Habits that kill your brain
Dengerous daily routines that slowly damage your memory focus, and mental health
Your attention is being hijacked. In addition, you are ceding control of your brain whenever you shift your focus, swipe, or scroll without realizing it. If it's been feeling harder and harder to concentrate, think clearly, or remember what used to come easy, this is one of the reasons why. You're drowning in noise. Think about it. Messages, ads, updates, dopamine traps everywhere right now. Most people can't focus for more than a few seconds at a time. It is scary. Not because we lack willpower, but because their attention has been trained to chase every flicker of stimulation. And that comes at a huge cost. Your ability to learn becomes slower. Your ability to recall information gets weaker. Your goals keep getting pushed further out of reach. Not because you're not motivated, but because you're unable to stay focused. Remember, where your attention goes, energy flows. If you can't direct your attention, you can't direct your life. But here's the part most people miss. Attention is a muscle. It is a skill. And like any skill, it can be trained. In this video, I'm going to show you why attention is the foundation for memory, focus, and peak mental performance and how you can begin to master it so you could take back control of your brain, your time, and your future. So, silence your notifications, grab a pen, and let's dive in. The first step to taking back your attention is awareness. You cannot fix what you don't know. And most people have no idea how distracted they truly are. If you've been following me for a while, you know that I've coached celebrities, CEOs, and students all over the world. When we start working on focus, I can't tell you how many times I hear the same thing. Oh, I don't really use social media that much. I only check my email a couple times a day. Distraction is sneaky. It operates on autopilot and that's what makes it so dangerous. You can just look at the numbers. The average person checks their phone at least 96 times a day. That's once every 10 minutes, most with daily screen time of over 7 hours. And if you're not doing that, that means somebody else is doing a whole lot more. That equates to more than one hundred days per year. Just let that sink in. That amounts to spending more than three months of your life passively. Now ask yourself, what could you do with a 100 extra days? So you're not lacking time, you're lacking attention. The first mission is shown here. You need to track it. Check your daily average by going to your screen time settings on an iPhone, for example. Really pay attention to how many times you pick up your phone. You can keep a tally count on a piece of paper every time you do in the beginning. You do this at the end of the day and you'll know the exact number. Remember, in order to manage something, you have to measure it. You could write down which apps take the most time. Maybe you're on an Android. You could check digital well-being. The same breakdown can be seen. You can also download a lot of free apps like Moment, Rescue Time, uh Forest to start collecting data because once you see it, you can't unsee it. You start realizing just how many micro moments are being eaten up by habits you didn't even know you had. And what does awareness do? Awareness creates responsibility. Now that you've identified your distractions, it's time for the next step, refocusing your attention. But before we jump into how to do that, let's break one of the biggest productivity myths out there. Multitasking. Most people think doing multiple things at once makes them more efficient. But multitasking is one of the fastest ways to kill your brain's performance. Research done at Stanford University found that multitasking can reduce your efficiency and cognitive performance by up to 40%. It takes a toll on your working memory, slows down your thinking, makes more mistakes, and may eventually lower your intelligence. So, here is how to refocus your attention. I challenge you to make a list of three things that you need to accomplish today. Next to each one, write down the priority. Is it high, medium, low? Then the difficulty. Is it mild? Is it reasonable? Does it require deep focus? Then schedule your hardest and most important tasks during the time of the day where you feel most energized. That just makes sense, right? Common sense though is not often common practice. So for some people they're an early bird, so early morning. Some people are morning people, right? Others say it's midday today. If your phone is your biggest distraction, don't just try to use it less. That's too vague. It's way too abstract. You need to set up guard rails. To be more limitless, you have to set limits. You could turn on your do not disturb. You could leave it in another room while you work on those three things on your list. You could use screen time limits or app blockers. If you're worried about missing an important call, set it to only allow emergency calls. Right? You could add particular individuals to your phone. When your environment is more distractionproofed, your brain doesn't have to waste valuable energy fighting temptation. It just locks in. You could also use timers to structure your focus. Your brain really likes structure. That's why time boxing works so well. There are apps out there like Focus Keeper, Forest, or even a simple kitchen timer. That's what I use. An analogy can be helpful. This clearly delineates the