Your phone, notifications, and endless scrolling may be costing you more than time. They can also make it harder to concentrate on meaningful work.
In an episode of The Diary Of A CEO, cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Sahar Yousef explains how people can work with their brains instead of constantly fighting distractions. Her advice focuses on changing everyday habits, protecting attention, and making focused work easier to sustain.
Here are seven practical ideas from the conversation.
1. Turn Your Phone to Grayscale
Bright app icons and colorful feeds are designed to attract attention. Yousef discusses research from her lab suggesting that switching a phone to grayscale can reduce screen use.
Try it: Open your phone’s accessibility settings and enable grayscale. See whether the less colorful screen makes mindless scrolling less appealing.
2. Choose Longer Content Over Endless Clips
Constantly jumping between short videos can encourage a habit of rapid stimulation. Yousef recommends making more room for longer-form content that requires sustained attention.
Try it: Replace some short-video sessions with a book, a long interview, or an in-depth article.
3. Work in Focus Sprints
Rather than working with constant interruptions, dedicate a defined period to one important task. Yousef discusses focus sprints as a method for improving productivity and reducing mistakes.
Try it: Choose one task, silence notifications, set a timer, and work on that task alone until the session ends.
4. Decide What Matters Most
A crowded to-do list can make every task feel equally urgent. The conversation explores prioritizing the most important tasks rather than simply reacting to whatever appears next.
Try it: Identify your most important task before opening email or social media.
5. Stop Treating Multitasking as a Superpower
Switching between messages, meetings, and projects forces your attention to keep changing direction. That can interrupt your momentum and make complex work harder.
Try it: Group similar activities together and finish one meaningful piece of work before switching.
6. Let Yourself Be Bored Sometimes
Filling every quiet moment with your phone leaves little room for uninterrupted thought. Yousef discusses boredom and its potential role in creativity.
Try it: Take a walk without scrolling, or sit quietly for a few minutes instead of automatically reaching for your screen.
7. Work With Your Body Clock
People differ in when they feel most alert. The episode explores chronotypes and how understanding your natural energy patterns can help you schedule demanding tasks.
Try it: Notice when you concentrate best and reserve that period for work requiring your deepest attention.
The smarter take: Better productivity doesn’t necessarily mean working longer. Start by making your phone less distracting, protecting a focused work session, and choosing your priorities before the day gets away from you. Small changes to your environment can make concentration easier to maintain.