You’re probably thinking, “Wow, this is really cool. The whole thing is really cool and I love it!”, but I’ve recently decided to stop thinking about it, instead allowing my husband to have some time to think about it. I think this is the best way to stay focused on the things that matter to you. It’s so much easier to be present and aware than to keep going through different experiences.
You can go the other way, and let your mind run in a circle of distraction as you think about all the different things that matter to you and what they are. But you can’t forget that even the most beautiful things you have are fleeting and will be gone in an instant. If you allow yourself to think about it, your mind will run off the rails, and you will no longer be able to focus on your life’s most important things.
This is a good point. When we’re distracted, we tend to do things we would never do alone. The world is full of distractions, and that means we have to be mindful of things that can distract us.
We make a lot of assumptions about our ability to think on our own. We may think we know more than we actually do when we say we do, but it’s not always as obvious as we think. For example, the fact that we can’t remember the last time we had a proper meal (or any meal, for that matter) doesn’t necessarily mean we’re starving.
Eating can actually distract us from multitasking, and people often think it can help them multitask. In fact, the act of eating makes us more alert and focused, but it can actually distract and cloud our ability to think. For example, in the movie The Social Network, we watch a guy with a very large vocabulary (who also happens to be the smartest person in the room) and then are asked to do a very simple task.
This is actually a classic effect. It’s called the dual-task effect, and it occurs when you perform two tasks at once. For example, you could take a quiz on the quiz and then take a test. You’re more likely to get a passing grade on a quiz, but not a passing grade on the test.
This effect happens to everyone who takes a test. If you take a test on something that is easy and gets a B, you have a reduced probability to get a C. The dual-task effect is what takes away the Bs and makes the Cs. It is in fact the reason why you can take a test and then perform two tasks at the same time, as opposed to the tests that you can do one task and then go off and do another task.
In fact, the dual-task effect is a phenomenon known to psychologists as “the executive function.” It’s how we are able to be on autopilot while we’re working on a task. Imagine that you are doing a simple math calculation. You’re not thinking about whether your answer is correct, but about how you think about the answer. The same is true for how we learn new things.
How do we learn new things? We learn by doing. So we might not learn anything new for hours at a time, but we can learn by doing it. Of course, this is only true if we are not trying to learn something.
I am not a psychologist, but I am an engineer by trade. I have a degree in psychology and technology, so I can do things on autopilot to speed up my learning.
