[0:01]So the first thing I learned when I went to the monastery was to learn how the mind works. Because once you know how the mind works, you can control it, and once you can control it, you can focus it. You can't focus or concentrate something you don't understand.
[0:19]When people say to me, life is too busy, I can't simplify. No, it's you don't want to. You have the choice. Nobody's holding a gun to your head saying, you have to associate with these people or you have to do these things. No, you choose to do them. People say this to me all the time, you know, I hang around entrepreneurs and other people that you and I have met. They've come up with Snapchat. You need to be on Snapchat. I'm like, I don't need to be on Snapchat. I don't care what comes up tomorrow, I'm not I'm not going to do it. Because I can't sustain it. All right? That's going to take a little bit more of my energy today. And I only have this much energy and I need to divide it between all the people and things that I love. Right? Law of thermodynamic states that you cannot create or destroy energy, but you can transfer it from one thing to another or transform it from one thing to another. So I can't create more energy. I only have this much because at 11:00 this night, I'll be exhausted and ready to sleep. So I got this much 100%. I need to know where I'm dividing. I always tell entrepreneurs to look at energy the same way they look at money. It's a finite resource that needs to be wisely managed, wisely reallocated and wisely invested. The average person sleeps what, 7 to 8 hours to say, roughly. So we're awake for about 16 hours of the day. Let's just say on average, we're practicing 13 hours a day, 7 days a week distraction. And then you wonder why you're so good at it. That's the law of practice. The law of practice is that we become good at whatever it is we practice. Whether it's positive or negative, it doesn't matter. If you practice something over and over and over again, you become really good at it. And that's why people are so good at distraction, because it's what they practice. And then people say things like, "technology are great distractors." Right? Smartphones. Oh, I have this thing so distracting my smartphone. The Internet. Are they distractors? I'd like to say "no" first, and then yes, but mostly no. Technology in itself is not a bad thing. It's actually a beautiful thing. As long as we're in charge of it. But if every time your iPhone beeps or makes a sound, you turn to it and you go, yes, master. How can I serve you today? Then you live in that world of distraction. It's training you to be distracted. But if you actually used technology, then technology is not a bad thing. So how do we become good at concentrating? We start by understanding the mind. Right? All of us have a mind. It's the most powerful tool in the world. It built the smartphone. It's put machines that drive itself on Mars. So the first thing I learned when I went to the monastery was to learn how the mind works. Because once you know how the mind works, you can control it, and once you can control it, you can focus it. You can't focus or concentrate something you don't understand. So how does the mind work? From the monks' perspective, from the monks' experience of the mind, there are two things that you need to understand. One is the awareness, and one is the mind. So I'll take a few moments to explain this to you and share what they are. So imagine awareness is a glowing ball of light like an orb that can float around. Okay? So that's awareness. Now, imagine your mind as a vast space, a vast area with many different sections within it. One area of the mind is anger, jealousy, food, sex, happiness, joy, science, art. And this glowing ball of awareness can travel within the mind, and it can go to any area of the mind it wants to go to. And when it goes to a particular area of the mind, it lights up that area. When it lights up that area of the mind, you become conscious of it. And this is what happens all day. We allow people and things around us to take our awareness from one area of the mind to another all day long. From the time we wake up, and therefore we become distracted. To be concentrated is to be able to keep your awareness on one thing for an extended period of time. How do we practice this? We practice this by doing one thing at a time throughout the day. What's the best way to develop concentration? The best way to develop concentration is to bring that practice into our everyday life. Look at opportunities throughout your day. In your average day, ask yourself, what's a great opportunity to practice concentration? How many of you have a spouse, a partner that you live with? Quite a few of you. Every time you speak with your spouse or your partner, keep that ball of light that awareness on that person. It drifts away, bring it back. It drifts away, bring it back. The more you practice this, the more you become better at concentration. Give her or him your undivided attention. So if you speak to your spouse for 2 hours a day, what a great opportunity to practice concentration. Every time you speak with your child, practice concentration. Parents come up to me all the time and they say, dandapani, how can I teach my children to concentrate? Very easy. You learn to concentrate first. You know, there's an old saying that goes, "monkeys sees; monkeys do." You know? And if you can't concentrate, you can't expect your child to concentrate. And if you don't teach your children how to concentrate, how can they possibly learn how to concentrate? They can't. The benefits of concentration are endless. Right? When you're able to concentrate, you're able to focus all your energy into a single given point. Life is a manifestation of where your energy is flowing. And if you can't concentrate your energy, the things that you want to manifest in your life becomes very, very challenging. So learn to concentrate by doing one thing at a time. Bring this practice into everything that you do throughout the day. Make it a part of your life. Practice, practice, practice. Keep bringing awareness back, and keep it focused on one thing at a time.
