Creating more moments of attention

July 9, 2024

You obviously only have a certain number of hours in your life - but what's slightly less obvious is that you have a limited number of moments of attention in your life. When you pay attention to one thing, there is an opportunity cost - you could be paying attention to something else, like one of your loved ones, a meaningful project, your source of income, or a hobby you love. When you get sucked into a dumb argument online or read an upsetting news story (that will never lead you to ta...

Improving your feed using the Law of Social Media Manifestation

November 7, 2023

Imagine you lived in a universe where whatever you give your attention to gets drawn to you. So, if you pay attention to cute dogs on the street, you'll soon be followed by cute dogs all the time. And if you pay attention to the angry guy muttering to himself, soon there will be angry mutterers all around you. This is similar to what new age spiritualism calls the Law of Attraction ("you attract into your life what you focus on"). This is not how the real universe works. But you know what ac...

Eight ways you can get more enjoyment from the same activity

February 7, 2021

A. FOCUS 1. Attention: focus on every detail of the experience much more intently than normal. Ex: with each bite, notice as much as you can about the flavor and texture Ex: try to hear every distinct instrument in the music as it comes in and fades out 2. Savoring: try to extend and enhance enjoyable moments by using "metacognition" - become aware of how much you're enjoying the thing and how great you feel it is, even as you're experiencing it. Ex: rem...

The Tocayo Technique to remember the name of a person you just met

August 7, 2018

Photo by Nikola Johnny Mirkovic on Unsplash

Written: August 7, 2018 | Released: July 30, 2021 Do you struggle to remember people's names after you meet them? Do you have a penchant for weird tricks? If you answered "yes" to those questions, you're a great candidate to use my three-part weird trick to remember people's names. I call it the "Tocayo Technique." I find it very effective, though unfortunately, I still don't have a habit of using it as often as I should. Step 1: Intention - before the person tells you their n...