The Mindset Mentor - Remove All Distractions

Episode Date: March 10, 2022

The human attention span has gone down by 33% in the past 20 years and we live in the most distracting time that humans have ever lived. Distractions are one of the only things that’s holding you back from creating an amazing life. In this episode, I’m going to teach you how to remove distractions so that you can be ultra focused towards your goals! Follow me on IG for more inspiration here: https://www.instagram.com/robdialjr/ If you live in the US/Canada and you want to receive motivational texts from me, text me now at 1-512-580-9305 or click here https://my.community.com/robdial Want to learn more about Mindset Mentor+? For nearly nine years, the Mindset Mentor Podcast has guided you through life's ups and downs. Now, you can dive even deeper with Mindset Mentor Plus. Turn every podcast lesson into real-world results with detailed worksheets, journaling prompts, and a supportive community of like-minded people. Enjoy monthly live Q&A sessions with me, and all this for less than a dollar a day. If you’re committed to real, lasting change, this is for you.Join here 👉 www.mindsetmentor.com My first book that I’ve ever written is now available. It’s called LEVEL UP and It’s a step-by-step guide to go from where you are now, to where you want to be as fast as possible.📚If you want to order yours today, you can just head over to robdial.com/bookHere are some useful links for you… If you want access to a multitude of life advice, self development tips, and exclusive content daily that will help you improve your life, then you can follow me around the web at these links here:Instagram TikTokFacebookYoutube

Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so that you never miss another podcast episode. And if you're out there and you want to receive emails from me every single Monday morning with intentions going into the week, I'm going to give you my intentions every single week. And if you want, you can go ahead and steal them, put them into your week, make them your intentions as well. So therefore you go into the week with an intention that serves you at the highest purpose. And you can start working at that intention and making it something that changes your life. So once again, if you want to be a part of that, I'll send you an email every single Monday morning. It is mondayemail.com right now.

Once again, mondayemail.com. Today, we're going to be talking about one of the things that is absolutely killing your productivity. It's killing the action that you need to take in order to create the life that you want. And that, my friend, is distractions. We live in a day and age where distractions are everywhere. Everybody is vying for your attention. Do you know that the average American sees four to 10,000 ads per day? Four to 10,000 ads per day. The average American checks their phone 344 times a day.

phone 344 times a day. If you divide it by 16 hours, that's 21.5 times per hour. That's just under every three minutes. And so people are less patient than they ever have been because of this. People are constantly getting bombarded by ads. And we're so used to picking up our phones all the time. And when our phone's not near us, we're trying to figure out where our phone is. It's estimated that the average human attention span has gone down 33% in the past 20 years since the invention of the smartphone, obviously. And so if you can learn to not be distracted and learn to focus, you're basically going to be a superhuman among all of these other people that are out there. Because if you can get distractions out of the way and you can learn to focus on what it is

that needs to be done and take the action that actually moves the needle, your life will be completely different. But in order to take action and to get great work done and stuff that moves the needle, you have to make sure that you can focus. And part of focusing is that you remove all of the distractions. But in order to take action and to get great work done and stuff that moves the needle, you have to make sure that you can focus. And part of focusing is that you remove all of the distractions.

And the good thing about it is, you know, everybody has different amounts of distractions. Some people are like, oh my God, I have ADD, which is actually kind of interesting because some people are born with ADD. Some people have it. A lot of people were actually causing low-level ADD in ourselves.

