Hey Game Changers! 👋
Ever sit down to do something important… then suddenly you're deep into a 20-minute scroll-a-thon of skateboarding dogs and DIY smoothie bowls? Set a goal and written down a process to reach it only to end up reading watching reels about Justin Bieber’s mum? Yep, we’ve all been there. 🙈

This week, we’re shining a light on the sneaky ninja that’s stealing your athletes success without you even noticing: Distraction. 🧠💥
Whether you're an athlete chasing a dream, a student studying, a coach building champions, or a parent guiding the next generation — this one’s for you.

PLUS — we’ve got news! 📣
Thanks to your awesome feedback, we’re keeping our newsletters shorter and sharper from now on. We know your time is precious — and we definitely don’t want to distract you from everything else you’re trying to crush (wink wink). 😉

We’ve still packed in 🔥 quotes from top athletes, research-backed tips, and game-changing ideas to help you focus up and lock in. Because success doesn’t come to those who get distracted... it comes to those who stay in the game. 🎯

Let’s dive in!

🧠 Focus Is A Superpower: Avoiding Distractions Unlocks Success

Bruce knew what it took to pay the price for success, and so did David Galbraith and Zane Winslade. If you listened to our podcasts with these two renowned sports psychologists, you would have hear both of them talk about distraction. In fact, David teaches that avoiding distractions is one of the three essential pillars for fully committing to your dream.
It sounds simple, but not easy. In today's noisy world, distraction is one of the biggest threats to progress — especially for young athletes.

And science backs it up.

📚️ 🔬 What Research Says About Distraction

🧠 Cognitive Cost: The 23-Minute Recovery

This. Is. Nuts! After a distraction, it takes the brain an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus on the original task. This delay isn't just about the time lost during the interruption but also the additional time needed to regain full concentration. Frequent interruptions can significantly reduce overall productivity. (Read more here) No matter whether you believe in the 10 000 hour rule or not, it is clear that spending focused time on your goals is critical to success. This highlights just how destructive distractions are to that.

📉 Performance Decline: Multitasking is Worse than Marijuana for Your IQ!

This is nuts too! Research from the University of London found that multitasking with electronic media can lead to a drop in IQ more significant than that caused by smoking marijuana. Participants who multitasked experienced a decrease in IQ scores, highlighting the cognitive toll of constant distractions. (Why Multi-Tasking Is Worse Than Marijuana For Your IQ - Forbes) Now, the best sportspeople are often the smartest too - IQ is often mentioned in a sporting sense not just in an academic sense - and we are all about maximising potential in all fields of life. Distractions hinder performance everywhere for our young.

😓Mental and Physical Fatigue: The Cortisol Connection

Constant task-switching and anticipatory stress can elevate cortisol levels, the body's primary stress hormone. In athletes, heightened cortisol can lead to increased fatigue, impaired decision-making, and reduced motivation, even if they feel they're managing their tasks effectively. 📖 Read the study summary

These findings underscore the profound impact of distractions on cognitive function, performance, and learning. I see it in one of my boys in particular during gym workouts. He is trying to get stronger but during home gym workouts his phone is constantly going off. Not only does it steal his attention, and thus the deep focused work that we know is important, but it also takes a lot longer as he’s constantly stopping, putting added stress on his already busy schedule.

But these takeaways are super important too:

1. “Distractions aren’t just momentary — they accumulate, weakening attention over time.”
   – Frontiers in Psychiatry

2. “High cognitive distraction is associated with impaired memory, slower decision-making, and reduced task accuracy.”
   – Psychiatry Magazine

Clearly, if your athlete and/or student is practicing being distracted then they are building that muscle. And you’ll notice it during the game in that second where they switch off and stop reading the game, or in school when their mind constantly drifts.

Digital dependency is the biggest distraction undermining youth potential. If you watch anything this week, view the powerful video below. It would be great for your student athletes to understand too.

🎞️ What have we Done to Our Children?

🎥 Overcoming Distraction

So how do we overcome it and help our young athletes and students focus to achieve their goals? Well, the research shows that “People who develop personal ‘distraction plans’ perform significantly better across domains.”
– ResearchGate

🛠️ Lets Start with AWARENESS:

Understanding and awareness is the first step to harnessing focus. This is a great short video that firstly highlights what distraction does to the brain along with a few tips.

1. 🎙 TEDx Talk – How to get your Brain to Focus:
   “It only takes about 8 days to retrain the brain.”

🛠️ Then Move to STRATEGY:

• Check Your Goals First Thing Every Morning: It’s easy to get distracted from the minute you wake up. That is why checking in with what is really important first thing is so critical - BEFORE you get distracted, you have already primed your brain for focused, intentional action and got the Reticular Activating System into gear, meaning you notice more opportunities relative to your goal. Hint: leave your goals in a place you go to first in the morning so there is no need to hunt for them - the bench where you sit for breakfast, the bathroom mirror, or the fridge are all great places.

• Set "Focus Blocks": Create periods during your day (especially training or study time) where your phone is off, notifications are silenced, and attention is undivided. Move anything that might distract to a place where you can’t see or hear it.

• The Wandering Brain: Even 2–5 minutes per day of quiet time to let your mind wander can strengthen attention control massively. Of course more time is better but start where you can. But this is not just about wellbeing or mindfulness, it’s about learning as it gives the space for the brain to make connections and form ideas. In this space that you create the learning happens - that concept from training two days ago suddenly takes hold, a thought about a skill unwinds, or a coaches instruction suddenly makes sense.

• Green Box: (As used by David Galbraith) Add a Wandering Brain point to your green box reflection tool (see earlier newsletter) and rate yourself each week on your ability to give your brain space and then stay focused on the right things.

EXTRA FOR HIGH ACHIEVERS

We know time is precious but if you are keen for some more info on the brain and distraction, jump in below:

1. 🎙 Andrew Huberman (Neuroscientist):
   “If you want to focus deeply, you must eliminate dopamine triggers outside the task. Your phone is the biggest one.”
   – Short Huberman Lab

   - Longer (9mins), with Cal Newport Huberman Lab

2. 🎙 BBC Ideas – 5 ways to Stop Getting Distracted:
   “Distraction isn't a sign of laziness — it's your brain protecting you from overload.”
   – Watch here

3. 🎙 Dino Ambrosi - Project Reboot and Teen Distraction Expert

   “The battle for your time starts here.”

   – Watch here

💬 Final Thought:

When you’re distracted, you live on other people’s priorities.
When you’re focused, you live on your dream.

Success doesn’t come from doing more things — it comes from doing the right things with deep focus and consistency.

As parents and mentors our job is to help create a home environment that brings about good habits. So next time you see them being tempted by a quick scroll, a random invite, or some drama that doesn’t serve them — ask your athlete:
"Are you feeding your dream or feeding your distractions?"

Their future self will thank you. 🙌

🔗 Links

We just thought we would post our links for previous newsletters, our podcasts and socials here in case you needed them or wanted to share. You can find everything here:

Podcast:

• 📺 Youtube

• 🎧 Spotify

Newsletters Archive (scroll down)

Socials:

• Instagram

• X

💥 Thanks for being part of the movement.  

Here’s to raising strong, kind, focused kids—on and off the field.

Billinda + Ben  

🎙️ The Game Changer | FYA (Fueling Youth Athletes)