Good morning, my friend!

A couple of years ago, a crazy study was conducted on 500 college students.

Researchers wanted to know whether the location of your smartphone could reduce your intelligence and attention span.

So they split the students into three groups:

• Group 1: smart phone face down on desk.

• Group 2: smart phone in bag or pocket.

• Group 3: smart phone placed in a different room.

Then, all of the students were all given a battery of cognitively demanding tests.

What the researchers found was shocking.

In the graph above, "OSpan" is the focus and attention test that the 500 participants took.

Pay special attention to the “Other Room” and the “Desk” groups:

To quote the study:

"…the mere presence of one’s smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity and impairs cognitive functioning."

What the researchers found is that when you know that your phone is within arms reach, your brain doesn't work as hard.

Just the location of your phone can reduce your cognitive capacity by 6%.

Wow.

If you want to achieve high levels of productivity, then losing 6% (or more) of your brainpower isn’t okay.

Which is why I’ve completely shifted my relationship with my phone over the past few months.

First, I found a cracked, old phone and and then I migrated all of the apps that were distracting me and draining my energy - leaving only the functional, helpful apps on my primary phone.

At first, it was very difficult to resist the urge to sit and scroll on my newly created “distraction phone”.

I had to actively keep my second phone away from me, hidden from view:

• I'd slide it under my bed.

• I’d hide it in the top cupboard in my kitchen.

• I’d put it in a metal storage box in my closet.

But after about 2 weeks, the nearly uncontrollable urge to sit on my “distraction phone” went away.

Now I can have my "drug phone" nearby without feeling like I'm being tempted with cookie dough.

And the impact on my life has been profound.

5 things that happen when you delete distracting apps from your phone:

• You become more productive. Taking control of my phone has made me drastically more productive, because I'm not constantly using my phone to distract me from my work.

• You have better focus. I feel like I can focus for longer, because I'm not constantly shortening my attention span by scrolling on TikTok and Instagram for 2 hours a day.

• You get better sleep. It is easier to get to sleep early because I don't have a bright screen flashing exciting images into my eyes until midnight.

• You have more peace. Social media can make you feel unnecessarily frustrated by everything that is happening in the world. When you moderate your exposure to the craziness of the world, your brain starts to chill out.

• You learn more. Because I'm primarily using my “productivity phone”, I'm constantly listening to audiobooks and not distracting myself with the next post that I have to see. And because I'm not wasting so much time on social media, I have more time to study the things that matter to me.

Regaining control of your phone can have a profound, positive effect on your life (I know it has for me).

Even though it can be tough at first - take back control of your phone.

You won’t regret it.

And if you really want to start using your phone as a tool (instead of a drug), then download the Personal Performance Tracker.

You can easily access the PPT from your phone and it is completely free for readers of this newsletter.

Have an amazing weekend!

- Cliff