beginning, middle, and end for your attention. So, it's not just drifting. Are you tired of constantly feeling overwhelmed by your neverending to-do list? Do you find that there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you need to do? But what if I told you there's a solution that can help you take back control of your time, your focus, your productivity? I'd like to introduce you to Quick Productivity. This 10-day course is designed to provide you with the proven strategies you need to get more done in less time without burning out. Don't wait any longer if you want to learn how to make the most of your time, your work, and your life. Click the link below to learn more and secure your spot and your access right now. But let's zoom out for a second because attention isn't just about productivity. It's the foundation for connection, too. Have you ever met someone new and forgotten their name within seconds? As soon as a handshake breaks, the name just falls to the floor. It's not because you don't know your names well. It's because you weren't paying attention. The art of memory is the art of attention. Most people are so focused on what to say next, how they're being perceived or what's going on around them, who's more important in the room, they completely miss the engagement. They miss even the conversation. So the next time you meet someone, I want to challenge you just to pause, listen, listen fully. Remember, you take a word like listen and scramble the letters, it spells a word silent, right? You're just silent. You take it in. Then you could repeat their name out loud. After that, you could picture it written down in your mind. You could associate it with a color, an object, a famous person, someone you already know, you know, a celebrity, anything that helps make it stick. That split second of intentional attention. It could be the start of a brand new friendship, a partnership, a referral, a brand new opportunity, you know, a a future love. If you want to stop forgetting names, make sure you check out my video on how to memorize names instantly. We'll put a link in the description. Now, if you really want to take back control of your attention, you have to start with intention. Because here's the truth. It's like driving a car without knowing where you're going. Attention without intention. It just burns fuel. It makes noise, but it goes nowhere. So, let me ask you this. Why do you need to concentrate? Why do you want more brain power? What are you really trying to accomplish? Is it finishing uh our quick reading course so you can unlock new career opportunities? Becoming more productive so you have more time for the things and the people that you love? Or maybe you're working on your brain health so you can feel more confident and you can feel more energized as you age. Do more than just list the job. I want you to connect to it. connect to the transformation and the feeling behind it. If the task is, let's say, exercising, then the outcome could be, let's say, I want to lose 20 pounds so I could feel strong, look good, and then be confident in my body again. If the task is research, the outcome might be, "I want to make $200,000 a year so I can buy the home of my dreams." The more specific the outcome, the better. Setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound goals, right? We are all aware that one of the best ways to position yourself for greater success is to use the acronym SMARTT. When your attention is aligned with your intention, you're not just checking boxes. You're showing up with purpose. And here's a practical way to bring this to life. You should try to picture it. You could visualize it if you can. Your brain is your visual processing. It just takes up more real estate. You know, your visual cortex by design. It can process images, I don't know, 60,000 times faster than text. So, the clearer, remember, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So, the clearer your mental image, the more real and the more motivating it becomes. You can close your eyes and imagine what your life looks like when that goal is completed. You could go to AI and ask it to generate a digital image of the moment you're working towards, right? like a photo of you holding a diploma or landing your dream client, uh, traveling stress-free because your business runs more smoothly. Or create that vision board, a physical, you make it digital, filled with snapshots of what success looks and feels like to who? To you. And if you want, post it somewhere that's visible, something that you're going to see every single day. Maybe it's on your refrigerato
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How you get more money every day
