Stop Phone Scrolling Before Bed & Do This Instead | Cal Newport
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful video script, the host addresses the common issue of feeling exhausted despite adequate sleep, suggesting that screen time before bed may be a culprit. He recommends avoiding attention-grabbing platforms and instead watching content on subscription-based services to help the brain wind down. Additionally, he discusses the importance of organizational systems to reduce mental fatigue and improve sleep quality. The script also tackles the stress of unstructured evenings, advocating for a clear separation between work and leisure, and the creation of a rejuvenating, albeit less structured, plan for personal time.
Takeaways
- 😴 Getting 8 hours of sleep is not always enough; mental fatigue and context shifting can also lead to tiredness throughout the day.
- 🚫 Limiting screen time before bed is crucial for good sleep hygiene; avoid platforms designed to maximize engagement like YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.
- 🛑 Engaging content near bedtime can be disruptive; opt for less stimulating shows or content that doesn't rely on viewer engagement for revenue.
- 🧠 Having a clear plan for the day can help reduce stress and improve sleep; ensure tasks and responsibilities are captured and reviewed regularly.
- 🔄 Multiscale planning helps in organizing work and reducing the mental load, which in turn can improve sleep quality.
- 🛌 A good shutdown routine at the end of the day can signal to the brain that it's time to rest, aiding in better sleep.
- 🎯 For non-work evenings, having a sketched plan for rejuvenating and meaningful activities can reduce stress and promote relaxation.
- 📚 Reading, exercising, and spending quality time with family are examples of activities that can be part of a non-work evening plan.
- 🤔 The feeling of wasting time during the evening can be addressed by planning activities that are separate from work and contribute to personal growth or enjoyment.
- 🧘♂️ Boredom is a natural human emotion that can drive us to seek out new activities or ideas, and it's not necessarily a negative state.
- 🌙 The key to unwinding after a busy workday is not to do nothing, but to do things that are meaningful and enjoyable outside the context of work.
Q & A
Why does Joel feel constantly exhausted despite getting the recommended 8 hours of sleep?
-Joel may be experiencing mental fatigue rather than physical tiredness, possibly due to excessive context shifting or screen time before bed, which can disrupt sleep quality.
What is the irony mentioned in the script about watching videos on reducing screen time before bed?
-The irony is that Joel might be staying up late watching videos about reducing screen time, which could be contributing to his sleep issues.
What advice is given to reduce screen time before bed?
-Avoid using apps that are designed to keep you engaged for longer periods, such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok, and consider watching content on platforms that do not rely on engagement for revenue.
What is the difference between attention-engineered services and subscription-based streaming services in terms of their impact on sleep?
-Attention-engineered services press buttons within your brain to keep you engaged and emotionally aroused, which is not conducive to sleep. Subscription-based services, while still engaging, do not rely on keeping you on the platform for extended periods to make money.
How can having a clear separation between work and non-work help with stress and sleep?
-A clear shutdown routine helps the mind transition from a productivity mindset to a relaxation mindset, reducing the stress associated with feeling unproductive during non-work hours.
What is the role of multiscale planning in managing stress and improving sleep?
-Multiscale planning, which includes having a plan for the season, week, and day, helps in organizing tasks and reducing the mental load, making it easier for the brain to relax and fall asleep.
Why is having a plan for non-work time important for people who are organized and productive?
-Having a plan for non-work time helps maintain a sense of purpose and engagement without the stress associated with work, allowing for meaningful and rejuvenating activities.
How can the content of activities during non-work time affect stress levels?
-The content of activities should be varied, interesting, and disconnected from work to provide a sense of fulfillment and relaxation, reducing stress.
What is the significance of 'open loops' in relation to sleep disruption?
-Open loops refer to tasks or responsibilities that are not yet completed or planned, which can keep the brain active and make it difficult to fall asleep.
How can capturing all tasks and responsibilities in a trusted location help with sleep?
-Capturing all tasks in a trusted location ensures that the brain does not have to keep track of them, reducing the mental load and helping with sleep.
What is the importance of having a good shutdown routine at the end of the workday?
-A good shutdown routine helps in reviewing and closing all open loops, providing a sense of completion and allowing the mind to transition smoothly to non-work activities and rest.
