Are you feeling trapped by the infinite scroll of distractions? According to today’s returning guest, Paul Angone, we have all become cultural escape artists, what he dubs the “Refresh Generation.” Paul writes, “We are constantly getting a hit from our phone for the latest update. The iPhone is our cigarette, and too many of us are chain-smoking our phones."
It’s time to get off the dizzying carousel of phone addiction, and relearn how to listen to ourselves and our day for aha moments instead. Paul believes that “the most successful and fulfilled people on this Earth are simply better at paying attention to what's important.”
More About Paul: Paul Angone is one of the most trusted and sought-after voices in the nation to college students, young professionals, and those going through career change. Paul is the bestselling author of 101 Secrets for Your Twenties, 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties, 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing, and today we’re talking about his new book, Listen to Your Day: The Life-Changing Practice of Paying Attention. He is also the creator of AllGroanUp.com and the All Groan Up podcast, and a dynamic keynote speaker at universities, corporations, and churches nationwide. He was previously on the show in April 2018, episode 92: Adulting to Win: Powerful Questions and Pivotal Plot Points.
🌟 3 Key Takeaways
Create space to do your best work: Sometimes we do our best thinking when not actively working at all. Pay attention to what helps you get in flow, and engineer those opportunities for yourself. As Paul says, “I'm really learning that I do my best writing when I'm not writing.”
Paying attention is the path to becoming an expert. “Experts focus on one thing through a lens that others are not willing, or cannot, see through.”
What is your secret sauce? The unique ingredients you're combining to “create a substance that the world really needs, that the world is hungry for, that the world is desperate for.”
✅ Try This Next: Practice different ways of paying attention: How would a monk consider this problem? What about a farmer or an entrepreneur?
🔗 Resources Mentioned:
Paul on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest
Paul’s podcast: All Groan Up
Podcasts: Tristan Harris’ Your Undivided Attention
TV Shows and Movies: The Last of Us (HBO), Chef’s Table (Netflix), Delicious (Amazon Prime), Searching for Sugar Man, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Articles: Paul’s Top five all-time blog posts
Videos: IG Reel: Book Unboxing with his family, Millennial and Twentysomething Problems (as Told by Eggs)
📚 Books Mentioned:
Paul’s books: 101 Secrets for Your Twenties, 101 Questions You Need to Ask in Your Twenties, 25 Lies Twentysomethings Need to Stop Believing, Listen to Your Day: The Life-Changing Practice of Paying Attention
Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari
🎧 Related Episodes:
Tristan Harris’s Your Undivided Attention
All Groan Up: I’m a failure! And why that’s a lie, Moment 92 - How to Find Out EXACTLY What You Want to Do in Life: Mark Manson
Free Time: 169: Running a Goal-Free Business with Stephen Shapiro, 018: Workcation in the City, 175: Give Yourself a Raise with Erin Haag
Pivot:
92: Adulting to Win: Powerful Questions and Pivotal Plot Points with Paul Angone
254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin
116: Caught in Internet Infinity Pools? Make Time By Setting a Daily Highlight and 5-Day Sprints
305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis
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