Losing your focus is a thermodynamic reality. Your nervous system pays for every piece of information you encounter in real biochemical currency. Every notification, headline, and micro-decision redirects roughly 40 joules of glucose from long-term memory consolidation toward immediate threat scanning. Picture this: when this happens 120 times a day,
You made dinner and the busiest parts of your day are over. You get ready to settle down. From the outside, everything looks calm and relaxed, but you feel restless in a way that does not quite make sense. You pick up your phone and start scrolling to relax. Yet,
Most of the advice we hear today is about how to keep up. We are told how to use new tools to work faster, how to be more productive, and how to stay ahead of the curve. But for many of us, the goal isn't to win a
In the age of AI and social media algorithms, we are facing a new kind of exhaustion. It is not the physical tiredness that comes after a long walk. It is a specific type of mental dimming. This happens because your attention is being treated as a product. Algorithms are
When you feel anxious during quiet moments, a simple process might be at work. Your brain is trying to hold too many things at the same time. Unfinished tasks, unread messages, unresolved decisions—they all linger in your awareness. Your mind keeps them active to prevent forgetting anything important. But
We often treat curiosity like a personality trait—something you’re either born with or you aren’t. Let's think of curiosity this way: not as a character trait, but a physiological state. When your attention is pressured, curiosity collapses. When your attention settles, curiosity returns on its
Think of attention like a lake. When the surface is calm, you can see clearly to the bottom. Depth is visible. Direction is obvious. You know exactly where you are. Modern digital life turns that lake into constant chop. Notifications are pebbles. Open tabs are ripples. Unfinished conversations are waves
Or why "lucky" people notice things others don’t. Some people seem to spot opportunities early. They hear the one sentence in a meeting that actually matters. They sense a shift in the market before it becomes a headline. They move first—and when they succeed, everyone else
You read something meaningful. You have a good conversation. You sit through a meeting that matters. And later, it’s gone. Not emotionally. But informationally. You remember that it happened, but not exactly what was said or why it changed your mind. Decisions might feel harder because the past feels
Have you ever noticed that even after you’ve finally sat down to rest, you don't actually feel rested? You’ve closed the laptop, walked away from the desk, and paused your notifications—but your body is still braced as if the task never ended. This is because
AI companionship is no longer science fiction. It is the rising reality of our world. These systems are designed to be "perfect" partners. They listen without judgment. They respond instantly. They never grow tired, distracted, or impatient. At first, it feels transformative. It offers a sense of calm
Overthinking does not always show up as big worry. More often, it shows up in small moments. You sit down to send a quick email. It should take thirty seconds. Instead, you reread it several times. You change a word, undo it, imagine how it might be received, then pause
Energy
It’s Not You, It’s the Energetic Overhead It is a common misinterpretation in our modern, high-speed world: the assumption that a lack of action is a lack of character. When the spark for a project fades or the simple act of starting feels insurmountable, we conclude we'
AI
We have been conditioned to believe that "effortless" is the ultimate goal of technology. We want AI to summarize the meetings we missed, draft the emails we dread, and organize the chaos of our digital lives with a single prompt. We call this progress. But there is a
Energy
Overthinking rarely starts because something goes wrong. It starts because something keeps going. Thoughts loop when attention does not get a chance to settle. The mind stays active, scanning, reviewing, and replaying, even when there is nothing immediate to solve. This can feel confusing, especially when overthinking appears during quiet
Energy
You feel a kind of exhaustion that sleep does not fix. It’s that deep cognitive strain of being pulled in a dozen directions by notifications, AI-generated emails, and a never-ending feed of "content." For years, we’ve been told this is a problem of willpower or discipline.
Reality
Why your mind cannot settle, even when your life finally slows down There is a strange moment that happens to almost everyone now. You clear the evening, silence your phone, sit down on the couch, and for the first time all day there is nothing you need to do. Your
Energy
When the mind keeps running despite exhaustion, rest is not doing what it is meant to do. Something in the system has not had space to settle. By “system,” this means the combined workings of attention, body, and mind. It includes how alert you are, how much information you are
Energy
If you feel mentally drained after a day of notifications, scrolling, and constant task switching—even when nothing felt especially difficult—there’s a reason. And it isn’t a lack of discipline, motivation, or willpower. Your brain isn’t failing. It’s being overloaded. Recent neuroscience research shows something
Reality
One thought pops, then another, then another. You overthink trivial stuff. Days feel hard and unproductive. Nothing sticks long enough to feel satisfying. It’s what happens when your attention stays in motion instead of settling. Modern life constantly pulls at you. And your brain learns from repetition. When it’
Energy
In the last essay, I shared a simple takeaway: Most of us don’t need more motivation, gratitude, or discipline. We need less noise. So here’s a simple, tangible Subtraction Menu you can use for inspiration. One small removal = a measurable drop in mental noise. Pick one item from
Podcast
Episode 1: The Physics of AttentionWhy your mind feels loud in the age of algorithms. Your attention isn’t mental “effort”—it’s measurable energetic work.The Focused HumanSubstack A podcast-style convo to getting a clear mind in an AI-driven, algorithm-shaped world. Each episode reveals why modern life overloads your
Reality
MIT just confirmed that attention isn’t passive. The brain reaches backward into itself and reshapes what you see based on your internal energy state. That’s EIH in action: energy organizes information and builds the reality you live in. Prefrontal cortex reaches back into the brain to shape how
Energy
Here’s a simple way to map your day as an energy waveform so you can schedule work where your mind is naturally strongest and direct your attention. This is a bit of homework, but if you want to become more conscious where and how you invest your attention, this