Focus Bear: The Game-Changer for Distraction Management and Habit Formation with Jeremy Nagel

Jeremy: [00:00:00] How do you start your day when the alarm goes off? Are you grabbing your phone in search of that early morning dopamine hit from your email and social media accounts.

Zach: Or are you springing into action with a well-planned morning routine that sets you up for success Today we'll share what we do that helps us focus on what matters most and how an app that includes an anti to-do list may be the tool you need to do the same.

Jeremy: Zach, your early morning routine is a frequent topic of conversation on the show. We've never fully dissected it. We tend to focus on the fact that the alarm goes off at the four, God awful, 30 in the morning. I don't know how you do that. , I've done five o'clock, four 30 seems like a [00:01:00] nightmare, but I wanna get into morning routines because there's so much talk about them in this space.

And mine has had to fluctuate considerably for summer as opposed to what it's like during the school year with managing kids and their schedules. So I just figured this might be a good opportunity for both of us to sort of share what works for us and how we manage to make that morning routine happen every day as much as possible.

Zach: So I never actually thought I would hear myself say this, but like, as I'm about to say it, this reminds me of so many talks and books and things that I have read about morning routines. , my morning routine actually starts the night before getting to bed at a reasonable time. And for me, that's like, I try and go upstairs at like eight 30 and then I'll fall asleep by 10 30.

Which, you know, like I sit in bed and read and things like that. But yeah, the alarm goes off at four 30. Usually I wake up at like 4 25 ish and like roll over and go, oh crap. It's, the alarm's about to go off. get up and I just kind of, not really awake or anything like [00:02:00] that. I just, , brush my teeth, splash water in my face, put my contacts in, put my gym clothes on, drive to the gym, and then the gym routine is what fully wakes me up. Like, I walk into the gym and I don't talk to anyone really for the most part. Like, I'll say hi, and if anyone does walk over to talk to me, I try and walk away from them 'cause I don't wanna talk. Um, but then after the workout, I'm great. I, I'm, I'm fully awake and I'll talk to anyone.

, and I like to do that first thing in the morning just because a, , moving my body first thing in the morning actually releases all the chemicals and blah, blah, blah, that I need in my head. In order to, have a successful day. And then from there, that's when I go get my coffee.

And I've actually been reducing my coffee quite a bit, , so I go get a coffee drive home, only then, it's been two and a half hours since I've woken up. That's when, , I try to look at my phone. I do look at it like before the workout starts, and if there's anything critical, I'll, I'll go into it. But then once I'm drinking my coffee, that's when I go and be like, oh, I gotta do this today, and I gotta do that today and [00:03:00] figure out who I need to respond to.

, and then when the coffee's over, then it's time to shower and really, , do a little meditation session and if I'm up for it, a little journaling or something along those lines, I really do like to take that time in the shower to, for like, gratitude. That's when I, you know, just sit there and kind of list all the things that I'm grateful for.

, while, you know, taking a scalding hot shower to begin with, 'cause my muscles hurt, um, and then fire that sucker cold, , for the last couple of minutes. Uh, and then from there, like my workday starts. It's like eight o'clock and people are like, oh, I'm just waking up. And I'm like, yeah, no, I've been up for four hours already, pal. That's pretty much my morning. And then, and then the workday starts, and you've seen my schedule. It's like meetings from eight to five, like it just doesn't stop.

Jeremy: So that's interesting because our guest that we're gonna get into, uh, in just a moment, Jeremy, Nigel has a three hour morning routine. And prior to talking to him, I thought, wow, that's, that's interest. There must be so much that he's doing in that [00:04:00] three hour, how do you feel? Three hours with a morning routine.

I. And it wasn't until we sat down to do this show that I decided to analyze my own. And so yours is nearly four hours when you add everything up, and part of that's like commuting to the gym and whatever, but that's part of the deal. It takes four hours to get where you need to be to start your day to be successful.

So I broke mine down. And I'm, you know, I took a look at the summer routine because I, I've already complained at length about how, how difficult it is for me to hold myself accountable, get to the gym when I don't have to drop the kids off at the bus stop, which is at the gym. , but I've been refining it.

I've been working on it, trying to build in something that works for summer. And right now, I, I was surprised to find out that my morning routine when it's working now in the summer is about two hours and it's, it's, you know, I make sure I'm up by seven because I probably was up with the kids until 10 or 11.

