We’ve actually trained ourselves to self-distract. It’s based on short term entrainment. But there is a way to retrain focus and to train up intense focus. Dr Tommy Wood MD, PhD explains on the Huberman lab podcast out now.

Focusing on a topic never comes without sacrificing time to dedicated to other topics. Interiorizing this obvious thing helps me focus and stop thinking about “what other things I could be doing”. Just embrace the fact that you will be putting things on hold. Then dive into it relaxed

Modern life rewards constant stimulation, but deep focus remains one of the most valuable skills. Training attention intentionally may be one of the highest-return habits for learning, productivity, and well-being.

Man, this is so good. Right before this I was struggling to get through a presentation that’s due in a few hours. Came across this clip and

The idea that we can retrain ourselves to become more focused is very encouraging. It goes to show just how much small, consistent improvements can make a meaningful difference for children and adults alike.

short term entrainment is why everything feels boring after 20 minutes of scrolling. your brain recalibrated what counts as a reward. retraining it is mechanical. environment surgery beats white-knuckling every time.

I’ve been thinking about this through the lens of brain fog. We often treat it as a motivation problem and try to overpower it with more stimulation. But if the environment is quietly working against attention, then building focus becomes much harder than it needs to be.

I don't understand people with smartphone addictions 1. Don't put apps on it, other than business stuff like todo lists. 2. Consider that every call is more important than a text. Ignore texts unless you expect them. 3. When in a meeting, or a discussion, ignore until done.

Great podcast

Love this!

Meditation—a training in non-distractedness. It’s the only thing I’ve found to work.

what's the actual protocol for retraining focus? is it a daily practice or something else

Thanks for this, this will be interesting and very timely

❤️

Training focus like a puppy—tugging at distractions until they sit and stay.

entrainment is why doom scrolling feels involuntary

Intense focus triggers acetylcholine release sharpening neural circuits and locking in learning far better than scattered attention.

ty, science-daddy.

🚃🚃🚃

'trained ourselves' is generous. notification designers did the entrainment for us

@hubermanlab The self-distraction framing really lands. I catch myself reaching for the phone before I've even felt bored, like a reflex I installed without meaning to. Did Dr. Wood put any number on how long the retraining takes before it holds on its own?

you can also train yourself to not be a distraction to others ...

Great reminder that everything is a habit and we can train or retrain it We just need the desire, strategy and consistent action

the part that clicks for people: every time you switch to your phone mid-task, you get a tiny dopamine hit for the switch itself. so it's not weak willpower, it's a trained reward loop. rebuilding focus is less white-knuckling, more removing the pings that keep firing it.

You can just switch notifications off and go on easily with your day 😉

Been lifting since before my kids could walk and they're grown now. That first hour at 6am is the only part of my day with zero contractor calls and zero punchlist problems. Huberman calls it retraining focus. I just call it the reason I'm not insane by noon.