How to Get Your Focus Back (Before It’s Too Late)
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Hey Reader,
In 2024, Oxford gave us their word of the year: Brain Rot.
(Slow clap for humanity.)
If you’re like me, you find that equal parts hilarious and terrifying.
But here’s the part that should freak you out…
The average young person spends 5.5 hours a day on their phone. By age 80, that’s 20 years of your life… gone.
Your brain now sees more information in a single month than your ancestors absorbed in their entire lives.
And we’re shocked that we feel foggy, scattered, and like strangers in our own lives?
So lately, if you’ve been feeling like:
- Your attention span is completely shot (can’t watch a movie without scrolling)
- You’re constantly tired and irritable no matter how much “rest” you get
- You feel disconnected from your own life
…it’s not because you’re lazy or broken. Your brain is just overstimulated.
In this newsletter, I’m going to show you why your brain feels fried, how we got here, and most importantly, how to get back your focus, motivation, and the part of you that actually feels like you.
What Even is Brain Rot?
Brain rot is that sinking feeling when you’ve been scrolling for two hours straight and suddenly realize you can’t remember a single thing you just watched.
It’s your brain twitching after three paragraphs of a book, desperately begging for something faster, louder, more colorful.
It’s picking up your phone mid-conversation because your friend is taking too long to make his point.
You know you have it when things that used to fascinate you now feel slow.
Movies crawl.
Podcasts drag.
Even music by itself isn’t enough.
I’m right here with you in this.
At my worst, I couldn’t focus long enough to play a full song on the drums. Thirty seconds in, my brain was already begging for a different song. Drumming used to be my escape — my flow state. I’d play full albums start to finish, drenched in sweat by the end. But years of algorithmic content rewired me.
And here’s what I learned: Overstimulation doesn’t just steal your time… it steals the things that make you you.
Maybe for you it’s not drums. Maybe it’s reading. Or that hobby. Or the way you could take long walks without a podcast filling every second. Maybe it’s how you used to call friends just to talk, not because you needed something. Or just sit still without reaching for your phone every twelve seconds.
Whatever it is… that thing you used to get lost in, it’s getting harder to touch.
How We Got Here (It’s Worse Than You Think)
You might be thinking: Clark, haven’t we always had some form of brain rot?
Fair point. Remember 2000s trash TV? Those unhinged MTV classics like “Date My Mom” and “Next”?
Here’s the difference: You had to seek it out.
Back then, if you wanted 10 hours of garbage TV, you made the choice.
(and if you chose to watch 10 hours of “Date My Mom” on a sunday, your brain deserved to be rotted.)
But maybe you’ve noticed it too… How the internet just feels… different now?
More exhausting. More chaotic. Everyone’s arguing non-stop. And intensity overstim dial has cranked way up in the last couple of years.
Well, you’re not imagining it.
As someone who’s been creating content since 2010, I’ve watched these algorithms shift in real time. I think two shifts are wrecking our focus:
The 2020 Double-Punch:
Punch #1: Short-form content exploded. TikTok changed the game. Instagram launched Reels. YouTube rolled out Shorts. Suddenly, every platform was feeding you 60-second dopamine hits.
Punch #2: TikTok’s algorithm went mainstream. Before, you had to seek content out. Curiosity was involved. You were choosing. Now? An endless feed is served directly to you.
(side note: it’s called a “feed” because it’s literally feeding you content based on a profile the algorithm built on you that knows you better than you probably know yourself)
The 3 Hidden Costs Destroying You
The real damage isn’t what most think. It’s not about lost productivity or wasted time. In my opinion, it’s these three things:
Problem #1: The Tolerance Trap
You build up a tolerance to stimulation.
Just like a scalding hot tub feels normal after 20 minutes, your brain now needs increasingly intense content to feel anything.
The result?
Normal life begins to feel impossibly boring.
Your baseline shifts from “content” to “entertained.” Everything else feels flat by comparison.
I felt this when my dad visited recently. I was so restless without my phone, but didn’t want to be rude while rebuilding our relationship. I was literally going through withdrawal.