Pounding a bunch of salt water in the morning to get rehydrated before I go to the gym, where I then go work out for 35, 45 minutes and then, you know, walking to and froms about 10 minutes each way. Make [00:05:00] sure that I get in all my vitamins, including my ag one, of course. , get the coffee brewing.

Then same thing. Start drinking coffee. Take a look at the calendar, take a look at the emails. What's urgent, what fires need to be put out right away. Get myself , cleaned up, showered, et cetera, and then diving in into the workday. But I couldn't believe that I have become, , in summer, a two hour morning routine guy.

And I sort of an analyze what I do in the normal, like during the school year, and it is, it's closer to three hours. So, so when people complain about not having time for self-care, hearing, oh my God, I need three hours to take care of myself in the morning. I could see how that might be overwhelming or off-putting.

Zach: But none of these routines started with hours and hours and hours. It's like one thing, like even just going to the gym, right? That's an hour. , that's easy to add, , but the rest of it has been little bits and pieces over time, like my morning routine, I, I can still remember the days where my morning routine was, well, I have to be to work at eight, so I will get up at seven [00:06:00] 15,

Jeremy: Yep.

Zach: shower and half an hour commute.

Jeremy: Yeah, maybe. Maybe shower. Maybe shower at

Zach: And that was my morning routine. So I mean, the one good thing that has happened from Covid is the fact that I do work from home now and I'll never have to go to an office ever again, as far as I'm concerned. So, I mean, really my morning routine could be wake up at 7 55, roll downstairs and, and hit my first meeting.

But, , I, I kind of like the three or four hours in.

Jeremy: Right. and, and I wanna circle back and highlight what you started with in talking about how your morning routine starts the night before. Today was a perfect example of that. I fell asleep super early last night, getting the kids to bed. I. I was up at six. No, I was up at five 30 this morning. , and I remember thinking, oh, I don't have to be up this early, but like, I checked my aura ring and it's like, no, you're good.

It could have been slightly better, but hey, go get 'em. Go get 'em, tiger. Uh, and so I did, I, I sort of just allowed myself to wake up a little bit, went over to the gym a little early And I was just reminded how nice it is to have all of that [00:07:00] time in the morning to just focus on me. And I do think I, I, I don't want to paint too broad of a brush here, but I think a lot of people that are afraid of or feel like they don't have time for self-care are resistant to getting up earlier for whatever reason that needs to keep them up at night.

In my case, it, it is usually my kids. and I imagine that's the case for a lot of people.

Zach: Yes. In my case it's Netflix.

Jeremy: Many, many times the kids are the excuse when the reality is Netflix.

Zach: Yes. Although I've been digging Apple TV lately. There's a lot of good shows there too.

Jeremy: Oh, very ne lada, Mr. Apple tv.

Zach: If you haven't watched Ted Lasso yet, you really

Jeremy: I've never seen Ted Lasso. I'm the last guy to see it.

Zach: It's fantastic.

I was only half joking about the Netflix thing though. Right. There are things that distract us. There's Netflix and the apps on your phone, and like all of those things and I work in tech and I know software engineers and I know [00:08:00] that, , behind all these apps, right, these developers, these people who are writing this stuff, like they want your eyes on those apps.

They want you to be distracted. That is one of the main reasons that a lot of these apps exist. So being able to. Get rid of those distractions. , we don't always have the willpower to do it, so sometimes you actually have to put like a real hard control in place to make sure you're not being distracted.

Jeremy: That's where our guest comes in. His name is Jeremy Nagel. He's the founder of Focus Bear, which is an app that actually helps prevent you from being distracted. so we partnered with Jeremy to find out more about the app and how it may help you stay on track and accomplish what matters most. Probably before others are even out of bed.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: The idea behind Focus Bear is it's a distraction management and habit forming app targeted at at people with A D H D and autism.

That's a, a group that I belong to myself. I've been diagnosed in the last couple of years with both of those conditions. Which has been both a, a recognition of some of the [00:09:00] challenges that I face, but also it's helped me to see some of the positive aspects of being neurodivergent. And one of them is that I thrive if I have a very strong morning routine.

And that's really the focus of the app to allow me to do a sequence of habits in the morning that then helped me to, to have a very productive and a happy day.

