What are the fundamental elements of well-being mentioned in the class?

The fundamentals include sleep, exercise, and light, with emphasis on sufficient sleep for college students.

Why is it important to control your attention according to the speaker?

Controlling attention is crucial because constant interruptions hinder the ability to focus and achieve success.

What book is recommended in the flourishing class?

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear is recommended for understanding the importance of systems over goals.

How does social media negatively impact productivity?

Social media can consume hours of attention daily, leaving little time for productive activities.

What does the speaker suggest doing with notifications and social media apps?

The speaker suggests turning off notifications and moving social media from phones to computers or eliminating it entirely.

What's an observed behavior among Gen Z regarding interruptions?

Gen Z often perceives constant interruptions as normal and may not recognize the associated cost.

How can one start changing their habits effectively?

By focusing on consistent morning and evening routines and gradually adjusting behaviors towards better habits.

Why does the speaker find it important to disconnect while in the shower?

Disconnecting, especially in the shower, allows for undistracted thought and creativity.

One Key Technique for a Flourishing Life | Jonathan Haidt at NYU

00:03:18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ub5z313oeU

Summary

TLDRIn the talk, the speaker shares wisdom from a flourishing class aimed at improving well-being and success, particularly for young adults. They emphasize foundational habits such as getting enough sleep, exercise, and exposure to natural light. A strong focus is placed on managing personal attention and minimizing interruptions, notably from social media and notifications. The course encourages building effective systems over merely setting goals and recommends the book "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. A significant insight is the detrimental impact of constant digital interruptions, which can hinder deep thinking and creative processes. The speaker suggests transitioning social media use from phones to computers, or eliminating it entirely, to regain focus. The ultimate goal is for individuals to reclaim their attention to enhance productivity and well-being.

Takeaways

🛌 Prioritize sufficient sleep to improve overall well-being.
📚 Build systems, not just goals, for sustainable success.
🔕 Minimize digital interruptions to regain focus.
🏃‍♀️ Regular exercise and exposure to light are crucial.
💭 Allow time for reflection and daydreaming.
🤳 Suggest moving social media from phones to computers.
📵 Turn off unnecessary notifications.
🛁 Embrace undistracted moments, like in the shower, for creativity.
🧠 Control your attention to boost achievements.
⌛ Establish consistent morning and evening routines.

Timeline

00:00:00 - 00:03:18
The speaker discusses the fundamentals of biological well-being in their course, emphasizing the importance of sleep, exercise, and light, particularly for college students who often lack sufficient sleep. They mention working on morning and evening routines through habit building, as inspired by James Clear's book, Atomic Habits. A critical focus is on helping individuals, especially undergrads and grad students, regain control of their attention, as excessive social media usage is detrimental. The speaker emphasizes reducing interruptions and distractions, highlighting how members of Generation Z might be accustomed to constant interferences. They stress the importance of regaining focused time for thinking and creativity, which has been eroded by continuous connectivity and interruptions.

Mind Map

Frequently Asked Question

What are the fundamental elements of well-being mentioned in the class?
The fundamentals include sleep, exercise, and light, with emphasis on sufficient sleep for college students.
Why is it important to control your attention according to the speaker?
Controlling attention is crucial because constant interruptions hinder the ability to focus and achieve success.
What book is recommended in the flourishing class?
"Atomic Habits" by James Clear is recommended for understanding the importance of systems over goals.
How does social media negatively impact productivity?
Social media can consume hours of attention daily, leaving little time for productive activities.
What does the speaker suggest doing with notifications and social media apps?
The speaker suggests turning off notifications and moving social media from phones to computers or eliminating it entirely.
What's an observed behavior among Gen Z regarding interruptions?
Gen Z often perceives constant interruptions as normal and may not recognize the associated cost.
How can one start changing their habits effectively?
By focusing on consistent morning and evening routines and gradually adjusting behaviors towards better habits.
Why does the speaker find it important to disconnect while in the shower?
Disconnecting, especially in the shower, allows for undistracted thought and creativity.

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00:00:00
what are the um um nuggets of wisdom
00:00:03
from your flourishing class that you can
00:00:05
share with everybody that that wasn't in
00:00:07
the class um um what what can we do
00:00:12
today to start uh um bringing this into
00:00:15
our
00:00:17
lives so yeah um so you know so so in
00:00:20
the course we start off with just
00:00:22
fundamentals some basic things about our
00:00:25
biological being that will help
00:00:27
everything else and so it's we look at
00:00:30
at sleep exercise light um we don't
00:00:33
really talk much about nutrition because
00:00:34
I don't know as much about it but you
00:00:36
know for many college students they're
00:00:38
just not sleeping enough and for them
00:00:40
just work on that and that will pay huge
00:00:41
dividends and everything else um so so
00:00:44
let's get some fundamentals right and
00:00:46
then we work on uh your morning routine
00:00:48
and evening routine is it's all about
00:00:50
habits we read uh James clear's book
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Atomic habits which is really great it
00:00:54
helps people to understand you know you
00:00:56
don't rise to the level of your goals
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you fall to the level of your system so
00:00:59
we try to change people's behaviors um
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so that's sort of the big picture what
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we do early but the most important thing
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that we do especially for for well
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undergrads and grad students for people
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in their 20s is um is regain control of
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your attention because as I said before
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in very harsh terms if you don't regain
00:01:16
control of your attention you're not
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going to amount to much in life now
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that's a harsh thing to say but I kind
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of want to show I teach in a business
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school and people are ambitious they
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want to be successful but if you're
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literally giving five hours a day to
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social media that's pretty much it
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there's really not much left um so I
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really work on them with the students to
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shut off almost all notifications to I
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encourage them to move social media off
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their phone onto their computer and then
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maybe off their computer entirely if
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they can so um so that that's what I
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really because what I'm shocked to
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discover is that uh is that members of
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gen Z especially they don't seem to
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understand that there's a cost to being
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interrupted because they've been
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interrupted every 30 seconds for their
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entire life so they that's just normal
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be interrupted constantly by pings and
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notifications and um and and you can
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never if you've you know in the extreme
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you've never really had 20 minutes to
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daydream or think through something I'm
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told actually tell me if this is trueu
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somebody told me that now that iPhones
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are waterproof some people take them
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into the shower is that true is that
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raise your hand if raise your hand if
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you know people who take their phone
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into the shower okay look at the look
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look around very young people it's all
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undergrads no no member of Gen X or
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older would ever take their phone into
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the shower okay but now that you've
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suggested it I mean I see the logic I
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yeah except for many of us our best
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ideas literally come in the shower
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because you know you need like you focus
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on something and then you need like a
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diff you know just let your mind wander
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and so you know imagine the equivalent
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if you never even have time in the
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shower or time walking through a park
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imagine you never had time to think um
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and that I think is what has happened to
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a lot of young people and so I really
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work hard on that to regain your
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attention if you have that um and then
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you can do a lot you can do a lot more
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but if you don't have that there's not
00:03:02
much you can do really
00:03:05
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