I actually was listening to a podcast and the neurobiologists talk about this, is that low-level ADD in ourselves. I was listening to a podcast and the neurobiologists talk about this, is that some people have ADD and some people are actually giving themselves ADD. What? That's fucking crazy, isn't it? And so if we are giving ourselves ADD, it's like a muscle that we're building into ourself is just expecting me to distract, distract, distract. Our distraction muscles are so big. Can't we at least try to do the exact opposite, which is make our focus muscles so big so that we can take more action

and more productive action towards achieving the goals that we want? For sure. And you've heard me say it before. Imagine that you've never played basketball before and you wake up today and you're like, you know what? I'm going to just quit my job

and I'm going to play basketball 16 hours a day for the next five years. Let's say you've never played before. Even if you've never played before, at the end of those five years, you're going to be a really good basketball player if you're playing every day, all day for 16 hours. The only time that you're not playing is when you're going to the bathroom and you're eating food, right? You're going to be pretty freaking good. You might not be a pro, but you're going to the bathroom and you're eating food, right? You're going to be pretty freaking good. You might not be a pro, but you're going to be really, really good at that. That's basically what we do with distraction. Think about it.

We wake up, we check our phones, we distract ourselves, we check our emails, we check our text messages, we check Facebook, we check Instagram, we check TikTok, we listen to music, your children come in, your children distract you, your spouse comes in, your spouse distract you, your spouse comes in, your spouse distracts you, you get phone calls, you eat, you watch Netflix, you go back into the cycle again, you watch a few more things, you check Facebook a few more times, you go on Instagram,

you go on TikTok, you check your email, you do your text messages. We do it over and over and over again on a daily basis. And this is why boredom is so hard for people. Like think about this for a second. What is boredom? It's doing nothing. Why is doing nothing hard for people? Like to sit there and do nothing, like to just stare off into the distance for 40 minutes.

Some people like cannot do that. Why is it? It's because people have become addicted to stimuli. If you don't like being bored, it's because your brain actually wants to distract itself. You have become addicted to stimuli the same way that a crackhead wants to go get some crack is the same way that you want to distract yourself from doing absolutely nothing. Like how crazy is that to really, like have you thought about that for a second? What is boredom? Boredom is not being able to do nothing.

Why is doing nothing so hard? Like it doesn't make any sense. It shouldn't be something that people try to avoid. And so it's really just interesting with all of that, but it can be torture for so many people because they're addicted to distraction, right? It's the exact same thing with the basketball example. We've just become really good at distracting ourselves.

We've become masters of distraction. And it's no wonder why humans' attention spans have been lowering. I mean, it just makes sense that humans' attention spans have been lowering because we're constantly distracting ourselves. And we're doing it to ourselves. It's not like anybody's doing it to us.

That's the crazy thing. Majority of our distraction we're doing to ourselves. But most of us had no idea that we were doing it to ourselves. It's not like anybody's doing it to us. That's the crazy thing. Majority of our distraction we're doing to ourselves, but most of us had no idea that we were doing it. We didn't know. Well, now you know. And if we can master distraction, we can also go ahead and decide that we're going to master focus. So let's talk about the distractions, right? To take action, we must focus on what it is that we need to do and what do we need to take action on, right? we must focus on what it is that we need to do and what do we need to take action on, right? The opposite of focus is distraction. So let's work on removing distractions,

as much distractions as we possibly can, so that we can therefore, in turn, make it much easier for us to focus, okay? And so get out a pen and paper, if you're able to, go grab a pen and paper real quick and write down all of the things that you can think of that distract you from taking action. Because here's the crazy part about being a human working towards your goals. Majority of us know about 95% of what we need to do to be successful or to get

the life that we want. Like we know what we need to do. Majority of the time, we're just not doing it. And so that not doing it is not taking action. And so we're distracting ourselves instead of actually doing it. And so take out a pen and paper and write down every single thing that's on top of your mind that distracts you too much from taking action. If you need to, you can pause me. I'll be here whenever you're ready to go ahead and push play again. But write down every single thing that holds you back, that distracts you from taking action towards the life that you want. You run a small business, but who's running your HR? If the answer is I'll figure it out myself or honestly, no one, remember that one employee complaint can turn your entire world upside down. It can be devastating for a business,

but HR is not just about avoiding risk. As a business leader, you should do right by the people that you employ. And that's why you need Bambi. Bambi is an HR platform built for businesses like yours. So you can automate the most important HR practices and get your own dedicated HR manager. First, Bambi's HR autopilot automates your core policies, workplace training, and employee feedback. Then your dedicated HR manager will help you navigate the more complex parts of HR and guide you to compliance. Available by phone, email, or real-time chat. An in-house HR manager can cost up to $80,000 a year, but with Bambi, your dedicated HR manager costs just $99 a month, no hidden fees, and you can cancel at any time.