Jeremy: So let's talk about how this app helps because staying focused for most people with as many distractions as we have on a , day-to-day basis is a big enough. Challenge. But when you do have something like a D H D or, or a neurodivergent for whatever reason, that has got to be, uh, just a, I can't even imagine how challenging that's gotta be.

So how does the app address those issues? And, can it be applied to, people who are not neurodivergent.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: it, it, it can be used by anyone. I see people, especially with a D H D as being canaries in the coal mine of our societal experiment with attention grabbing apps and, and websites that we've really had a, a drive in the last [00:10:00] 10 years or so to towards venture capitalists. Building these companies, which are trying to monopolize our attention.

And we're starting to see a bit of a, a movement away from that now because everyone, especially people with A D H D, are realizing that it just fragments our attention and makes it very hard for us to get anything done and to have meaningful relationships. The way that Focus Fair helps is that you configure what websites are allowed and what websites are blocked.

And if I say go to Facebook during the day, it's gonna show a popup saying, are you sure you need to do this right now? How about you save it until after work? And there's a a button I can press and then it will add it to my anti to-do list. And then at 5:00 PM. I am allowed to go through my anti to-do list and do all the things that I would've liked to do during the day, but I probably shouldn't have.

So all the, the news websites that I was tempted to go and check out, or Facebook, Reddit, those websites like that, that are probably not too helpful for me to be doing when I'm meant to say write [00:11:00] reports during my day. can you put things

Zach: in that you want to do as well? So like, you know, as opposed to an anti to-do list where it pops up and says, Hey, this is

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: something that you do need to get done. Yeah, we, we don't actually have a to-do list feature yet because most people tend to have their own system. Yeah. I personally go with a, a paper system where the night before one of my evening routine habits is to spend some time looking through my calendar and my Trello board and writing it down on paper.

I find that doing it by hand allows me to connect a lot more deeply with both my, my schedule for the next day and my to-do list. But we probably will add in a to-do list feature in the future for people who don't have some kind of other system.

Jeremy: I think it's incredibly fascinating with all of the to-do apps that exist. I mean there there's a million different ways to approach it. The fact that you've created an anti to-do, like that's, it's unheard of. I've never heard of anybody taking that approach,

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: Well, it's inspired by Warren Buffet. He had [00:12:00] this idea of you set your New Year's resolutions, and then often people will come up with 15 things and he says, take the first five things and make them your focus for the year and the other 10 things, put them on your anti resolutions. Things that you won't do because we just don't have time to do absolutely everything.

Otherwise, we'll be running in a million directions and not making progress. So

Zach: I work in IT and at any given point, I've got like 30 computers in my house. I know most people don't, but does this app work out? Like is it, is it just websites? Does it apps, is it, does it work on iPhones, Androids,

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: does this

Zach: work everywhere or do I have to like pick and choose which devices I use?

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: It doesn't work on Linux, but Windows, Mac, iPhone, and Android, it works across all of those and it syncs your progress across all of them.

So there's the, the two aspects of the app. One is the distraction management, which means that if I start a focus session on my Mac, if I then pick up my phone and try and go to TikTok, it's gonna block it. 'cause it recognizes that I'm trying to [00:13:00] focus. And the same thing across Windows and all the other devices.

And then the other part of the app is the routine feature where in the morning I've got my three hour long morning routine. Most people don't have one that is that long. But if I, for example, get halfway through my routine and then there's some apps like QR lingo that I prefer to do on my phone, I can pick it up and the progress is transferred across.

So if I'm half. Through my routine on my computer, it'll be transferred halfway across on my phone as well.

Jeremy: So, Distractions are one thing, but our reliance and our, our addiction to tech in general, , I think is a problem for a lot of people. So does this also help not only to avoid distraction, but does it help reduce the amount of time that I'm staring at a screen all day?

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: Yeah, and I, I think screen time isn't created equal. There's sort of passive screen time where if I'm watching YouTube or browsing Reddit, then that's not great for my brain and it's probably not great for my [00:14:00] relationships. But if I'm using it in an active way, if I'm using technology to allow me to be creative or to be learning things that I really care about, I think that's actually quality time, though I still want to have time away from all.

