Your Brain Has a Focus Switch (Here's How to Turn It On)

Dave Asprey (0:00)

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And your brain can only enter that state when two very specific chemicals are at the right levels at the same time.

And when they're there, the switch turns on. When they aren't, it doesn't matter if you try hard, the switch is off. It's like wanting the lights to turn on but not hitting the light switch. And the reason most of us don't turn it on is because modern life has three habits that drain those chemicals faster than your brain can make them. And most of those habits feel normal. They feel like life.

And the first habit is something most people experience every single day. In fact, many of us feel within minutes of waking up. And then you bring it into work, bring it back home at night, and you go to bed, it's still running in the background. The problems of your brain looks at this as a signal that something is wrong.

And if the signal stays on for too long, your ability to focus just declines. And the habit is chronic stress. When you feel stressed, your adrenal glands release a hormone called cortisol. And cortisol is a stress signal, but it's a useful stress signal. It mobilizes energy and it shuts down something your body considers to be nonessential. It helps you survive. And the moment that alarm fires, your brain makes a very specific decision. It pulls resources away from the part of your brain responsible for deep thinking, and it puts everything towards survival and action. So your brain re-roots those two focused chemicals.

And this makes a lot of sense for your ancestors. If a lion is chasing you, deep thinking is a liability. Imagine saying, Oh, look, I do believe that's a lion while it's tackling you. You don't want to do that. You need to run. So the brain shuts the thinking part down and it powers survival. The problem is, your brain runs the same exact program when your boss sends you an email. It can't tell the difference between a lion and a difficult conversation. So cortisol comes in either way, and your switch goes dark either way, and it's harder to focus. And so for your ancestors, the stress lasted minutes. The threat passed. Cortisol dropped afterwards, and the thinking brain came back online. But for most of us today, the stress doesn't stop. The deadlines are stacking. The emails keep coming. The ads are tracking you on social, and politicians are probably doing something bad. Cortisol stays elevated all day. Your switch never gets the clear signal it needs to fire. And that's why you can sit down to do important work that you care about, but your brain just won't cooperate. By the way, I've written nine major books, including four New York Times bestsellers. This is where Rider's Block comes from, too. The reason I could write nine is I mastered this switch. And the problem is that your brain's own chemistry will tell it that right now is not a safe time to think deeply or to do the work. And the second habit happens while you're unconscious, which makes it the hardest focus killer to notice while you're asleep. It's something millions of people deal with every night. And because it's so common, just about none of us see it as a threat, except your brain does. To your brain, it's a warning signal that keeps your body on alert and makes deep focus really hard. And that habit is bad sleep. Sleep is when your brain restores the chemicals that your focus switch requires. And if you don't get enough sleep, or your sleep is just bad quality sleep, you wake up and both of your tanks are running low.