentration thing yeah and similarly if you like that you always do the same thing you stand up you meditate you have a drink of water you do your your smells and equally the smell

I'll be like, your brain's like, okay, it's work time. Great. We're ready. I remember this. We focus now for 25 minutes. I want you to completely switch off your phone. Oh. Aye, yeah.

Ah, eh, there's the rub. Aye, there's the rub. Okay, yeah. So the phone's off, and for the first couple of times that you do this, obviously, you'll just spend the entire 25 minutes thinking who's calling. Yes, of course. Is it Obama? Does he need me?

Have I missed the call from Obama? But also with the phone thing, it's not like, I'm not ever like who's calling me. I'm just like, there's just a low level of like, I am, Obama, Obama. Because no one ever calls me. There's just like, oh, some stuff is going on, like me I'm missing out on. Yeah, exactly.

FOMO constantly. Yeah, which to me is, is Obama calling. Yes, of course. The ultimate of FOMO. The ultimate fomo. So you aren't like, what if someone calls? You're just like, what if there's fun? What if there's fun to be had?

Yeah. I don't want to be doing this. Do you mean, like, people inviting you to fun or just like things to look at? Fun things to look at, not mainly. Like, I might have missed, like, maybe the hashtag Ducklove has some, like, like fun stuff going in with it. Yeah, but you know what? It'll have it in 25 minutes.

Yeah, that's true. That is true. hashtag tortoise life. That's very good as well. Anyway. Nice. And they'll be there for you. They'll be there for you.

They'll be there for you. And you'll be able to enjoy them so much more because you're like, oh, we're in. Oh. Oh. We're enjoying it. So the first couple times this happens is you obviously will be just thinking about the phone and the tortoises. And the snacks.

And you're just sort of getting through the thing that you're pretending to do. Yeah. But after a couple of times, your brain would be like, okay. It was fine the last couple of times. and we've had the smells and the water, and now I'm going to do the thing I'm supposed to be here for. Great. Brain training. Exactly.

Brain training. And you want an actual timer on and force yourself to do the thing for the duration of that time. Okay. If you are at the computer, don't allow your treat your, like, 25-minute end thing, to be like, now I'll look at shoes on Amazon. Yeah, because you'll be there for four hours.

Yeah. Boys are you, that's in no way a break. Oh, yeah, as well, yeah, that's a small work. That's just the same thing. You've got to stand up. The 25 minute, the clock goes off. It's time for the break. And that means snacks.

That means tortoises. That means looking at the phone. That means having a jump around. Moving. You've got to move out of the space. And it's been described as if you are doing your work and then you just go and look at the internet or whatever on the same computer, it's like doing many. Bicep curls. And then as a break, tricep curls.

That's good. You're like, no, no, no. Use a totally different muscle. go do some go run for a bit now shake those arms out like you've got to transition away and do something totally different so that when you come back your biceps are like ready again so fresh it's fresh boy I'm fresh you know because what we trick ourselves into doing is just remaining at like constant low level bicep curl the entire time we're awake and some of the time we're asleep but that's to do with phones as well yes I know because it's like it's because all of collective human knowledge is

in our hand I know it's so much it's so much just There's so much knowledge. There's so much knowledge on there. And so it's not unworthy. Like I saw somebody tweet the other day. You know, like, boomers are always like, get off your phone. And you're like, do you understand that like the equivalent of like the space landings, the space landings, the moon landings are happening on here every five minutes? Like things are happening. A pig is riding a goat. Also World War III. World War II is literally taking place. Like it feels like you're watching something. You're constantly watching things taking place in live times. Of course it's totally, you know,

Of course there's, it's too much out there. Anyway, you've just got to learn to get away from it. Remove yourself from that constant stream of hot content. Yeah. And the very last thing is that, you know, you're in your special place with the plants. They smell of rosemary. You're smelling. You're doing your water.

Blah, blah, blah. Clock goes off over 25 minutes. Consider your music. And if you're someone who's like, I would like dead silence. You know yourself. If you like tunes, no lyrics, please. Yeah, I really like listening to sounds of the sea when I am working. That's lovely.

Yeah, it's really, because I end up just not hearing it. Like, you just get so deep in that you're not really thinking about, but you're not constantly getting disturbed by flatmates or, I don't know, people outside or... Yeah, other stuff. So it's basically like constantly distractions of like, what shall I do now? What shall I do now? What should I do now? And you're like, I got so much done today. He's like, you didn't because you did it at like, you worked at 20% of your brain rather than 100% of what you're capable of if you continue to be like, I've got one hand doing this and one doing this.

There is various Apple Music have got various playlists called like Music to focus, music to concentrate. Well, YouTube have like cafe background noise for 10 hours or flickering flames for 12 hours. Yeah. There's so many of them. The sound of a caribou walking gently across the snow for 14 hours. I mean, look at that caribou go.

