Hey and welcome to The Upgrade, the podcast from the team at LifeHacker, where we help you improve your life one week at a time. I'm Jordan Calhoun, editor-in-chief of LifeHacker.

And I'm Megan Walbert, LifeHackers Managing Editor. And this week, we're, uh, who got a slack

notification. One sec. Uh, Jordan. Jordan. Sorry, sorry, got a notification. Um, just, uh,

so we're learning to pay better attention with neuroscientist Dr. Emishi Jav.

Just in time for you, some might say.

Listen, I don't need your judgment all the time.

So the problem is not with the brain.

The problem is the brain is responding in a way that it should be for the kinds of stimuli

it's encountering.

And knowing that can really be helpful, the same way knowing monotasking is probably better

than multitasking can be helpful.

Amishi is a professor of psychology

at the University of Miami.

She's also the director of contemplative neuroscience

for the mindfulness research and practice initiative,

which she co-founded in 2010.

Amishi has a new book out called Peak Mind, Find Your Focus, Own Your Attention, Invest 12

Minutes a Day.

It's full of the fascinating research she and her colleagues have done on focus and attention,

and she joined us to tell us about some of the findings and ways in which we can better focus.

Megan, how would you describe your ability to focus?

Are you more of a multitasker or a monotasker?

...