If you don't want to be like everyone else, broke, stressed, and stuck in a never ending cycle, you need to focus on one thing: making your first $10,000. When I was 18, I had no money and no qualifications, but I did have big ambitions. Instead of worrying about making millions, I set myself the smaller, more achievable goal of making 10K. Now, as a self-made millionaire, I can tell you that first $10,000 was the hardest to make. However, everything changed once I reached it. It was more than just money. It was about proving to myself that making money is a skill and not luck. Once I figured out how to make 10K once, I knew I could do it again and again and eventually scale it into real well. So, if I had to start from scratch and earn that first $10,000 all over again, this is exactly how I would do it in three steps (slow, upbeat music). The majority of people make this way harder than it should be. They try day trading because a guru said it would make them rich, or they jump into crypto because a friend made money from it. The problem is both these methods need huge upfront cash reserves and crazy luck. These are side hustles and they should never be seen as your main source of income. Instead, think of them as tools to multiply your money. When you are just starting out, you need something that requires a small amount of money to begin with and constantly puts cash in your pocket every day. There are only four options when all the noise is removed. I've tried all of these, and take it from me, this choice is crucial because some options offer higher scalability while others are more limited. In the same way, some generate quick cash while others take more time to make money. The first option is to sell services in person. Look, you've probably heard of these before, but I'm talking personal training, delivery driving, dog walking, nail designing, barbering, videography, and so many more. Although these services sound so common and basic, they're actually one of the fastest ways to make money, so don't overlook them as they give you a way to get paid immediately. It's also pretty cheap to get started. All you need is some skills and maybe a few tools, which means you can get up and running very quickly. If you choose to do this, then please don't mess around trying to build a website, run ads, or make a logo. Just get out there. Find some customers in your local area. Pay for the service you provide. I even did this when I was in my teens. I used to walk around rich neighborhoods and offer to wash people's cars. I'd look out for tidy gardens but dirty vehicles. Now, this might sound strange. However, I was betting if they were obsessed over keeping their garden tidy, they'd also want a nice shiny car on their driveway to impress their neighbors. Because these kinds of services are limited by your local area, it meant my demand was pretty up and down. I struggled to produce anything some months while others were busy. When I was busy, I was only able to work with one person at a time, which kept how much I could make in a day. So in-person services are great to get started with, but you can quickly feel like they're limiting your potential. That brings me onto option two, which is local products. Homemade goods, artwork, fresh produce, and other items can all be purchased here. This can be a great way to make money, but it's not something that happens overnight. Unlike services where you get paid as soon as the job's done, selling local products takes time. I gave this a go using some of the profits from my car washing business. I bought some cheap model playing parts, then spent some time building each one up, and then sold them to people at the RC Flying Club, which I went to on the weekends. However, I quickly realized I was putting a lot of work in for very little money. This was hard for me to come to terms with because I really enjoyed building them. Most of my earnings were being eaten up by the cost of materials. And on top of that, my customer base was very limited as there weren't enough people willing to pay what I needed to make it worth my time. So selling local products can be fun and it's definitely worth it if you wanna make some money from something you love. Option three is global products. This includes starting a clothing brand, drop shipping, sneaker reselling, print on-demand, and so much more. Going global gives you access to a much larger customer base, which means you have more opportunities to make money than you do with local products or services. You are not limited to just the people in your town or city, anyone anywhere can buy from you. When I launched my own global products, I was overjoyed. I even flew all the way to China to partner with a manufacturer to produce my model airplane designs and sell them worldwide. Of course, you don't have to do this if you choose to go down the drop shipping or print on-demand routes. However, this wasn't really an option when I started. If I'm honest, things started off pretty slowly for me because I had to keep reinvesting my profits back into new products to sell. Every sale required more investment. Once I sold 10 items, I then needed to buy 20 more to keep up. Instead of pocketing the profits, my money kept getting trapped in this endless cycle of restocking. Ultimately, was it worth it? 100%. However, this is something you should only do if you can wait one to three months for everything to start working. So when this is up and running, it is probably the most passive laziest way to make money that actually works. So that brings us onto option four, selling online services. I didn't have this option when I was younger, but having it now is such a huge advantage. There are so many different online services you can offer. These include copywriting, video editing, thumbnail design, running ads, social media management, the list goes on. Actually, selling services online combines the two greatest advantages of in-person services and global products. This is because a service has global reach but low profit margins. With products, you might make 20 to 30% margin that needs to be reinvested. With services, you are looking at 70 to 80% margins that go straight into your pocket, plus you can start making money from day one. Look, all of these are fantastic ways to make $10,000 as a student, especially these