Outlines
😴 Addressing Sleep Disruption and Screen Time Habits
The first paragraph discusses the issue of feeling exhausted despite getting enough sleep. The speaker suggests that mental fatigue, rather than physical tiredness, could be the cause and recommends ensuring a less exhausting daily routine. The main focus, however, is on the impact of screen time before bed, particularly with apps designed to engage users for as long as possible. The advice given is to avoid these platforms before sleep and instead opt for content that does not rely on user engagement for revenue, such as subscription-based streaming services. Additionally, the speaker touches on the importance of managing work and mental tasks throughout the day to ensure a clear mind for better sleep quality.
🛑 Balancing Productivity and Leisure Time
In the second paragraph, the speaker addresses the stress associated with unstructured evenings and the desire for constant self-improvement. The advice includes establishing a clear separation between work and non-work time by having a defined shutdown routine. It also suggests that having a plan is essential but emphasizes the importance of creating a plan that is varied, rejuvenating, and enjoyable. The speaker argues against the idea that doing nothing is the solution to stress, instead recommending that one should intentionally plan activities that are meaningful and separate from work to achieve a sense of fulfillment and relaxation.
🤔 Embracing Boredom and the Human Drive for Action
The third paragraph delves into the concept of boredom as a natural human emotion and its role in driving human progress. The speaker explains that humans are evolved to seek out activities and that doing nothing can be stressful for many because it goes against our innate desire for action and engagement. The paragraph also discusses the importance of the content of our activities rather than the planning itself, suggesting that the nature of the work or activity is what causes stress, not the act of doing. The speaker concludes by highlighting the evolutionary benefits of boredom and the need to find a balance between structured plans and the freedom to explore and create.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sleep Hygiene
💡Screen Time
💡Mental Fatigue
💡Engagement
💡Customer Experience
💡Open Loops
💡Multiscale Planning
💡Shutdown Routine
💡Context Shifting
💡Productivity
💡Boredom
Highlights
Joel's struggle with feeling exhausted despite getting 8 hours of sleep and the potential impact of screen time before bed.
The importance of limiting screen time before bed and the irony of watching videos about reducing screen time.
The concept of 'highly salient' content and its negative impact on sleep quality.
The distinction between attention-engineered platforms and subscription-based streaming services in terms of sleep hygiene.
The role of mental fatigue and context shifting in contributing to daytime tiredness.
Strategies for reducing screen time before bed, including shifting to less emotionally arousing content.
The impact of open loops and mental tasks on the ability to fall asleep.
The benefits of using organizational systems like Notion for capturing tasks and reducing mental load before sleep.
The necessity of a good shutdown routine to transition from work to rest effectively.
JJ's dilemma of feeling stressed during evenings due to the desire for constant self-improvement.
The challenge of balancing productivity with leisure time and the stress associated with unstructured time.
The recommendation for clear separation between work and non-work activities to reduce evening stress.
The overrated nature of having a plan and the importance of sketching a plan that is rejuvenating and varied.
The idea that doing 'nothing' can be stressful for many people, especially those who are organized.
The evolutionary perspective on boredom and its role in driving human progress and innovation.
The importance of making intentional use of time during non-work hours that is separate from productivity goals.
The discussion on the reasonableness of activities and their demands as the primary source of stress, not the planning itself.