The screens in general, 'cause it's not great for the eyes to be staring at small things for a long time. So the way I approach it is I begin my day on a screen, 'cause I'm using Focus Bear to kick off my morning routine, but it's not. My first act in my morning routine after I log how much sleep I've had is to go for a run, and I don't take my phone.

When I go for a run, I take a piece of paper to take notes, but apart from that, I'm out of the doors. I'm out of the house for 25 minutes and then I come back and I do some journaling, and I prefer to do that on my computer. Some people prefer to do it . On a piece of paper, but I, I think for example, journaling, digital journaling can be a, a really constructive use of screens.

And then other things [00:15:00] aren't so constructive. But if we manage them better, then it works very well.

Zach: So I'd like to shift focus a little bit here. Um, I'd love to hear about, , your journey to where you are today. I know you mentioned earlier in the show that you were just recently diagnosed, so this is something that you've probably struggled with your entire life.

, what did that journey look like for you , , struggling with these issues until you were diagnosed? Like, did you know you had a problem? Did you know or suspect that you had these issues? I. Before you were diagnosed, and then what changed after you were diagnosed?

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: part of it was a surprise for me that a D H D diagnosis came out of the blue for me. 'cause I, I had thought that I was actually doing okay. But it's a bit like a, a swan in water where it looks like it's doing okay, but under the surface it's going mad with all these different coping mechanisms 'cause.

Most people don't have, say, five different calendars and all these to-do lists and setting alarms for, [00:16:00] a very busy schedule . I had four different jobs. I was just a little bit frantic with my overall activity and I thought that was just me, but. Looking at it and realizing I had always struggled from a, a young age with being late, that even though I lived five minutes away from high school, I was late, nearly every day.

And I often lose things. There's a lot of executive functioning. Issues that have been with me for my whole life. And in some ways, getting diagnosed was a really freeing experience because instead of blaming myself and getting into self adulation of why have I done this again, I now understand why I have a tendency towards those issues.

But it's not like it's just free re and for me to, to be late all the time. Instead, it, it's me recognizing that I have to work harder in order to be able to do things that other people can do quite easily. And now I've got very specific coping mechanisms. I work with an A D H D coach. I've got tactics that I can use that [00:17:00] help me to be better at those things.

And then the autism diagnosis wasn't a surprise. I had suspected that for a long time, that I had always had issues with particularly group social interaction. I, I found that very challenging and it's been helpful in terms of, again, not beating myself up about that and not seeing that. I go to, if I go to a, a party with loud noise and lots of unstructured conversations, I find that very hard and I thought I just psyched at life basically when I was a, a teenager and my early twenties.

Now I've come to recognize that I don't actually have to do those things. I don't have to go to nightclubs, I don't have to be in high stimulation environments, which I, I find unenjoyable and very challenging, that I can have a, a rich, fulfilling life doing things that feel a bit more natural to me in a low stimulation environment.

I'm very grateful for, for having, I guess, learned a bit more about myself, and it has taken some of the baggage away from me and allowed [00:18:00] me to focus on things that I can do well.

Jeremy: I think those are important lessons for everybody. I mean, I, I feel like I've only recently discovered that, you know, I don't have to do the things that I don't want to do. I don't have to do the things that make me uncomfortable and, and that I feel like I'm struggling with, and I certainly don't have to kick my own ass every time I feel bad about them or, or whatever like that.

That's a lesson that applies to everybody. I don't care what your circumstance is, the, the lesson that you're doing, things you don't want to do, and the less you beat yourself up. It's just, it's a much more freeing way to live. . I wanted to, what you've hinted at and, and mentioned a little bit of your, uh, rigorous three hour morning routine.

I'm curious what takes three hours. Walk me through , what you do and why this is important to start your day with every day.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: So the, the three hours is broken up into a few aspects. One is exercise. I go for a half an hour run. I do 10 minutes of yoga, and I do a 45 minute resistance training workout. And that's spread out throughout the three hours. I begin with a run. I find that's a, a really good way for me to, to begin the day [00:19:00] that I do mindfulness later seated mindfulness.

But if I try and start with meditation, I'll either just fall asleep or just find it very unpleasant. But I find that going for a run, it has some of the benefits in terms of I concentrate on my breathing while I'm running. I'm outdoors in nature, running next to a beautiful coastline. So it's really relaxing for me.

