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How to Improve Focus & Decrease Anxiety With One Simple Practice | Andy Stumpf & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Huberman Lab Clips09:22Added Aug 31, 2026

Andy Stumpf and Dr. Andrew Huberman discuss the "Influence vs Concern" framework, a practical exercise for reclaiming personal agency by distinguishing betwe...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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  1. Personal Agency

  2. 00:00One of the practices that you describe
  3. 00:02in the book is something that I decided
  4. 00:04to do right away and I've been doing
  5. 00:06every week since I listened to it. Now
  6. 00:07granted, I just listened to the book a
  7. 00:09few weeks ago, so that means twice, but
  8. 00:11I've found it to be tremendously useful,
  9. 00:13not just during the exercise, but in the
  10. 00:15days that follow. And it's really uh
  11. 00:17remapped a lot of uh what I would call
  12. 00:20my unhealthy tendencies and given me
  13. 00:24much more sense of agency and my days
  14. 00:26are are just going so much better. In
  15. 00:28fact, I was on time today for the first
  16. 00:29time in my life.
  17. 00:30Influence versus concern.
  18. 00:31Yes. So, could you describe this uh
  19. 00:34simple exercise because I I'll tell you
  20. 00:36having having done it, it is immensely
  21. 00:38powerful. I only wish I had learned
  22. 00:40about it like in junior high school.
  23. 00:43Story of my life. Yeah. Uh so, first
  24. 00:45off, not my creation. This is something
  25. 00:48I don't remember and I think I said this
  26. 00:50multiple times in the book because I
  27. 00:52want to be very clear that of basically
  28. 00:54taking ownership over nothing in that
  29. 00:56book because they're not my unique
  30. 00:57ideas. They were things that were taught
  31. 00:58to me that I'm trying to pass forward.
  32. 01:01So I don't remember exactly where I
  33. 01:03first saw this but the way it was first
  34. 01:06uh positioned to me was your circle or
  35. 01:09sphere of influence which is very small
  36. 01:14and your sphere of concern which for
  37. 01:16most people to include myself is very
  38. 01:18large. So if it was the size of this
  39. 01:19table that would be your concern. The
  40. 01:22influence would be the size of a pin
  41. 01:24drop on the table. And the exercise is

