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Phone Addiction Scientist: Doing This Gives You An Hour Back Every Day! | Dr Sahar Yousef
Are you trapped in a cycle of digital distraction, and brain fog despite working harder than ever? Dr. Sahar Yousef reveals how to take back control of your attention, stop digital addiction, and unlock your true cognitive potential.
Dr. Sahar Yousef is a renowned cognitive neuroscientist, professor at UC Berkeley, and the founder of the Becoming Superhuman Lab. She specializes in cognitive neuroplasticity, human performance, and optimizing the biological operating systems of the brain. Her ground-breaking research focuses on building practical frameworks that help high-performers achieve extreme focus, strategic automaticity, and deep workflow mastery without burning out.
Join Steven and Dr Sahar Yousef for the first ever live streamed DOAC Workshop, and apply now at https://doacworkshops.com/.
In this episode, she explains:
- The Attention Trap: Technology platforms are deliberately engineered by behavioral neuroscientists to maximize engagement and exploit your brain's survival wiring rather than support your productivity.
- The Grayscale Hack: Switching your phone's color to grayscale significantly reduces neurological stimulation and can instantly reclaim hours of your scrolling every single week.
- The Focus Sprint: Breaking your major goals down into granular execution lists with strict time blocking allows you to leverage anticipatory brain networks and double your output.
- The Myth of Multitasking: Task-switching creates severe attentional baggage that drains your cognitive energy and makes you up to 60% slower than monotasking.
- The Power of Boredom: Why allowing your mind to wander is the vital mechanism that activates neural network problem-solving and produces your best creative insights.
Chapters
- 00:00:00 Intro
- 00:02:27 What's Holding Us Back Today?
- 00:06:48 Why Should We Listen To You?
- 00:08:20 What's Stopping Us From Being Productive?
- 00:12:14 The Productivity Toolkit
- 00:14:17 Why Is Focus Essential For Your Health?
- 00:17:34 Does Productivity Software Actually Work?
- 00:21:50 Why Do We Feel Pressured To Reply Instantly?
- 00:24:58 How To Separate Signal From Noise
- 00:27:20 Why The Modern World Fights Our Biology
- 00:29:11 How To Stop Avoiding Discomfort
- 00:32:40 How Big Tech Hijacks Your Brain
- 00:43:52 How To Break Phone Addiction
- 00:53:17 Ads
- 00:55:19 The Focus Sprint: How To Double Your Productivity
- 01:00:48 How To Prioritise Tasks: MITs Vs. LITs
- 01:04:29 How To Find Your Goals: Finding Your Everest
- 01:08:42 What Creates True Human Connection?
- 01:13:52 Why Small Steps Work Better
- 01:17:46 How To Avoid Distractions: Should You Work To Music?
- 01:19:58 Do Productivity Timers Actually Work?
- 01:24:50 Why Boredom Is Good For You
- 01:30:49 How To Spark Creative Ideas
- 01:33:17 How To Stop Overthinking And Negative Thoughts
- 01:36:18 Ads
- 01:37:27 How To Find Your Chronotype
- 01:46:11 How Big Tech Manipulates The Public
- 01:51:21 What Tech Companies Hide About AI
- 01:55:44 Why Is Thinking For Yourself Getting Harder?
- 01:59:52 Why Multitasking Doesn't Work
- 02:05:52 How To Become Luckier In Life
Follow Dr. Sahar Yousef:
YouTube - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/1wlOOZy
Instagram - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/8bkc1Uq
LinkedIn - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/9DlHLga
TikTok - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/FyYDi72
Facebook - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/1zDXa74
Go to MMM Institute - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/t7Wy1O to take the Digital Dependence Index, test your attention span, and more. You will get your personal results and see how you compare to others, while contributing to global open research.
Go to MyChronotype - https://link.thediaryofaceo.com/51zrfNX to take the chronotype assessment for free use the code: DOAC
Independent Fact Check: https://stevenbartlett.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/DOAC-Dr-Sahar-Yousef-Independent-Research-Further-Reading.pdf
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