And doing the exercise helps to boost my energy levels. 'cause I'm sometimes a little bit tired when I wake up. By the time I've finished my run, I'm in a good mood. I'm feeling energized, and I'm ready then to continue with more of the contemplative parts of my morning routine. So I do some journaling. I do some breathing exercises. And that really helps me to feel calm and ready to approach some of the harder things on my to-do list. I also do that as part of my morning routine. Look at my day ahead, what appointments do I have, what do I plan to do as my big rocks on my to-do [00:20:00] list? And then I, I do a little bit of creative expression as one of the other aspects of it.

I either write a blog post or I record a YouTube video. And I spend 10 minutes working on my book. And even though that doesn't sound like a, a lot of time, 10 minutes of working on a book, I've actually made a decent amount of progress doing that every day for the last couple of months. I've written 20,000 words over three months or so, just punching out maybe 150 words every morning and it adds up and it feels very easy doing it that way.

all in all, it adds up to three hours, and I feel really happy at the end that I'm, I'm clear on what I, what I wanna achieve in the day, and I've already made a headstart on some of the creative aspects of my day that I otherwise would tend to put off. I didn't begin with a three hour morning routine.

I started this. Process in January, 2022, when I was really stressed out at that stage, I was in the process of selling my last [00:21:00] business and I was dealing with customers. I had another job and talking to accountants and lawyers and negotiating, and it was super stressful and I just wasn't prioritizing some of these self-care actions that I knew were actually very important for me.

And what I began with at that point, it was the inspiration for the app of realizing that I had developed a negative coping strategy of waking up and checking emails. First thing, which is not a good way to start the day. I'd get very anxious and it would also put me into a state of hyper focus where I'd just be looking at my emails and then often there'd be hours of emails to answer, because I'm in Australia.

My customers were all in the us. So I just lose the time that I had allocated for my morning routine. I'd feel stressed and tired by the end of that, and what I wanted was a, a little chink in that time where I could begin with even just a small morning routine. So I began with a 10 minute morning routine at that stage where I just went [00:22:00] for a five minute run and did five minutes of meditation.

And even though five minutes is almost pointless, 'cause I, I come from an ultra running background where I used to do 50 kilometer races and I'd comfortably run for hours on end, but five minutes was actually okay. It was, it, it felt short enough that it, it didn't feel like it burden I still got some of the benefits of increasing my heart rate and Im improving my mood. And then from there, I, I built it up from five minutes to six minutes and gradually increasing it until it's where it is now.

Zach: We spend a lot of time talking to people about, starting with small steps and building. Small things onto it. So it's, it's just incredible that it went from 10 minutes to, to three hours , but you did it the right way, like you started with those small, manageable chunks.

I, I, I really do like that. I have always had a little bit of a struggle, even when I do like go, you know what, phone's away.

Technology's away. [00:23:00] I gotta do X. And then I find myself doing some menial task around the house that. I don't never wanted to do, but because I have to do the other thing, I go and do that thing. So can you take the, the strategies of the app and kind of build them into your life as well?

Because I know I will monkey brain all over the place. , all day and not get the, you know, the lawn mode or the thing that I need to get done done. So like how does this kind of extend a little bit into all those other

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: non-technology bits? Really like the concept of the nudge effect. There's a, a book with that name, and the basic idea is that a little bit of a nudge in the right direction can be all that it takes.

So, for example, for me, I haven't been very good at doing the dishes in the past, and that's been something that my wife hasn't been too happy about, that I haven't contributed to chores. And I found that. By putting it into Focus Bear as a, an activity where it's got a countdown timer. I think that's really key for me.

[00:24:00] And it, it tells me, go and do the dishes and I've got five minutes to go do that. And that's actually enough for me to do it. That I just, I need the reminder of, at this point I'm gonna be doing that activity and it's only for five minutes. And I, I find for me, that's all it takes, that I just need that little bit of a nudge.

Then I'll do it. And you can achieve a similar effect in other ways. For example, by putting it into the calendar and having it, it doesn't have to be a huge amount of time. The challenge for me is always with task initiation that once I start, I don't have a lawn, so I don't have a direct connection with that.

But I, I can imagine the hardest thing when I've done it in the past is actually getting the lawnmower out of the garage and maybe it needs charging or maybe it needs fuel put in, and that can be the part that's challenging. And then after that, I haven't really minded actually doing the mowing part that's relatively enjoyable.