But here’s the scariest part: we’re not just consuming more content – we’re consuming more extreme content.
Your typical feed ping-pongs from comedy to war footage to product reviews to podcast clips, all at maximum intensity for 7-10 hours straight.
Imagine your friend changing topics every 15 seconds at peak emotional intensity, right in your face, all day long.
You’d be exhausted.
Yet that’s what a typical feed and short-form binge is.
This constant emotional whiplash between highs and lows is dulling your empathy and your capacity for genuine emotion.
Problem #2: Dopamine Destruction
Your motivation system has been hijacked.
This is the most important thing to remember with dopamine:
Real dopamine is earned.
It peaks in anticipation of rewards you’ve worked for. That’s why goals give you that “hell yes” energy.
Brain rot gives you cheap dopamine without effort. What goes up must crash down. This artificial spiking breaks your natural motivation system.
The terrifying truth? Brain rot content isn’t making you happy – it’s covering up your inability to sit with boredom and your own thoughts.
You don’t feel good. You just don’t feel bad.
(Side note: this video by Huberman is the best piece of content I’ve ever seen on dopamine. It’s over 2 hours, but totally worth it if you’re interested in this topic.
Problem #3: Identity Theft
This is the cost no one talks about: you lose yourself.
When you’re constantly taking in other people’s ideas, opinions, and “expert advice,” you stop hearing your own voice.
Most people’s careers, goals, even “strong beliefs” aren’t actually theirs.
They’re borrowed from parents, society, or the latest influencer. Ask a few questions and those beliefs crumble because they were never built from real self-reflection.
You’re the only true expert on your life. No one else can feel what’s right for you. But if you never sit in boredom or solitude, you never get to hear that inner voice.
Brain rot doesn’t just steal your time, it buries your essence under advice from experts and noise.
And once you forget who you are before the noise… you start sleepwalking through life.
How to Get Your Brain Back
Look, I could give you the standard “digital detox in 47 easy steps” that everyone else writes.
But the truth is you probably already know what to do.
Delete the apps. Turn off notifications. Read a book. Touch grass.
The productivity gurus will tell you it’s about better habits, more willpower, putting your phone in the other room. And yeah, sure, some of that might help.
But overstimulation is never really about the phone.
I say this in my videos constantly because it’s the damn truth: It’s not the thing. It’s the thing behind the thing.
So here’s the only solution…
The One Question That Changes Everything
“What am I avoiding?”
I used to drink regularly whenever life felt overwhelming. I tried moderation, willpower, “just weekends.” Nothing stuck. Wasn’t until I asked myself:
“What am I avoiding?”
Everything clicked.
I was avoiding uncomfortable decisions in my business, a relationship that had been dying for months, basically anything that required me to deal with real life.
Once I faced what I was actually running from? The urge disappeared. Been over 1,000 days now.
The best solution?
Build a life you don’t need to escape from.
Ask yourself: “What am I avoiding?”
For you, it might be:
- A job that’s slowly killing your soul
- A relationship that’s been dead for months
- A dream you’re too scared to chase
- A creative project that scares you
- The simple fact that you’re lonely
- Unresolved stuff from your past
You’re not just dodging a task… you’re dodging the person you could become.
Your action step (it’s simple, not easy):
- Sit in boredom for 10 minutes. No phone, no music, no nothing. Just you and whatever comes up. You can journal on this or just do it in your head.
- Ask yourself: “What am I avoiding?” Be brutally honest. Let it rip here. There’s no ‘wrong’ answer.
And the MOST important part here. Promise me you’ll do this…
- Do one small thing about it. Don’t overthink it. Send the text. Film the video. Make the call. Apply for the thing. Just take one tiny step toward whatever you’ve been running from.
That’s it.
Because the version of yourself who can focus, who feels motivated, who remembers what it’s like to be genuinely interested in your own life? That person is still in there.
You just have to stop running from them.
The question is: Are you ready?
What’s your biggest takeaway? Hit reply and let me know. I make an effort to read every single one.
See you next week
CK