  42. Influence Vs Concern Exercise

  43. 01:26actually really simple. Take a standard
  44. 01:27piece of paper, draw a line down the
  45. 01:28middle, concern on one side, influence
  46. 01:31on the other, and you just take the time
  47. 01:32to write down the things that are
  48. 01:34occupying your waking hours. I don't
  49. 01:37know if you're anything like me, I try
  50. 01:39not to set an alarm unless I have
  51. 01:40something really pressing that day, but
  52. 01:42if I do wake up and my brain does a
  53. 01:44revolution, I have to get out of bed
  54. 01:45because otherwise I'm staring at the
  55. 01:47ceiling in the bedroom. And
  56. 01:50if I have really sticky things in the
  57. 01:53morning, I'll I'll usually do this about
  58. 01:55once a month or once every six months
  59. 01:56now. But almost every time that thought
  60. 01:59will be on the left hand side of the
  61. 02:00column. It's just a concern. Why is it
  62. 02:02preventing me from going back to sleep?
  63. 02:04Why can't I let go of it? And it's
  64. 02:06social media, the world that we all live
  65. 02:08in. It's things you can't control. It's
  66. 02:11just all the stuff that you spend your
  67. 02:13energy and effort focusing on. And then
  68. 02:16you go to the other side of that paper.
  69. 02:17And I'm still yet to find more than one
  70. 02:20thing that you can write down. And
  71. 02:22that's the direct influence that you
  72. 02:24have. And all you really can write on
  73. 02:25that is yourself. Now, you can you can
  74. 02:27tunch that out and say your thought
  75. 02:29process, the way you speak to yourself,
  76. 02:31the way you plan your day, the way you
  77. 02:32manage your time. But all that goes back
  78. 02:34into things you can actually directly
  79. 02:37control which leads you to the
  80. 02:40realization or leads me to the
  81. 02:41realization that I have no control over
  82. 02:44what happens to me in my life but I have
  83. 02:46absolute and complete and total control
  84. 02:47over how I respond to it. And I think
  85. 02:49that speaks to the agency piece and it
  86. 02:52helps me especially when I have those
  87. 02:54sticky thoughts. It helps me at least
  88. 02:56take a step back. I'm not going to say
  89. 02:58I'm perfect and I can put down a lot of
  90. 02:59the things that I'm concerned with, but
  91. 03:01it will identify for me a healthy or an
  92. 03:03unhealthy attachment to those things and
  93. 03:05it does help me cross back over to okay,
  94. 03:08I understand that this is scary or
  95. 03:11concerning, but being scared or
  96. 03:13concerned about it doesn't impact
  97. 03:15outcome. Everything on the right hand
  98. 03:16side of the paper does. So that's what
  99. 03:18it does for me. Man, you want to talk
  100. 03:20about developing some more efficiencies?
  101. 03:22It's a great tool. It's startling how
  102. 03:25much is going to be on the left and how
  103. 03:26little is going to be on the right.
  104. 03:28Yeah, it's been a game changer for me
  105. 03:30because and maybe I misinterpreted the
  106. 03:32exercise a little bit because on the uh
  107. 03:34right hand side of the uh the page, I've
  108. 03:37been listing out the things that I can
  109. 03:40control and the things that I can do
  110. 03:41with my time.
  111. 03:42That still [clears throat] goes back to
  112. 03:43you're controlling the management of
  113. 03:44your time. That's totally fine.
  114. 03:46And with all these tools, I don't think
  115. 03:48there is a wrong answer if it has the
  116. 03:49impact that you're looking for. Again,
  117. 03:51you could titrate all that back up to
  118. 03:53you controlling yourself and what you do
  119. 03:55with your time. I think it's perfect.
  120. 03:56Yeah. Again, just an awesome exercise. I
  121. 03:59really encourage everyone to do it for
  122. 04:02me once a week has been very helpful and
  123. 04:04it just pops to mind anytime I'm
  124. 04:06thinking like I saw something in the
  125. 04:07news yesterday and and you start going
  126. 04:09down these rabbit holes. You're like,
  127. 04:10"Wait, what am I doing?" They're like,
  128. 04:11"What am I doing?" And and we can blame
  129. 04:13the algorithms, we can blame the world,
  130. 04:15but ultimately Yeah. You know, it's, you
  131. 04:18know, once you realize that you're being
  132. 04:19manipulated, I think the obligation is
  133. 04:21to not follow that that path.
  134. 04:23The algorithm is real. I don't know what
  135. 04:24it means. I've listened to people argue
  136. 04:26about it at nauseium, but I have the
  137. 04:28choice as to whether or not I interface
  138. 04:29with the algorithm. And that's where the
  139. 04:31power
  140. 04:31that's what I think the algorithm is
  141. 04:33trying to do is figure out a way to take
  142. 04:35that power away from you
  143. 04:36and put it back into their hands. But
  144. 04:38it's optional.
  145. 04:39You learned this some years ago.
  146. 04:41Yes.
  147. 04:42In the teams.
  148. 04:43Yes.
  149. 04:43But you still do it now about once a
  150. 04:45month.
  151. 04:45Mhm.

  152. Navigating Online Distractions

  153. 04:46Mhm. [clears throat] you carry around
  154. 04:47with you.
  155. 04:47If you're anything like me, I spend a
  156. 04:49lot of time on airplanes. It's a really
  157. 04:50good time to occupy yourself with
  158. 04:52something that is for me at least
  159. 04:53productive as opposed to just tuning out
  160. 04:55and watching YouTube videos of sovereign
  161. 04:57citizens get arrested, which is one of
  162. 04:58my favorite pastimes. I highly recommend
  163. 05:01people get into it.
  164. 05:02These are the people that um that say,
  165. 05:03"You can't arrest me. I'm a sovereign
  166. 05:05citiz."
  167. 05:12Are they out there testing the law or
  168. 05:14are they hoping that they'll get, you
  169. 05:16know, flagged and and there'll be a
  170. 05:19video so they can promote the sovereign
  171. 05:20citizen thing or they are they just
  172. 05:22really into being sovereign citizens and
  173. 05:24living their lives?
  174. 05:25I think some of them fall into the first
  175. 05:27category and I think some of them
  176. 05:28actually just legitimately believe.
  177. 05:31Okay.
  178. 05:31And they uh there's amazing things on
  179. 05:33the internet.
  180. 05:34You shouldn't believe all of them,
  181. 05:36right? [laughter]
  182. 05:38Maybe even most of them.
  183. 05:40That's a fair point actually. the vast
  184. 05:41majority of things you should take I
  185. 05:43think with a large dose of scrutiny on
  186. 05:45the internet.
  187. 05:46We're about the same age so late 40s for
  188. 05:48you, 50 for me. I was thinking about
  189. 05:50this in light of this concern versus
  190. 05:52influence exercise, which is, you know,
  191. 05:55that they created these like 10 and 20
  192. 05:57and 30 year high school reunion things.
  193. 05:59I think for the reason that you have the
  194. 06:02choice to go back and learn about what
  195. 06:04people are doing and who's still
  196. 06:07married, who's still alive, who's
  197. 06:09thriving, or what whatever, whatever the
  198. 06:11reason is, we have these things called
  199. 06:12reunions. But with social media, there's
  200. 06:15this opportunity to be constantly aware
  201. 06:17of everybody you grew up with, them of
  202. 06:19you, uh people you knew 5 years ago in a
  203. 06:22job that you no longer think about. So I
  204. 06:24I feel like that left column now has
  205. 06:26grown tremendously regardless of
  206. 06:28somebody's age. the opportunity to be
  207. 06:30aware of so many more things, not just
  208. 06:33distant in other countries and other
  209. 06:35other issues entirely, but like our past
  210. 06:38lives are very much like anchored to us
  211. 06:40now unless we really
  212. 06:42literally draw that line and and sever
  213. 06:45from all that stuff cuz like as much as
  214. 06:47I wish the best for all my classmates
  215. 06:48and all these people in graduate school
  216. 06:50and whether like it it really a lot of
  217. 06:52it should not occupy one's mind. Do you

