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With the continuous updates made by social networks, it’s no surprise the decline in attention span for online users. Reels, TikTok videos, and short video clips are the trend now, and reading text is more like a chore in this digital age. As someone who has suffered from a short attention span, read on to discover the ways to build yours back.
As a person with less than 9 seconds attention span, the minute I see a post with too much text jumbled or a video longer than 30 seconds…I’m out. Watching TikTok videos and Instagram reels became a habit, as it is less than 35 seconds of recording. But with the new increase in video clip length, the time spent online reduced and made it easier for me to sift what is worth watching.
Yet I enjoy reading and still find ways to acquire more knowledge through courses, which I might add are mostly in long video formats. You might ask how I still read with an attention span so short. I’ll show you how I do it in these 4 different ways:
1. Use negative words positively
The use of positive words is great, but have you ever tried using words considered negative in a positive way? Though this might seem counterproductive people tend to react quickly to negative words faster.
Threat works faster than encouragements.
Remember a time when you were scrolling through social media and saw words like “Don’t”, “Avoid”, and “Stop this”, these words tend to make the brain pause for a second. While words like “Do these”, “use this”, and “Try this” are just scrolled past because the brain has already registered that this would be long and tiresome to absorb.
This is where the idea of using negative words positively came to play, instead of using positive prompts like “Read this chapter so that you can reduce your workload”
Try this instead “If you don’t read this chapter, you’re going to get dumber than jane doe” or “You’ll prove you’re lazy if you don’t finish this chapter”.
Remember, everyone wants to be a hero in her own story, but when building the hero complex fails, try building a villain, that would prompt the “hero” in you to outshine the villain.
2. Start with something you enjoy
Most times when we want to read, we start with it immediately but end up losing interest before getting halfway.
Instead of picking up a book that you have to read but aren’t interested in, try watching a favorite movie or picking a novel that you enjoy to release the “enjoyment hormones” or dopamine.
If it’s a movie, allot 15 minutes to get pumped or for a novel, allot 30 minutes to get ready. I use a novel instead in order not to get immersed in the movie.
Make sure your timer is handy, immediately after the time is up, quickly pick up the text or course and get studying.
It’s okay to feel bored along the line, just repeat the above, pick the novel back but this time reduce the time by half, and once the time is up, go back to your task.
3. Practice the “suffer now, enjoy later” mantra
If you feel that doing the stuff you enjoy first might be counterproductive, just switch it by delaying gratification.
Remember that nothing is built if nothing is invested, so self-discipline is a trait that MUST be groomed for this to work out.
The mantra is just like the name, but to put it simply, it means getting the hard things done now to make time out for pleasure later.
Here, you suffer now by doing what needs to be done e.g., study a module of your course, then enjoy later with a reward e.g. Play my favorite wordplay game for 15 minutes or a stroll to the park
A simple way to implement this is for every chapter you can study extensively, reward yourself.
4. Apply the pirate’s treasure hunting technique to each task
The deal to this is to seek the treasure(s) hidden in each video course or chapter of a text.
An easy way to do this is when you pick up your book and envision yourself as a pirate seeking treasures.
Now this “treasure” is the important message or lesson you find in the chapter. Note that this treasure might be more than one, and that’s okay. Just find the treasure(s).
Read until you get to the treasure or the vital information that the author is trying to pass. When you’ve gotten this treasure, take a break and repeat the cycle. Read until you find the message the author is trying to pass across, take a break, and do it again. Before you know it, you’ve covered more than you expected.
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