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00:01:58 •Scheduling

00:04:18 •Time boxing

00:05:23 •Eliminating distractions

00:08:27 •Single task at a time

00:09:13 •Using flow states

00:14:46 •Halo effect

00:15:27 •Anchoring effect

00:15:57 •Bandwagon effect

00:16:19 •Familiarity bias

00:18:46 •Recognize that you might be susceptible to bias

00:19:14 •Consider the opposite

00:19:37 •Seek contrary perspectives, evidence, and opinions

00:20:28 •Reframe the problem

00:20:52 •Don’t commit too soon

00:21:17 •Speed and stress don’t help

00:21:44 •Use objective measures

00:25:06 •Find a community that lives your values

00:26:27 •Attach the identity to yourself

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• Brains have limited attentional capacity, and multitasking comes with a switching cost. We can tweak our environment to make the most of our attention and be more productive: we can fine-tune our scheduling strategy, use “time-boxing” and cut down on distractions. It’s easier to get into a “flow state” when we focus on one task at a time without distraction.

• Cognitive biases are distortions in our judgments and perceptions, and can undermine our ability to think clearly, especially if they’re unconscious. To make more objective decisions, acknowledge that you may be susceptible to bias, seek contrary perspectives, reframe the problem and don’t act in haste.

• Finally, we can use our need for identity to support good habit formation by seeking communities with shared values and deliberately attaching that identity to ourselves.

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Don’t keep notifications on all of the time. Instead, mark it as a task you will complete at one point rather than allow it to interrupt all the rest of the things you are doing. Schedule for interruptions. Keep your schedule at hand. Some people favor digital apps or calendars, while others like a notebook or planner. What’s important is that it’s comfortable for you, and you can easily have it on you whenever you need to check. If you have trouble scheduling in advance, you can focus on the next few hours or take it a day at a time. In addition, one particular variation of this is time boxing.

It sounds very simple, but it’s a good way of getting our brain to focus. You know that you will get to other tasks eventually, and an alarm can take off the pressure to watch the clock. Time boxing helps you have a clear idea of what you have to focus on and when to stop. •Eliminating distractions Unless you work in a sensory deprivation chamber, you really can’t eliminate all distractions, which is fine. We can focus on the distractions that are the most disruptive ones. First, we have social media, our smartphones, messengers, emails, and so on. We have mentioned that you should set a fixed time when you check your messages and emails. Otherwise, these invade the rest of your time and provide a constant stream of distraction.

Regarding your workspace, you might limit the distractions available there. Put your smartphone away and keep the things you are likely to need at hand. For instance, have a bottle of water, a pencil, or the papers you will require there. Having to get up continuously can be annoying and distracting. Pay attention to the distractions coming from your own body. Eat a snack, drink water, stretch. These can help you stop feeling distracted faster than trying to ignore them. •Single task at a time Many people are used to multitasking, but as we have seen, our brain does not like this.

Flow is easy to sustain and very pleasant to experience. It is a state that our brain relishes and seeks, so it is likely to enhance your motivation for the tasks you know can bring it forth. It’s essential to manage our attention, and author Adam Grant suggests that it’s a better idea to do this rather than just focus on managing our time. When we can pay full attention, our brain works best, but multitasking is akin to self-sabotage, and, what’s more insidious, we can’t always tell just how much distractions affect us. Flaws in our thinking: cognitive biases So, we can’t pay attention to more than one thing at a time, at least, not without having to pay costs in terms of outcomes and accomplishments. And yet, most people believe that they can multitask successfully, with some feeling more productive when they have various things going on simultaneously. This suggests that we don’t have an intrinsic awareness of the things best for our brain or our performance. This is an issue that many cognitive scientists have recognized.

For example, imagine that you did not take an umbrella with you, and it rained. Logically, there is no connection, but you might remember other times this has happened and conclude that it will rain whenever you don’t take an umbrella. This is a relatively innocuous example. In other cases, bias can lead to significant harm. For example, many gamblers fall prey to the so-called gambler’s fallacy and make losing bets. Bias can make us hire a worse candidate while ignoring a better one for a job, make a bad financial decision that will make us feel guilty and have a real cost, or trust a person that will trick us. Let’s consider some of the most common cognitive biases. •Halo effect The halo effect involves us judging a person more negatively or more positively based on a single characteristic, usually attractiveness.