Transcripts
from Joel I'm getting the recommended 8
hours of sleep every night but
constantly feel exhausted both when I
wake up and throughout the day I've been
watching videos on the importance of
limiting screen time before bed and I
think I may be a culprit uh for my bad
sleep do you have any advice on ways to
reduce screen time before bed as I find
it very addicting and hard to break that
habit I love the irony of watching
videos about how to reduce screen time I
imagine him Joel up late late into the
night watching videos about how to not
watch videos before
bed all sorts of contradictions and
irony in the online productivity space
as the channels are exactly the causes
of productivity issues in the first
place um all right Joel a couple things
here I mean first of all of course if
you're tired throughout the day and
you're getting enough sleep if you
actually are getting enough sleep go
back to the opening segment of the show
make sure that you're not excessively
contact shifting some of that tiredness
may actually be mental fatigue and not
actual um rundown tiredness so you want
to just set up your day to be less
unnecessarily exhausting but if we're
going to focus specifically on this
issue of uh your sleep being
disrupted I mean I agree that good sleep
hygiene can
help and uh going on to I think the
right way to think about it is highly
Salient highly distracting highly
arousing content should not be consumed
near bed so anything where it's coming
through an app that makes money by how
much time you look at it avoiding that I
think is important so you should not go
on YouTube before bed you should not go
onto Instagram or Twitter or Tik Tok
anything that's attention
engineered uh is is going to be a
problem because again these Services
those Services work Services you don't
pay to use work by getting you to look
at the service longer so they're going
to be pressing buttons within your brain
to get a response that makes you very
engaged and aroused emotionally and
wanting to actually come back and keep
watching more that's not a great state
to be in if you want to go to bed
so if you're going to be looking at a
screen before bed a general rule of
thumb here is look at things where they
don't make money off of you spending
more time on it so if there's a the
office on peacock like I watch an
episode or two of the office because
it's it's comforting and it's dumb
that's going to have much less of a
negative impact right these streaming
services make money by you paying a
subscription fee so they want to make
sure there's stuff on there you like but
they don't particularly care if you
binge for seven hours in a row or not
they're just here's we have a bunch of
shows we think you'll like so there's a
real difference they both seem like
screens but you know watching a
comforting somewhat boring show could
actually help your brain calm down in a
way that watching Tik Tok videos or
following YouTube recommendations might
actually get your brain fired up so the
intent of the platform is it an
engagement or is it customer experience
makes a difference on how it's going to
affect your
sleep the other thing I want to throw in
here the sort of the curveball is
another common sleep disruptor it's not
necessarily what you do right before bed
but what's happening inside your
head if your head is keeping track of a
lot of open Loops to use a term from
David Allen tasks that you're
responsible for projects you need to
work on ideas that might lead to cool
opportunities if you have a lot of these
things that exist primarily in your
head and if you forget about them it's
going to be a problem your brain is
going to have a hard time falling asleep
because it feels like the juggler where
the things is juggling are very uh
fragile and valuable and want to drop
anything so it has to keep
moving so ironically one of the biggest
things you can do to help you sleep at
night is be better about how you control
your work during the day being better
about how you shut down your work at the
end of the day organizational systems
that are built around Notions like full
uh full capture and planning so every
task that you need to do that you've
committed to is captured in a trusted
location that you review regularly so
your brain doesn't have to keep track of
it makes a huge difference for your
sleep multiscale planning I have a plan
for my season which gets turned into
plans for my week which gets turned into
plans for my day so that my brain
doesn't have to just keep thinking hey
what am I working on what should I be
working on should I be thinking more
about this or that helps you
sleep having uh in general a good
shutdown routine okay the day is over
before I shut down work let me check all
of the inboxes my email my plan making
sure that everything uh has a place
anything that came up has been written
down I know what's happening tomorrow
there's nothing there's nothing I need
to be keeping track of we have a good
plan everything's captured great let me
now check that shutdown complete
checkbox in my time block planner or
have a ritual or phrase I say and so
later if my mind starts to get
ruminative about work I can say no no no
I checked that checkbox in my time block
planner I said that phrase that means I
successfully reviewed and shut down all
open Loops I don't have to worry about
things till tomorrow that makes a big
difference for
sleep all right right so to summarize we
have a couple different things going on
here be careful about what screens you
expose yourself to before bed it's
probably going to be easier if you have
a bedtime screen Habit to just change
what you look at than it will be to just
cold turkey stop looking at a screen
before bed just shift your screens the
things that's not emotionally Salient or
emotionally arousing and then care a lot
about how you organize your work open
loops shutdowns and multiscale planning
and finally uh make sure that some of
your daytime exhaustion is not actually
from Context shifting as opposed to
sleep disruption those are my three
points Joel I think all three of those
things combined will make a
difference I'm noticing Jesse we got not
only do we have a bunch of J names in a
row but the next name is literally
JJ it's as if we go through our
questions alphabetically I like it
unfortunately it's the last the J names
I wish we had more but anyways let's get
after John and Joel let's get rolling
