Robert Greene argues that mastery requires shutting out distractions, a skill that separates figures like Leonardo da Vinci and Steve Jobs from everyone else. He recommends turning off your phone, logging out of email, and closing browsers to create what he calls a hermetic cocoon for deep work. In an age of unprecedented information access, laser focus becomes your competitive advantage.
Chapters
Good morning, Believe Nation!
Today's message is shut out the distractions. Over to you, Robert Greene.
There's differences and then there's, there's not differences. So, um, you know, the brain is the same The brain evolved over the course of millions of years. So I try to make the point that, you know, what da Vinci was going through, the process is, is a template there, and it's the same because our brains haven't really changed in an evolutionary sense in 400 or 500 years. On the other hand, the circumstances are different, and people now live in a world where there's many more distractions. So it's harder to do that kind of focus that I was mentioning. So in some ways it's a little bit harder. And the people that I've interviewed are really good at shutting out all of the distractions of the world. That's sort of what separates them. Every single one of them. Paul Graham, you know Paul Graham? Paul doesn't have a smartphone. He doesn't spend time on the internet. He's extremely focused. The woman Yuki Matsuoka, she does all of her writing with a pen and paper. She's not sitting there day in and day out on the computer checking her Facebook or Twitter page or whatever. I could go through all of them that way. Steve Jobs is sort of the ultimate icon of mastery of our era. And he said, "The only thing that differentiated me from everyone else was my level of focus." I could take a problem and I could focus on it and burrow into it, and everybody else was so distracted. He knew how to close his door, get away from his wife, his kids, everyone, and just focus. So the— all of these people have to overcome the intense distractions in our world, and they're able to do it. On the other hand, what you can get with a click on the internet, with a Google search, compared to what Da Vinci had to do, or a scientist in the 19th or 20th century, is absolutely astounding. So what you have at your fingertips, the knowledge, the things that you can connect and learn about, the potential for learning skills is out of this world. So if you're able to overcome the distracting elements that are, my girlfriend and I compare it to if you ever watch a basketball game and you see the opposing team shooting a free throw And everyone behind him in the stands are all going like this with those big, you know, trying to distract him. There's like hundreds of people. That's what the world is like now. You've got thousands of people waving those things. You've got so many distractions. If you're able to overcome that and be a person that can focus, you have this like wealth of information and knowledge and ability to acquire skills that nobody 100 years ago, 20 years ago could dream about.
So what do you think?
I think it's a really great topic. It's super important for all of us entrepreneurs because I mean, I can relate in my life. I had this productivity peak where I couldn't— like it was a plateau actually, where I was just getting enough stuff done but not enough to get to the next level. And I consulted with a few books and with Evan, gave me some productivity tips. And I learned that when I really want to get stuff done, I got to shut the phone off, log out of my email accounts, shut down every browser, every program that I don't need to use if I'm using the computer, and just really just go into like my own little hermetical frickin' cocoon. No? Hermetic cocoon. And just focus, single task, focus on the one thing you need to do, shut everything down, and I find that way in the span of a few hours, just focused, dedicated on whatever it is I'm doing, I can get so much done in just a few hours where normally would have taken me a whole day from or maybe 2 or 3 of multitasking to get the same stuff done. And just the kind of joy you get out of single-tasking when everything's shut down, you just feel so great. It just feels really good.
I think you should get a t-shirt, the hermetic— I mean, a hermetic cocoon.
Hermetic cocoon.
You just read a book about this, right?
Your One Thing.
Your One Thing, OK.
Your One Thing. Your One Thing is a really great book by Gary Keller, basically about focusing. Single-task focusing, laser beam focus, and shutting the distractions is a part of it. Really great book, really great for entrepreneurs, especially if you want to get to the next level.
I love the message. It's one I can relate to. I used to be the guy who was always responsive and always playing by other people's agendas. I was the guy who would respond to an email within like 60 seconds. You know, I used Outlook back then. I had Outlook open all the time. Something came in, boom, instant reply. And people say, "Wow, you responded so quickly, thank you so much." And I used to pride myself on that, but then I realized that that behavior was holding me back from doing anything big, anything great. Because if you're focused on something creative, you're trying to write a book, you're trying to create videos, you're trying to do something bigger picture, you need the freedom and the space just in your head to be able to focus on that task. And if you're constantly every 30 seconds being pinged by an email or a tweet or Facebook update, then you're never actually going to get the big stuff done. I went now the opposite, right? Like, I check email once a day for my team and every couple of days for general public. You know, I don't have a cell phone. I don't use a phone. It's other people's agenda for your time. So kind of like I might be in the cocoon more than you on that one. Yeah, for sure. That's like controversial ideas, but it helps me focus on what I'm working on at that moment. Right. And at first my wife thought, you don't have a cell phone, how am I going to reach you? You know, you gotta get one. But now she's actually happy because when I'm with her, I'm with her. I'm not checking my email and checking status updates and, you know, how many people are out on a date and they're just buried in their phones. And so when I'm doing video, I'm doing video. When I'm with my son, I'm with my son. When I'm with my wife, I'm with my wife. When I'm focused on my business, I'm focused on my business. And that helps me be great in all of those areas at that time instead of being mediocre at everything. At once.
So the question of the day today is, what are you gonna do to get your laser focus? I like it.
Leave in the comments below, we'll join the discussion. Thank you so much for watching, have an amazing day, continue to believe, and we'll see you again tomorrow morning for another shot of espresso. So the question of the day today is, how are you gonna— I don't know, how am I gonna—