last two options. However, if I wanted to begin earning money as soon as possible, I would choose option four, which would involve selling online services. Therefore, we must now select the precise online service to provide. So start by asking yourself three questions. What are your real strengths? What interests you most to learn about? And what problems do businesses consistently struggle with? The point where your responses overlap is the sweet spot. The majority of people get stuck at this point because they try to perfect their skill for months or even years before offering it to anyone. That is completely wrong. You need to start getting real-world experience as quickly as possible. So start by setting your prices under the normal market rate. Your main aim here is to earn and learn at the same time. Now, let's take this one step further. (slow upbeat music) This is the skill pyramid made up of four elements that when mastered together, transform a high income skill into a $10,000 income. Miss just one and you'll stay stuck at the bottom, working hard but never breaking through. Element one is positioning. You see, not all online services are equal. The real money is in offering to assist businesses in increasing their profits. That's because businesses think about money differently to individuals. When a business is making $50,000 a month, spending 2,000 to solve a problem isn't a big deal as long as it helps 'em make more money. And take it from me, they have a lot of these problems. They need more customers. They need better systems. They need to stand out from their competition. And they need to convert more leads into sales. These problems never go away and businesses are always willing to pay to solve them. On top of this, some industries simply have more money to spend than others. Additionally, you will begin making actual money more quickly if you consider how to reposition yourself. Here are some ideas to get you thinking. Instead of being a video editor for small YouTubers, you could edit videos for an entrepreneur who sells a product. If you make random thumbnails for clients, you could instead aim to become the main designer for an established creator. And if you're a copywriter, don't write cheap articles. Instead, focus on optimizing landing pages. This isn't about learning more skills, it's about putting yourself where the money's being made. Element two is leverage. You'll never make $10,000 without leveraging value over time. Companies do not pay for effort. They pay for results. You will immediately increase your revenue if you charge for the return on investment rather than the hours worked. Let's say you choose to run Facebook ads. If you charge per hour, you are stuck with a fixed rate and the client will always want to keep your hours low. But if you charge based on the money you bring in for the business, suddenly they're not thinking about cost, they're thinking about profit. Additionally, they will gladly pay you more if they can see that your work is directly benefiting them financially. The same goes for if you decide to offer social media management. If you just schedule posts and reply to comments, you are replaceable. But if you can prove that your strategy is bringing in more engagement, more leads and more sales, you become a valuable asset, not just an expense. Trust me, the moment you shift your pitch from what you do to what they gain, you'll find a lot of people are suddenly willing to pay a lot more. Element three is reach. One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting out is thinking they always have to chase clie
By Ibrahim dayyab4 months ago in Earth
The Reality of the Illusion of Time
Recently, as I strolled along the short stretch to my strength training session, I aimlessly took in the row of tatty shops and shabby buildings along the route and passed an off-street, in which one of my sisters used to live, around thirteen years ago.
By Chantal Christie Weissabout 4 hours ago in Earth
China Bans Rare Earth and Strategic Exports to Japan After Takaichi’s Comments
China’s decision to ban certain rare earths and other strategic exports to Japan for military purposes has sent a sharp signal across the Asia-Pacific region. Triggered by comments from Japanese politician Sanae Takaichi, the move highlights how trade, technology, and national security are now inseparable in an era of intensifying geopolitical rivalry. What may appear on the surface as a targeted trade restriction is, in reality, part of a much broader struggle over influence, deterrence, and the future balance of power in East Asia. By using export controls as a political response, Beijing has once again demonstrated how economic tools are becoming central instruments of statecraft. The Spark: Takaichi’s Comments and Beijing’s Reaction Sanae Takaichi, a prominent conservative figure in Japanese politics, has been outspoken on issues related to defense, Taiwan, and Japan’s strategic autonomy. Her recent remarks — interpreted in Beijing as provocative and aligned with a more assertive military posture — appear to have crossed a red line for Chinese authorities. While Beijing did not frame its decision explicitly as retaliation, the timing left little doubt. China announced restrictions on the export of certain rare earth elements and other materials deemed sensitive for military applications, specifically targeting shipments to Japan. The message was unmistakable: political rhetoric has consequences, and China is prepared to use its economic