with what JJ has to ask us yep all so J
JJ has to say I'm constantly feeling
stressed during the evenings when I'm
not at work because I feel like I'm
wasting time I want to constantly be
improving myself but I also want to take
time to do fun things video games see
friends Etc what should I do right so
this could be an issue for people who uh
care a lot about productivity r large is
evenings can be
stressful it could be stressful because
if you're not doing uh anything
structured you feel just
unnerved you practice multiscale
planning your workday is time block
planned it's connected to a weekly plan
and a seasonal plan and it can feel
unnerving to be just
around uh feel unproductive but then
you're worried about like what do I want
to do is if I treat my day like my work
day that's exhausting because it's also
really hard to be very structured during
the work day and so you can be in a
dilemma like JJ is in as
well so the two things I recommend in
this situation is one clear separation
between work and non-w work okay okay so
clear shutdown
routine we just talked about this in the
answer that I gave to Joel in the
previous question so you really can shut
down work that'll help your mind leave
the work productivity mindset of we are
constantly trying to keep track of
what's going on and making sure
nothing's being misplaced and we're
making good use of your time you want to
clear
shutdown so your mindset can shift but
the second thing I would advise is that
especially if you're an organized
person having plan is
overrated we we often tell ourselves
that the solution to maybe the
exhaustion we feel from work is
nothingness the goal is if I could just
have nothing to do then no plan no
intention that will be the opposite of
being having too much to do and I'm
going to find relaxation and
Rejuvenation actually does not work that
way for a lot of people especially if
you're organized having nothing to do
having no plan uh is
stressful and you get that unnerving
feeling that you talk about so what's
the right thing to do sketch a plan but
make sure that plan is vared and
rejuvenating and
interesting the problem that people have
what what stresses us out about work is
not the fact that we have things to do
it's not the fact that we have a plan
it's just that we have too many things
to switch back and forth behind it's
because the work is hard the work is
stressful it's not the plan itself it's
what the plan is actually is in the plan
work is
hard you sketch a plan after you're shut
down it shouldn't be a detailed time
block plan be like yeah I want to get a
reading session in and work out and then
um why don't we watch this show with the
kids that I've been reading about I
think it's going to be special and I
want to make sure that you know I have a
um go for a walk before we get ready for
bed you s sketch a plan of things that
are meaningful and useful for the family
and useful for yourself and varied and
rejuvenating and it's not a tight
minute-by-minute plan you're actually
going to feel much better about that so
the again the key to get away from the
stress of a uh busy workday is not to
significantly reduce what you do it's
not to significantly reduce the idea of
having a plan it's to make the things
you do much better to make the things
that you've planned to do fun or
interesting or useful to the world
beyond the world of work and completely
unconnected so shut down work shift to
nonwork mode but then say I want to hit
the pillow proud tonight like what do I
want to do with my time that makes this
an evening that I'm proud of and it has
nothing to do with productivity it's not
how do I achieve this or get ahead of
this it's like how do I like get time to
read this book I really like how do I
get some one-on-one time with like my
oldest son who I haven't seen
recently you want to make intentional
use of your time which is separate from
some notion of optimizing time or
maximizing output so doing little can be
stressful I mean that's the there's so
many books Jesse there's a while where
do nothing how to do nothing The Art of
Doing Nothing it's this whole notion of
what we need to do is nothing doing
nothing stresses a lot of people out
yeah like humans don't like to do
nothing
yeah because people are like really
afraid of being bored yeah and boredom
is actually a useful human emotion right
yeah like why do we feel such a strong
distasteful uh emotional reaction that
doing nothing is because we're evolved
to actually want to be doing things
that's what drives humans to unlike a
cat who's completely happy if I can lay
in the Sun for seven hours and I'm a cat
it's a good day right cats don't get
bored humans do but that is the drive
that's like okay well what else are we
going to do well I don't know let's
invent fire or organize a political
system or invent religion like the
boredom is part of what drove humans to
take advantage of this larger brain that
we grew yeah so you know we shouldn't
boredom is important indicator the key
is I mean again people are not stressed
out by doing things they're stressed out
by what they're doing yeah the
reasonableness of what they're doing
whether they have enough time to do it
the the actual demands of the work
they're doing that's what's stressful
not the doing itself I mean you can stop
your work and be reading and Woodworking
and you know movies watching sport like
all sorts of things you can do which are
things but they're very different than
work it's really the content of activity
not so much the uh planning around
activity planning itself is not too
stressful yeah actually Lex had um yal
Harari on like a couple weeks ago and I
listened to that they were talking about
like Civilization and boredom and stuff
oh interesting yeah youall is real big
on um the concept the cognitive
conceptual development in human
evolution that just unlocked everything
mhm yeah I'll listen to that one yeah
yeah it was just before the Isaac in one
I think um I saw someone the other day
attribute sapiens to me that's pretty
good they said cal newport's book sa
like millions and millions of copies
yeah I was like I like that I suppose I
mean it's probably bad news for you Val
Harari but I guess good news for me I
like I'll take it I'll take it hey if
you like this video I think you'll
really like this one as well check it
out
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