If it's your jam. Yeah. And it's nice and peaceful. Have a look at that. And we're back to our work. Yeah. It's there. At Apple, supposedly, they play through the...

I'm always obsessed with like what happens. in the Apple offices. Oh yeah. Like hugely. Just imagine. Because we all just like, oh, apparently, like, and equally Google. You know, we're just like, and apparently there's this, you know. Apparently if they have a sushi bar.

Apparently it's a sushi bar. It's open all day. 24 hour sushi bar. Like, of course there is. But we're like, but imagine it. But imagine it. I can't. Can you?

No. So it's like so white and clean in there. Bumping through music. From something called focus at, I was going to say focus at all, but it's focus at will. Okay. With the at, of course. Oh, an at. Oh.

Oh, so innovative Apple, she says, with all Apple devices. Yeah, surrounded by Apple. She's covered in Apple. We're signed up to the altar. Oh, my God. Steve Jobs has got us a hook line and sinker. Update me, baby, blah, blah. No, I was 100, yes, please.

I'm not finishing the sentence. So it's called, what? I don't mean, be, blah, blah. It's couldn't be bothered. Because that's the thing. It's predictive text, so it knows what you want. I mean, it doesn't, does it? Because it constantly predicts, like, bizarre.

Like, no one ever wants to write ducking. Can I just make that very clear? You can, the only way to get around it, do you know, is to go around into your own dictionary and change it. Change the word duck to fuck? Yeah. Great. I'll do that.

And now I'm going to change loads of other words to fuck as well. So when I'm not trying to write something, a little joked myself. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The word, that'll be really fun. Well, I've seen people pronging their parents. I've seen that as well. When it says, like, no, of course you can't go out.

It'll be like, I love you and I wish you all the best for the party that you're going to attend. Yeah. So anyway, they are listening to some new fangled technology called Focus at Will. It's like specially designed algorithms for your concentration. Where can you find it? Google. Okay.

Have a Google. I mean, I think it'd be amazing, but I'm exhausted at the thought of them knowing that. I know. Someone talking about it, Stranger Things, was literally created based on Netflix viewing algorithms. And that's why we all binge watch the first season so much. And I just can't trust anything anymore. They're very good concentration tips. Thank you.

Oh. This is who I am now. Thank you. I am now. Laser-focused. You look like you've taken pop-a. You look like you've sniffed pop-ers. I've just had a smell of my peppermint.

Oh, well, it's boosted, you know. I'm just feeling like very momentarily quite high on my own supply. Oh, yeah, it'll go. Oh, yeah. This will go. Now you feel good, yeah. It's something really beautiful, but sometimes it's when I'm hung over and you have that like first burst. You're like, oh my God, I'm going to do everything. And then it hits.

I can't know. Maybe I was still drunk. But maybe you only got a few minutes, you know. You got a few minutes in the tank. So that's the thing like when it, when it goes, when you start drifting away from reading the one page or whatever, that's it. You're done. Yeah. We're out. Get up. Yeah. You have to then reset yourself and get up. Shake it off. We've got to go back to the beginning again. I was like, I think one of the things as well, like don't fight. Don't fight it. You, yes, you may have a lower attention span than you, shorter attention span, than you think or want or ever hoped and dreamed. And that's okay.

Like you just have to work with what you've got. You can't be like, oh, why can't I focus? Because then you're frustrated and then you're less likely to focus. Yeah. Just there's no point beating yourself up. Very long academic books are boring. They just are. Even if you're interested in their topic, sometimes they're boring.

But you just have to break it up into those sort of 25 minute slots. We reset. We go again. Yes. Reset the day. Remember that, Phil? No. With Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise.

Oh, no. I know. Yes. The edge of tomorrow. They're obsessed with saying. reset the day and then shooting Tom Cruise in the head. That's the film. And that's it.

So that's what you have to do when your time is, when you start to lose your... You shoot Tom Cruise in the head and then you start again. And I think, I think that was a really great business. Tessa, thank you for bringing the power to that. Honestly, feel like I'm ready to go to Apple and pitch. Like, I feel... I feel mad.

I'm going to pitch that you take poppers and listen to that, your own music that you've already listened to. And they're all, like, sniffing their poppers, being like, yes. What else? Thank you. much tessa for bringing your ted talk and um thank you for coming to my dead dog everybody it was great tedx and i just if my only if you don't listen to any of my tips at least i hope that you take into

account that you maybe aren't as thick as you think no no one's just think of a thing no one's just i think it's such a horrible thing there's loads of things i think i'm absolutely thick as thick as you like please subscribe like to oh leave a little review that'd be nice wouldn't it of the podcast um if you think if you know anybody that you think that this episode would help share it around your social medes. We're at Nobody PanicPanekpod on Twitter and NobodyPanic Podcasts at Gmail.com, if you want to send in some suggestuans. I think we've been working through quite a few. Yeah, see you next week and happy concentrating. Happy concentration day. Okay, so please. Bye-bye.