leverage to enforce boundaries. Why Rare Earths Matter So Much Rare earth elements are not rare in geological terms, but they are extremely difficult and costly to process. China dominates global refining capacity, giving it outsized influence over supply chains essential to modern technology. These materials are critical for advanced weapons systems, electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, radar systems, and missile guidance technologies. Japan, despite being a technological powerhouse, relies heavily on imported rare earths, particularly from China. By restricting exports for military purposes, Beijing is targeting a strategic vulnerability. Even limited disruptions can slow production, raise costs, and force governments to rethink procurement and defense planning. Economic Statecraft in Action China’s move fits into a broader pattern of economic statecraft, where trade and investment tools are used to achieve political objectives. Over the past decade, Beijing has increasingly demonstrated a willingness to weaponize its economic position when disputes escalate. Japan is hardly alone in facing this pressure. Other countries have experienced similar tactics, from trade slowdowns to informal boycotts. What makes this case particularly sensitive is its explicit link to military use, pushing the dispute beyond economics and firmly into national security territory. For Beijing, the logic is straightforward. If rivals frame China as a threat, China will respond by reminding them of their dependencies. Japan’s Strategic Dilemma Tokyo now faces a difficult balancing act. On one hand, Japan has been steadily strengthening its defense posture in response to regional threats, including North Korea’s missile program and China’s growing military presence. On the other, it remains deeply integrated into China-centered supply chains. The export ban reinforces long-standing fears within Japan about overreliance on a single supplier for critical materials. It also strengthens arguments among Japanese policymakers for diversifying supply chains, investing in domestic processing, and deepening cooperation with allies. However, diversification takes time and money. Alternative suppliers exist, but scaling up production and refining capacity outside China is neither quick nor cheap. In the short term, Japan must manage the immediate impact while signaling resolve without provoking further escalation. Regional and Global Implications China’s decision is being closely watched across the region and beyond. For the United States and its allies, it underscores the strategic risks of concentrated supply chains and the urgency of building resilient alternatives. Washington has already been pushing for closer coordination with allies on critical minerals, including rare earths. The move against Japan may accelerate these efforts, encouraging deeper cooperation between the U.S., Japan, Australia, and European partners. At the same time, the episode adds another layer of tension to an already volatile regional environment. With disputes over Taiwan, maritime boundaries, and military modernization simmering, economic pressure increases the risk of miscalculation. A Message Beyond Japan While Japan is the immediate target, the signal is global. Beijing is reminding other countries that political statements, particularly on security matters, are not cost-free. The use of export controls as a response to rhetoric — not just policy actions — suggests a lowering threshold for economic retaliation. For middle powers navigating between China and the West, this creates a chilling effect. Governments may think twice before making public statements that could invite economic consequences, even when those statements align with domestic political priorities. Critics argue that such tactics undermine trust and accelerate decoupling. Supporters within China counter that the country is merely defending its interests in a hostile international environment. The Risk of Accelerated Decoupling Ironically, China’s use of export restrictions may hasten the very outcome it seeks to avoid: reduced dependence on Chinese supply chains. Each instance of economic pressure reinforces the perception that reliance on China carries political risk. Japan has already begun investing in rare earth recycling, alternative sourcing, and partnerships with resource-rich countries. This latest move is likely to intensify those efforts, even if it comes at higher short-term costs. Over time, a more diversified global supply chain could weaken China’s leverage. But in the near term, Beijing’s dominance remains a powerful tool — one it appears willing to use. Conclusion: Trade as a Battlefield China’s ban on certain rare earth and strategic exports to Japan is more than a trade dispute. It is a vivid example of how economic power is being deployed as a strategic weapon in a world defined by rivalry and mistrust. For Japan, the episode is a wake-up call about vulnerability and resilience. For China, it is a demonstration of strength and deterrence. And for the rest of the world, it is a reminder that in today’s geopolitical landscape, supply chains are as consequential as alliances. As tensions continue to rise, one thing is clear: the era of neutral trade is fading. In its place stands a world where economics and politics are tightly bound — and where a single comment can ripple through global markets and military planning alike.
By Muhammad Hassan7 days ago in Earth
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