We’re told our attention crisis is quite simple: too many notifications, too much screen time, too many distractions. Delete the apps. Do a digital detox. Problem solved. But what if the real story is far stranger—and more disturbing?

In this episode, I talk with Jac Mullen, a writer, educator, and attention theorist who helped create the Strother School of Radical Attention, where he’s now faculty. For over a decade, he’s been engaged in what he calls “attention activism”—working to understand and resist how tech companies have fundamentally changed the way our minds work. Jac also teaches English at a public high school in New Haven, where he’s witnessed firsthand how digital interfaces are rewiring young minds.

Here’s what makes Jac’s perspective so unsettling: He argues that our devices aren’t stealing our attention—they’re teaching us entirely new ways of attending to reality. Ways that serve corporate profit, not human flourishing. Through what he calls “dark flow”—a zombie-like state of dissociative absorption—tech companies have essentially seized control of how children’s minds are formed, turning attention itself into a means of production.

Jac and I dig into how surveillance capitalism transformed kids into data laborers, why simply blocking digital distractions won’t restore our natural attention, and what happened when his school finally banned phones this year after years of classroom chaos. We explore the two key design mechanisms that trap us in low-agency states—frictionless automation and variable reward schedules—why attention is more like moldable clay than a depleting battery, and how different cultures shape fundamentally different styles of attention.

This conversation pulls back the curtain on something most of us sense but can’t quite name—that deeper transformation happening beneath all the surface-level distraction. Jac reveals the hidden curriculum our devices have been teaching all along, and why our kids seem to inhabit not just a different digital world, but an entirely different cognitive universe.

*** LINKS ***

Jac’s website: jacmullen.net

Jac’s Substack: After Literacy

Strother School of Radical Attention website: schoolofattention.org

Tyler’s website: attentioneering.co

The average person thinks they can't focus because of their phone, their coworkers, their environment. But remove all that and something interesting happens: the mental chatter often gets louder. The daydreams intensify. The internal resistance kicks in. Suddenly it's clear—the biggest source of distraction has been within you all along.

In this episode, I talk with Kam Knight, author of the book "Concentration" and someone who spent nearly two years writing what might be the most tactical guide to focus I've read. Kam is a coach, international speaker, and bestselling author of over a dozen books on mental, emotional, and physical performance. He's known for bringing fresh solutions that are a rare departure from traditional ideas, and his books have helped over 500,000 people.

Here's what makes Kam's approach different: While everyone else is talking about blocking notifications and removing external distractions, Kam zeros in on what's happening inside us. The racing thoughts, the emotional cycles, the mental movies playing in our heads—all that internal activity that competes with the outside world for our attention. And he's identified something he calls "resistance"—a part of our brain literally designed to hold us back from the very things we want to do.

Kam and I dig into why you can want something desperately but feel physically unable to start it, why consistency matters more than intensity when building focus, and why taking breaks isn't lazy—it's essential for sustained concentration.

For anyone who's blocked out all distractions only to find their mind still won't cooperate, or who keeps falling into the same patterns despite knowing better, this conversation reveals what might actually be going on—and what to do about it.

*** LINKS ***

https://kamknight.com

https://instagram.com/ikamknight

https://facebook.com/ikamknight

https://youtube.com/@ikamknight

https://linkedin.com/in/ikamknight/

https://tiktok.com/@ikamknight

Concentration book

Most productivity advice treats distraction like an enemy to defeat. Block it out. Push through. Focus harder. But what if that fight itself is part of the problem?

In this episode, I talk with Kevin Lacroix, a meditation teacher and trainer who's spent over a decade studying how attention actually works—not how we think it should work. Kevin studied with renowned teachers Jeff Warren and Shinzen Young, and now teaches others using Shinzen's Unified Mindfulness system.

Kevin started meditating back in 2010 because he was caught in that familiar trap so many of us know: feeling like he needed to be constantly busy and overtasked just to validate his existence.

Here's what struck me most from our conversation: After a decade of meditation, Kevin doesn't necessarily experience fewer distractions—he's just learned to let them flow through without losing his concentration. Think about that. Instead of building a fortress of focus, he's developed the ability to stay focused while distractions come and go.

We dig into three skills that actually matter for doing deeply focused work—concentration, sensory clarity, and something called equanimity, which Kevin describes as the ability to let experience flow without fighting it. We talk about why cognitively demanding work feels so hard (hint: it's not the work itself), why boredom might be more interesting than you think, and how to find rest even while you're running—literally or figuratively.

For anyone feeling like their attention is more fragile than ever, or wondering whether there's a way to focus that doesn't feel like constant mental wrestling, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on what concentration can be.

*** LINKS ***

Kevin’s bio: https://unifiedmindfulness.com/trainers/kevin-lacroix/

When we talk about focus, we usually think big picture—sticking to a goal, staying on track over weeks or months. But real focus lives in the moment. In the next breath. The next step. The choice to stay with discomfort instead of escape it.

In this episode, I sit down with Matt Christopherson, a high-performance coach and former National Team athlete. In 2024, Matt completed one of the most intense endurance challenges of his life—running 80 miles overnight with nearly 2,000 meters of elevation gain, and finishing North America’s biggest cycling race entirely on foot.

What makes this story so compelling isn’t just the physical feat. It’s the mental one.

Matt shares what it took to stay present through pain, fear, and isolation—and how the real test wasn’t just finishing the race, but managing his focus minute by minute when quitting seemed like the only sane option.

We talk about the difference between macro focus—sticking to a goal—and micro focus—holding your attention steady under pressure. Matt opens up about what goes through his mind in the hardest moments, how he trains himself to respond rather than react, and why staying with discomfort is where transformation actually begins.

If you’ve ever struggled to stay focused when it really counts—when your thoughts spiral, your body resists, or you just want to give up—this episode will hit home.

*** LINKS ***

Matt’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/matty_christopherson

Matt’s Website: https://mattychristopherson.com

When we think about distraction and the things that keep us from doing deep work, we usually blame the obvious culprits—emails piling up, social media notifications, co-workers or family interrupting us.

But research shows that nearly half of our distractions don’t come from the outside at all. They come from within—our own thoughts pulling us away, emotions bubbling up, sensations we can’t ignore.

So how do we learn to notice what’s really going on inside of us—and stop it from constantly derailing our productivity?

That’s what I set out to explore in this episode with Laura Storey.

Laura has spent the last 13 years helping people in more than 25 countries learn how to slow down, tune in, and access the quiet wisdom of their inner world. She’s a certified Focusing Practitioner and teacher, specialising in Inner Relationship Focusing—a powerful practice developed by philosopher and psychologist, Eugene Gendlin.

Through one-to-one sessions, courses, and workshops, Laura guides people to untangle mental clutter, navigate stress and big emotions, and find their next right step forward.

In our conversation, Laura shares practical ways to work with internal distractions so you can build focus, reclaim your attention, and create space for meaningful, productive work.

She also guides us through a mini tune-in exercise so you can get a real sense of what the therapeutic modality called Focusing is all about.

*** LINKS ***

Laura’s website: https://focusingwithlaura.com

Laura’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FocusingWithLaura

Attentioneering website: https://attentioneering.org

I used to have a reasonably normal attention span. Until I didn’t. In this episode, I briefly share my story and what I hope to tackle in upcoming episodes. Let me know if it resonates with you and what struggles you face when it comes to your ability to focus.