Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

How To Train Your Attention and Improve Your Life with Dr Amishi Jha #218

8 snips

Nov 17, 2021

Dr. Amishi Jha, a neuroscientist and psychology professor, discusses the pivotal role of attention in our lives. She reveals that many miss up to 50% of their experience due to distractions. Jha introduces three types of attention: the Flashlight, Floodlight, and Juggler, explaining how each enhances focus. She highlights factors like stress and sleep deprivation that hinder our attention, and shares practical tips for training attention, including a daily 12-minute mindfulness practice to boost mental clarity and overall well-being.

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INSIGHT

Mind-Wandering Prevalence

People spend about 50% of their time mind-wandering, and this isn't a new phenomenon.
Studies show that regardless of the task, people's attention drifts about half the time.

INSIGHT

Distractibility as a Feature

Distraction is an evolutionary feature, not a flaw, as it allowed early humans to notice potential threats.
This ability to shift focus also enables mental time travel, which is uniquely human and aids planning and learning.

INSIGHT

Attention as Fuel

Attention fuels thinking, feeling, and connecting, and its degradation impacts our ability to fully experience life.
Issues like anxiety, worry, lack of focus, and overwhelm are rooted in attentional problems.

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Where is your attention right now? Hopefully it’s on these words – but if you’re getting distracted and are contemplating what you’ll have for dinner or running through your to-do list, please know that you are not alone. Today’s guest shares research which shows that most of us are missing up to 50% of our lives. But if you’d like to change that for the better, you’re in the right place.

Dr Amishi Jha is a neuroscientist, professor of psychology at the University of Miami and author of the brilliant new book Peak Mind: Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12 Minutes A Day, which looks at the science of attention. She wants to help us all harness the power of our attention to better meet life’s demands. And I know you’re going to find her advice useful whether it’s at work, at leisure or in your relationships.

Amishi describes the three different types of attention: the Flashlight, the Floodlight and the Juggler. She explains how they all work together to keep us not just focused but also safe, productive and agile. What’s most important, she explains, is developing the awareness to know what type of attention, or distraction, you’re experiencing at any one time.

We talk about factors which have a negative influence on our attention, namely stress, fear and lack of sleep. And how an inability to focus can not only be a consequence of poor mental health, but a cause as well. Often rumination, focusing too intently on our problems, can keep us in them. So how can we break free?

This episode is packed with practical advice on optimising attention for all-round wellbeing and performance. Amishi’s research has shown that, just as we might train our bodies in the gym, so too can we train our brains to direct our focus where we’ll most benefit. And the good news is, we can experience incredible benefits in as little as 12 minutes a day.

I really enjoyed this conversation and I hope you do too.

Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/218

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