What I love about it is that it saves a whole lot of money and HR just ain't really my specialty. But Bambi has received thousands of five-star reviews on Trustpilot and their customers are four times less likely to have a claim filed against them. So run your business and let Bambi run your HR. Go to Bambi.com slash dial right now for your free HR audit.

That's B-A-M-B-E-E.com slash dial, bambi.com slash dial. Hey, did you know that poor sleep can cause weight gain, mood issues, poor mental health, and lower productivity? And that sleeping less than six to seven hours per night is linked to reducing white blood cell count. White blood cells protect our body against illness and diseases while fighting viruses, bacteria, and more. And this is why a nighttime routine is so important. Introducing Beam Dream. Beam is the world's

most innovative functional wellness brand with unique products for everything from sleep to recovery. It contains natural sleep-promoting premium ingredients, triple lab-tested, no THC CBD, and you wake up refreshed. And 98% of people surveyed fall asleep faster when taking Beam Dream and 99% of them experience better sleep quality. Here's why it works. Our bodies have endocannabinoid systems or a highway of communication between the brain and the body. That is what CBD is specifically designed to work with. And Beam's premium nano CBD dramatically increases your body's ability to absorb CBD, making their products the most effective in the wellness space. All you got to do is just mix Beam Dream into hot water or milk, stir, and enjoy 30 minutes before bedtime. I took it right before bed and passed out like a baby.

And seriously, it is delicious. And this stuff tastes amazing. So find out why Forbes and New York Times are both talking about Beam and why it's trusted by some of the world's top athletes like Danica Patrick and Baker Mayfield. If you don't love it, get your money back guaranteed. And for a limited time, get $20 off when you go to beamorganics.com slash dial and use the code dial at checkout. That's B-E-A-M organics.com slash dial and use the code dial at checkout for $20 off. Okay? And now that you've got that, right next to every single one of those, what is an action that you can take to remove this from your life as much as possible?

I understand you can't remove everything, but at least remove it in the times when I need to take action. So, you know, there's a lot of different things that will distract you. But one of the things, and the one I want to focus on the most today is your phone. Okay.

I'm just going to be honest with you. Your phone is one of the most incredible pieces of machinery that has ever been made. It is mind-blowing how incredible these pieces of machinery are. But if you want to be productive, majority of time, they're going to fuck all that up. And you and I both know that, right? Like it is one of the worst things for productivity. And, you know, we're so obsessed with checking our phones as much as we do.

Like I said, about 21.5 times per hour. Still can't get over that number. That's just so crazy to think about. That we've actually found, neurobiologists have actually found that there's actually a part of your brain that your brain is starting to grow that is just in charge of knowing where your phone is.

That's how important our phones are to us now. And so if we can literally move ourself away from these things, we will be super humans among the average mediocre person, I guess you could say, right? And so, you know, it's one of those amazing pieces of machinery, but it's also one of the most distracting. And here's the thing that I want you to know about your phone, okay? The people who build the apps on your phone, and this is not me just trying to make it sound

terrible. This is me just speaking truth. The people who build the apps on your phone is me just speaking truth. The people who build the apps on your phone know how to use your brain. And they make money when you're on their app. It's that simple, right? They make money when you're on their app. Therefore, they want you to be on their app as much as possible because they make more money. And so what do they do? They use some of the most addictive strategies They use some of the most addictive strategies that they can to keep you there. And I'll be honest, they are masters of this. I know the strategies that they employ. I still get caught up in this all of the time where I'm like,