Is [00:25:00] that part of it for you?

Zach: Absolutely. It's the, yeah. For me it's the getting started. It's almost, uh, I mean, I don't have a huge issue with it anymore, but like going to the gym, it's 95% of the battle was just getting to the gym and then the

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: rest is cake. Yeah, and I try and get very clear on what those preparatory activities are.

So for example, for my workout, I have, one of the actions before I actually begin the workout is start the timer on my watch and that. It is almost a, a signal for myself that we're doing it. This, this is the point that I, I start the timer on my watch, and then I go to beachbody.com on my computer, and I, I hit play on a workout and that's it.

If I've done those two things, then I'm pretty likely to do the whole workout.

Jeremy: I, I love the workouts where you don't have to think about it. It just tells you what to do, and as long as you play along, , you've accomplished the goal. Uh, something in our initial exchanges back and forth prior to having you on the show, you mentioned the, the idea of sort of overdoing it, right? [00:26:00] There's a tendency for people to kind of go too far with things, whether it is working out or, or whatever passion they sort of take on. And of course, if it is something you love, I. There's a place for that. It's okay to go to run 50 kilometers if you're an avid runner, and that's the thing you're into, but, uh, do have you experienced yourself or do you know of situations where people take it too far?

And, and I guess, what's your message about that?

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: I mean, for me, the ultra running was probably taking it too far. I. Found that it, it wasn't too healthy for my body that I was developing knee injuries, but still persisting with my training. At that point, when I was going through that over training period, it was in my early twenties and I was struggling with body image issues and I was actually veering into exercise bulimia, which is where you overeat, and then exercise to compensate for it.

And I was also, towards the end of my issues there, I was getting into throw up bulimia. Where I was seeking to control my weight [00:27:00] through a combination of exercise starving and purging, and that was very unhealthy for me, and that was a sign of where I was coming to rely on exercise as my sole coping strategy for stress, that if I felt anxious that I would binge eat and I would exercise.

And not a good recipe that my weight remained the same, but my head was not in a good state, and I got progressively more and more anxious until the point where I hit essentially a rock bottom and sought recovery for my eating disorder. And that's no longer an issue for me. I, I now have a diversity of coping strategies that I use, and I think that's really key that I don't want to be overdoing it in any one area.

I guess more recently, work has been an area where I've overdone it, especially in that period where I was going through the sale of my business. I was working probably 60 hours per week and I was not sleeping enough and it was really not good. [00:28:00] So work-life balance is an elusive concept, but I think it's important for me to, to definitely prioritize, for example, my relationship with my wife, my health, and.

The other, and actually having fun as well. If I can do things in all of those areas, then it's gonna be better. And even say the three hour morning routine is probably excessive. It's okay for me now that my wife and I are trying to have kids, and I don't think I'll be able to keep that up if I have a, a young child in my life.

Jeremy: Yeah, I know where I'm putting my money on that bet.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: Yeah.

Zach: you mentioned, some coping mechanisms for, the excessive, , exercise or compulsive workouts and things like that. I would love to hear, , a couple of those if you, if you wouldn't, wouldn't mind sharing that, that would be, you know, like practical for everyone, right?

That you know, some of us, and I mean, we, we all suffer from things like that in some way, shape or form. So I'd love to hear a couple of those, those coping mechanisms that you were talking about.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: The three main ones for me are [00:29:00] social buffering, journaling and mindfulness, social buffering. Another name for just talking to a close friend about the things that are going on, that if I'm feeling anxious, being able to share with someone else, Hey, I'm really scared about this upcoming assignment that I've got.

I don't think I can do it. And just by talking to someone else, That really helps me to feel better, and it's not something that I had done in the past, potentially the, the autistic part of me, I felt quite reluctant to, to talk to other people, but I found that it, it does actually help me unburdening myself in that way.

And also being able to hear other people also share some of the things that are going on for them and then being grateful that I'm glad that I, I don't have what's going on for them being, having some empathy for them, but also having some gratitude for. The good things that I have in my life.

Journaling, I do that morning and night. In the evening, I'll do a bit of a, a check of my day, what, what went well, what could have, what could I have [00:30:00] improved, and what am I worried about or what am I angry about? And by doing that writing before I go to bed, it allows me to sleep much better. And then the same thing in the morning.