Cognitive biases are byproducts of our usually efficient and effective brain and its way of dealing with situations that threaten our survival. We can’t be fully rid of these biases (and believing we are bias-free is another bias), but we can learn about them and account for them to make better decisions. Technique #3: Structuring your decisions It matters little whether you pick orange or apple juice based on your bias. If you choose a workplace or even a career, it matters a lot using this as a guide. Pay special attention to the decisions associated with significant consequences for yourself and others around you. How it connects to the brain: Our brain structures thinking and decision-making processes in a particular way that works most of the time. However, it also leads to cognitive biases, which are common to all of us and can be seen as persistent bugs in our reasoning. They can lead us astray in important choices, which makes it important to know how to neutralize their effects and make our decisions better and stronger.

We cannot eliminate our biases because they are intrinsic to our brain’s functioning, so learning about them and reducing their effect is the best choice. Here is where you can structure your decisions. •Recognize that you might be susceptible to bias The first step is very simple. Recognize that you might make biased choices even if you feel objective. Your brain operates in specific ways that are good for your survival, but have side effects. If you account for them, you can improve your outcomes. Even if something feels natural and evident, it might not be so from an objective viewpoint. •Consider the opposite Consider the opposite is a cognitive strategy that asks you to think of any reasons your initial judgment might be wrong, even if it feels right.

This might even become a habit. But if they join a group of fitness fans who jog and drink smoothies, the person might slowly shift the habit of drinking. They will adopt new habits to better fit with their new crew and a better fit with their new identity as a person who cares about their health, exercises, etc. Our brain does not like the state of dissonance that appears when our values and actions don’t match and is very concerned with belonging, so we are more likely to be motivated to fit with our new identity. The technique involves two aspects. First, it can involve finding a group that fits the values and lifestyle habits you want to have. The second is to build a conscious link between this new identity and the habits you will develop every day. •Find a community that lives your values It’s easier to exercise if you surround yourself with people who exercise, talk about fitness and health, and who can support your initiative.

It’s aspirational. When tempted or confused, ask yourself: what would a non-smoker do? What would my ideal self do in this situation? This is a way to make better choices and sustain them. It motivates you to keep going, and identity labels have a powerful effect on our brain. We can see it in many situations, and our brain falls for it a lot. A company like Apple, for example, builds a large aspect of its branding around the idea that using their products is not just a consumer choice. It’s an identity choice.

People who use Apple products are different. And it works! You can even see the in-group and out-group conflict between Apple and Android users, as it has become about more than just a phone brand. It’s about identity and belonging to a group. Our brain is not perfect. It can make poor choices and is very driven by a host of tricky biases, especially those we are unaware of. Our attention can be limited, and we can sometimes fall into bad habits or the tendency to let our desire for identity and belonging derail us. But when we gain this awareness, we can turn these situations to our advantage.

Think of it this way: the brain’s flaws and strengths are sometimes the same. The brain wants to save energy, create shortcuts and make life easier, but these tendencies can backfire and cause us to be lazy, habitual and biased. However, none of this is a problem if we maintain awareness and creatively work around our tendencies and limitations. Takeaways •Brains have limited attentional capacity, and multitasking comes with a switching cost. We can tweak our environment to make the most of our attention and be more productive: we can fine-tune our scheduling strategy, use “time-boxing” and cut down on distractions. It’s easier to get into a “flow state” when we focus on one task at a time without distraction. •Cognitive biases are distortions in our judgments and perceptions, and can undermine our ability to think clearly, especially if they’re unconscious. To make more objective decisions, acknowledge that you may be susceptible to bias, seek contrary perspectives, reframe the problem and don’t act in haste.

•Finally, we can use our need for identity to support good habit formation by seeking communities with shared values and deliberately attaching that identity to ourselves. That concludes today's episode from Peter Holland's book, Super Brain. Once again, please take a moment to visit the author's website at bit.ly-PeterHollins.com. You can sign up for some free resources there as well. I'm Russell. Thanks for joining us today, and we'll see you again next Thursday for the next episode from The Science of Self, where you improve your life from the inside out.