  218. Screen Time and Mental Health

  219. 06:56ever wonder whether social media itself
  220. 06:57is making it harder to do this exercise?
  221. 07:00I think it could be. Do you know who
  222. 07:01Chad Wright is?
  223. 07:02Yes, I know of him and we've
  224. 07:04corresponded a little bit.
  225. 07:06He is hilarious.
  226. 07:08You want to We should probably describe
  227. 07:09it.
  228. 07:09He does the same type of stuff that
  229. 07:11Gogggins does. He's an endurance
  230. 07:12athlete,
  231. 07:13long red beard.
  232. 07:14I call him the Forest Gump of the Seal
  233. 07:15teams to his face, so I'm comfortable
  234. 07:17saying it. He's amazing. I've had him on
  235. 07:19the show a couple times. Uh knew him
  236. 07:20when we were in the teams together. and
  237. 07:23he came on the show on my show in
  238. 07:25November and I don't know how we started
  239. 07:27talking about it but it was this
  240. 07:28conversation around screen time. It's
  241. 07:30like all right bud let's pull the phones
  242. 07:32out. Let's see what we got. It's not
  243. 07:34awesome. I think it was 4 and 1/2 hours.
  244. 07:37So we decided that in January of this
  245. 07:39year we're going to try to drive our
  246. 07:40screen time per day to under an hour for
  247. 07:43total phone usage. I think phone calls
  248. 07:45we were able to strip out of that. I
  249. 07:48think the closest he got was about 90
  250. 07:49minutes. And then the last week of
  251. 07:51January for me, I got mine down to 30
  252. 07:53minutes. Now, for clarity, I was still
  253. 07:54doing a lot of the stuff that I was
  254. 07:56doing on my phone, but I forced it over
  255. 07:58to my laptop, which was a really
  256. 08:00interesting experience because it's way
  257. 08:02less sticky on that platform. So,
  258. 08:04Instagram on your laptop sucks.
  259. 08:08It's not intuitive. The things that you
  260. 08:09would normally just do with your thumb,
  261. 08:11they don't exist. So, you end up closing
  262. 08:12your laptop up. So, I'd get on there,
  263. 08:14post what I wanted to, and then just
  264. 08:15leave. My mental health was better in
  265. 08:18January than it had been in a long time.
  266. 08:20So, I 100% think that social media is
  267. 08:25not only designed to suck up as much as
  268. 08:28that left-hand portion of your list as
  269. 08:31possible, but again, it's it's optional.
  270. 08:34I mean, you create content, you have a
  271. 08:37massive platform. I create content. We

  272. Healthy Relationship With Platforms

  273. 08:39can easily tell ourselves we have to
  274. 08:41exist on these platforms, which to a
  275. 08:43degree we do. The question I ask myself
  276. 08:46is, is the platform working for me or am
  277. 08:48I working for it? And that's the healthy
  278. 08:50relationship. And I think actually that
  279. 08:52goes right back to that exercise. Am I
  280. 08:54targeting what I do with my time and
  281. 08:55being efficient with it and then moving
  282. 08:57on? Or am I just getting stuck into this
  283. 08:59thumb scroll of death, which is right
  284. 09:01before bed? I've heard you say it's the
  285. 09:02best time to have electronic device
  286. 09:04light. [laughter]
  287. 09:05Yeah. Real bright in a dark room
  288. 09:07right before bed. Right. If you really
  289. 09:08want to maximize, make sure you do it
  290. 09:10first thing in the morning, too. And
  291. 09:11don't get outside and look at the sun,
  292. 09:13you know?
  293. 09:16[music]