By writing down my thoughts in the morning, it helps me to deal with the, the monkey mind that I associate with A D H D where I have tons of ideas and it, it can be hard for me to actually begin with the, the key things. So by dumping it out on paper, it makes it a lot easier for me to be focused throughout the day.

And then the third one is mindfulness, which I would group into both active mindfulness in terms of running yoga, anything where I'm moving my body but not doing other things. And, and that really helps me to get centered. And then on that, doing more of the, the seated mindfulness of sitting down, counting my breaths. Those three strategies in addition to exercise. I think exercise is still a wonderful coping strategy for me. I think there's plenty of research around the endorphin boosts that you get from it, but [00:31:00] there's I think, a sweet spot that say half an hour of exercise or half an hour of aerobic exercise and then some resistance training is really healthy.

But the 30 hours of exercise that I was doing per week in the past was excessive.

Jeremy: Uh, it might have been a bit, much, bit, much. Uh, well, very cool. Lots of great advice here. Uh, lots of great stories and, and, and lessons that you've learned throughout your life. Uh, and it sounds like a fascinating app and I can't wait to to check it out for myself. Where can we learn more about you and the app?

I.

Interview-Jeremy Nagel - USB: The app is available@focusbear.io and you can find out about me. I've got a About Me section on the page, and if you fill out the contact form there, I will read all of those emails and get back to you.

Jeremy: Our thanks to Jeremy Nagle. He's the founder of Focus Bear, a very interesting app developed by him to help those that are neurodivergent or not to help prevent distractions from getting in the way of accomplishing the things that you have on your to-do list.

, and more importantly, building an anti to-do list. I still think that that's fascinating and something that I'm, uh, planning to explore myself. , he [00:32:00] talked a lot about. The coping mechanisms that he uses to deal with these stresses, these distractions, and just trying to manage all of the things that all of us need to manage.

And one that that comes up often on this show and, and cannot be stressed enough, is that community. Having someone you can turn to in times of trouble, that you can vent your frustrations, , ask for help, seek guidance if you can surround yourself with that community, if you can be one of the five people around you that are on a quest for greater happiness, greater peace, whatever it is that you're seeking, that community that supports you, that community you surround yourself with is vital because you typically become, The product of those you spend the most time with,

Zach: Is that why I'm starting to look like a cupcake? I've been spending an awful lot of time with

Jeremy: that would explain it. That's the 100% I'm gonna blame the cupcakes.

Zach: And chocolate peanut butter ice cream. That has been, that has been delicious. . And I think, , one of the other pieces for me that came up in that is, is journaling.

, I cannot [00:33:00] express how important and how helpful it is to just get what's in your head out and on paper and put it in a place. , it literally transforms your mind into not having to worry about it. Like, oh, it's written down. I don't have to keep thinking about that. it's a really great practice for, , reducing anxiety , and just getting through your day, getting that stuff outta your head and onto a piece of paper.

Jeremy: Jeremy also touched on exercise, but really highlighted mindfulness and for him it comes both ways. It's there's both. The active mindfulness practice and just the, , , more traditional stillness and counting the breath, staying present in the moment, making time for that in, in your day is practicing stress response.

It is practicing when all of these terrible things and, and distractions and problems and everything that life's gonna throw at you today, the more that you can build in a mindfulness practice, whatever that means to you. Yoga and his case running. Seated meditation, whatever it is. If you can build that in, that is where you build a lot of that mental resilience to help you conquer whatever [00:34:00] challenges life throws at you that day.

Zach: And definitely the exercise. Big fan.

Jeremy: On the topic of exercise, that's actually the topic of the bonus clip that you'll get in this week's newsletter. We asked Jeremy about a habit that he apparently has developed of micro workouts, where literally in the middle of a zoom meeting, he will just drop down and do some pushups to, to get his pushups in, to get his body moving, to stay focused on what's going on.

Hilarious, uh, part of the interview. That is a bonus clip that you'll get only in the newsletter. You can get that@thefitmess.com in the show notes for this episode. And the fit mess.com is where we'll be back in just a few days with another new episode. Thanks for listening.

Zach: See everyone. I'm gonna go do 20 pushups now. [00:35:00]