oh shit, I've been looking at Instagram for the past 17 minutes and I really was just trying to send a text message. How did I get here? Right? I have that happen to me all the time. Do you ever have that happen? They're masters of this. Even though I know it, they still suck me in, even though I try to resist it. And the reason why is because these app builders employ psychologists and neurobiologists to make their app more addicting. So basically what they're doing is they understand our brains,

those neurologists and psychologists and all of them, neurobiologists, all of them. They understand our brains way better than we do. They basically have the manual to our brains and we're just fumbling around trying to figure out how to use these freaking things. They understand our brains better than we do. And in turn, what they do is they exploit our weaknesses. They exploit our weaknesses. Do you know what one of the most addicting games in the casino is? Like the most addicting game in the casino? Slot machines. Slot machines are considered the most addicting games in the casino. Because when you pull the slot, you pull the slot machine down and it's spinning,

we're always thinking, our brain is always thinking that there's always wants to see around the next quarter, always wants to see what's happening. We always think, oh, the next, we're going to win the next time. We're going to win the next time. We're going to win the next time. And so what happens is that the pulling of that and the spinning of the slot machine,

that is where they got the idea for the scroll feature. So if you look at the scroll feature, basically every single app in your phone uses a scroll feature. Like if you look at all of the social media apps, just if you just look at them right now, every one of them employs the scroll feature. Why do you think that is? Because it is considered one of the most addicting features that you can have on a phone. And if we're addicted to it, they make more money. And if they make more money, then that means that we're probably making less money because we're addicted to it, they make more money. And if they make more money, then that means that we're probably making less money because we're not doing what we need to be doing. But if you look at Facebook and you look at Instagram, you look at TikTok, you look at LinkedIn, all of them have

the scroll feature because they know how to exploit you. And guys, I know this and I still get hooked into this. This is what's the craziest part. And so what's the easiest way not to get sucked in? Do you want to know what it is? I'll tell you. Put it in another room and leave it there for a few hours. Want to know a secret? You won't die. You won't.

Like you literally will not die. It's amazing. It's so awesome to be able to do that, to just know I'm not going to die. It's awesome. And so what awesome to be able to do that, to just know I'm not going to die. It's awesome. And so what happens, and I'll be honest with you, I'm in Sedona right now. I'm in the process of writing my book. And this morning, I had one of the most productive mornings I've ever had. I cranked out four hours of incredible work. It was one of the most productive sessions I've ever had in my life.

And I was in the back by the pool in Sedona overlooking the view. And I was writing the book and putting all this down. Where was my phone? In the kitchen. It wasn't anywhere near me. I had nothing else to distract me. And here's what's crazy. I had a phone call I had to make. So I had the phone call. Did the phone call, came outside. And when I came outside, I got off the phone call. I was still outside. And that's where I was writing earlier. I got off the phone. I dropped it right next to where I was. And I noticed myself, literally, I kid you not, while I was researching, I checked my phone within the next 10 minutes, like four times. And I was like, holy shit, I'm not productive anymore because this thing is literally just sitting next to me.

And I was getting sucked into this thing. So what did I do? I was like, I can't do this anymore. I picked up the phone. I threw it in trash. No, I'm just kidding. I picked up the phone and I put it inside of the kitchen again and I walked back outside and I went back to working.

And what happened? Got like another hour and a half of really good work done. And so I want you to understand that if we want to take action, we're going to have to remove some of these distractions. And so one of the things that I want you to do is think about your phone and think about everything else that distracts you as well. Okay. Here's another thing. If you want to have like, I'm writing the book as well. One of the other things that I do is I turn off all of my notifications. So literally when I was outside and I was working on my book, I was working on it with the computer.

