When I was in the Arctic, like I can, I remember every single detail
because that was unlike anything I've ever done before,
I couldn't tell you what the hell I did two days ago.
We get back into our normal lives and things can just sort of
go over and over. So it's like the idea of
doing something new and challenging, you're going to remember that.
The human brain loves a routine, right? We evolved to want to get in the routine because
in the past that used to keep us safe. If I could know where a good food
source was and go to it every day, if I knew where the lions were lurking,
that would keep me safe, if I could predict something
about the weather that would keep me safe. So our brain really likes to default to
do predictable things. This was great in the past, but today
it can often cause us to sort of zone out. So there's some interesting research
where the researchers basically said that when you've done the same thing over and over,
your brain kind of goes on this autopilot mode because it can predict everything.
So it's like, why be present and focused and in the moment
when you can just kind of be bossed, right? Going through your routine.
So we sort of miss a lot of life, right? This is an example that I like to give around,
like you ever drive on your commute somewhere and it's a drive you've done before,
and all of a sudden you look up in like 20
minutes have gone by and you're like, “holy crap, like, I don't even know what
just happened the last 20 minutes”. You don't even know where you were,
you were just lost inside your head. Well, we can go through life like that.
So I think the idea of trying to do new things,
learn new things that totally shake up a routine is interesting
because now all of a sudden I can't predict the future
and I've got to learn some new stuff and I've got to do some new stuff,
and this is forcing you into presence and focus. Because, “oh, I can't predict stuff anymore”.
And I think there's benefits to that. I mean, this is ultimately why
meditation and mindfulness is so popular right now,
and there's some, I think, really good arguments for it,
but I also think that not everyone is keen on sitting down and,
focusing on their breath for 20 minutes a day, that's just how people are.
So if you can learn to do things, I think that you're going to
get some of those benefits that mindfulness is partially chasing
just by making you focus and aware of like what you're doing.
When I was in the Arctic, like I can, I remember every single detail
because that was unlike anything I've ever done before,
I couldn't tell you what the hell I did two days ago.
We get back into our normal lives and things can just sort of
go over and over, so it's like the idea of
doing something new and challenging, you're going to remember that.
What do people do the second they feel bored? They pull out their phone.
What do we do when we realize that our screen time is five hours a day
and I might have a problem with this thing and I'm going to try and use it less?
We go, “oh, shit, I can't use my phone, Netflix, computer screen, radio”,
whatever it might be, right? So we have this constant digital stimulation,
so the average person spends more than 11 hours a day
engaged with digital media. So in the book I'm arguing,
it's not about less phone, it's about more boredom.
We need times when we're totally disconnected from this outside stimulation.
Even when we have these moments where we're thinking things,
we have a screen in front of us and we need like these moments of boredom.
So the way that I practice this in my life today is I try to take a 20 minute walk outside,
totally disconnected every single day and I just use this for
to think on ideas, to chip away at stuff. And I can tell you, like,
it totally helps, totally helps. They've done research on this,
there's really hilarious studies where they'll take
one group and they just like, “yeah, you can just do whatever on your phone”.
They'll take another group and they will bore the hell out of them.
They make them watch a video of two guys folding laundry for like ten minutes
so you can stand it for about one minute and then you just totally go inward and
you're like, “oh…”, for the other nine minutes.
And then they give them creativity test. The groups that were bored
always crush the people who had just come out of being on their phone.
But you have to kind of, go out and do different things that challenge you,
that challenge your world view in a lot of different ways because you,
by never putting yourself in a position where you are uncomfortable, whether that is physically
or mentally or with what you think to be true, you're not going to learn anything about yourself.
And I think that, in today's age, it's a lot easier
to never be forced out of your comfort zone. Now, physically, that's very obvious, right?
I mean, you could take a thousand steps a day and live today.