And when I was working on it with the computer, I had the internet off. So I turned the wifi off so that therefore I wouldn't have any way to distract myself. And therefore I could also not get phone calls on my computer. I couldn't get text messages on my computer,

any of those things. And so turn off all of your notifications. You've got to develop a routine around getting stuff done where you are absolutely not distracted. I've heard of many different ways that people do this. I've heard of people that literally put a desk inside of a closet and all they have is their journal or all they have is their computer and it's not connected to the internet and it's not connected to Bluetooth or any of that other type of stuff. What can you do to make your environment a distraction-free environment? What can you do to make taking action easier? You may have heard me say this before on the podcast, but

think about this. If you normally find yourself distracted by sitting on the couch and scrolling on Instagram, well, how can we take those two variables, those two things completely out of it? Put the phone inside of a drawer and when you find yourself on the couch, and that's like where you find yourself every single day if you're working from home, go ahead and take all the couch cushions and throw them inside the closet.

So therefore it's not comfortable to sit on anymore. And then you don't have any way to distract yourself. So when you look around your environment, what are the things that distract you? And how can you remove them or at least put them away in the time when you're trying to get as much stuff done as possible. Notifications, how can you get them out of there? What about people? People are distracting as hell as well, aren't they? How can you make sure that people know not to distract you? The way that I know that I,

and I clearly communicate this with everybody is if my headphones are on, don't talk to me. Unless it's, unless the freaking house is burning down, don't talk to me. And people know that. And so everyone who comes into my house, people in my company who come over and work for a little while, if they end up working or if my fiance is there, everybody knows. It's clearly communicated to all of them that if my headphones are on, I'm in the middle of doing something, some really deep work, don't talk to me. And so how can you do that for yourself? You know, if you have, is it possible if you have kids and you're working from home right now

and they're running all over the place, you know, can you put something on the door and say, hey, when this red sign is on the door, that means don't open the door because mommy's in the middle of working. Don't open the door, whatever it is. You know, how can you make sure that you remove as many distractions as possible?

So once again, that's your phone, that's notifications, that's other people, and anything else in your environment that you possibly can. What about eating? Eating is a distraction, just so you know. One of the things that you notice if you ever go on a fast is how often you think about eating or how much of your time you get. You get so much more time when you don't eat. And so for me, I try not to eat until about one, two o'clock usually. And the reason why is because I feel like my brain just works better when I'm fasted. It just tends to be really good. I don't know why. It's just there's science behind it, I'm sure, but whatever. For me, I have found it's an anecdotal

thing, works really well not to eat. And so therefore, when I'm in my really deep work sessions, it usually happened from about 10 o'clock to two o'clock, I'm not eating, so eating can't even distract me. So I just get my stuff done that I need to get done in that time. And so what I want you to do and what I want you to take from today's episode is in order to get stuff done

and move the needle in your life, you're going to have to focus, you're going to have to take action. And one of the things that holds you back the most from that is your distractions in your environment. How can you look in your environment and become very aware of how these things distract you? How can you get your phone and literally keep it away from you? Turn it on airplane mode, turn it off, leave it in another room preferably. Like if you're at work or something like that and you work for someone else, put it in the drawer, turn it off for a

little while and just get some stuff done. Because how productive you are is based off of also, if you're going to be getting a raise, if you're going to get a promotion, if you have a business, how productive your business is, all of that stuff.

How can you look around in your environment and remove as much distraction as possible so that you can be a focused, action-taking person, action-taking machine? Because if you can do that, you're a freaking superhuman among all of these other people who just continue to get less and less attention spans. Because that is what we're trying to work at, becoming superhuman among all of the other people. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode,

please share it on your Instagram stories and tag me in it, RobDialJr, R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. And once again, if you want to receive an email from me with my intentions going into every single week, go ahead and go to mondayemail.com right now. I'll simply just send you a short email every single Monday morning with my intentions going into the week. And you can see what I got going on.

And if you want to steal it from me, go ahead and steal it. So with that, I'm going to leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission to make someone else's day better. I appreciate you. And I hope that you have an amazing day.