They’re Your Apps—Use Them

All the Attention Apps help you control attention, but each in its own way.

Consider a toolbox containing a hammer, screwdriver, pliers, saw, and six other tools. They’re all involved in construction, but each one does something different. What’s important is to match the right tool to the right purpose. If you use a hammer to cut wood and a saw to bang nails, you’ll get lousy results in carpentry.

The same idea applies to your Attention Apps. To ensure that your Apps really work, it’s important to use the right one at the right time. To help you remember which to use when, we’ve created the following What It Does/Use It When chart.

	What It Does	Use It When . . .
Site Selector	Controls what to think about	. . . your mind wants to go off somewhere else but you need it to stay on the task at hand
Pizza Cutter	Cuts work down to size	. . . work seems like too much or too overwhelming to take on
Video Screen	Shows the benefits of working	. . . work seems pointless
Cheerleader	Encourages you to keep trying and keep going	. . . you’re giving up and knocking yourself down
Piggy Bank	Helps you delay gratification so you get less benefit now but more later	. . . choosing between something you really want to do and something you really have to do
Activator	Sets your mind to the right activity level and controls how actively to think	. . . you have to gear up your mind, especially when studying for hard tests
Workbench	Provides a place to store things in your mind while working with them	. . . following multiple steps or instructions . . . remembering what you just read or heard while reading or listening to something new
Speedometer	Controls how fast you work and helps you balance speed and accuracy	. . . you’re working so quickly that you make careless errors or so carefully that you never finish
Calendar	Helps you manage your time	. . . you think you can do eight things at once (even though you can’t) . . . you have lots to do and need to plan it out
Observer	Enables you to watch yourself and see how you’re doing	. . . you’re missing your own mistakes and not learning from what you did wrong

Lifelong Benefits: top 8 tips

In addition to using your Apps at the right time, it’s important to use them for a long time. These Apps aren’t just clever little gadgets; they’re lifelong skills and habits. Here is a countdown of our top eight tips for using your Attention Apps long-term.

Perform regular tune-ups and adjustments. If you’ve been motivating hard work by picturing summer vacation, you’ll need a new picture in September. If you’re psyching up with the Rocky theme song, it’s eventually going to lose its punch and need a replacement. In other words, to keep your Apps working, it’s important to update them and install new versions.

Create your own Apps. The 10 Apps in this book are by no means a complete list. What else does your mind do to control attention? Notice this and add it to keep your Apps fresh and meaningful.

Pick and choose. Let’s say you perform an attention function very well. Take speed controls, for example. Perhaps you work quickly enough to get things done, and carefully enough to be accurate. This doesn’t mean you don’t need Your Mind’s Speedometer. Instead, it means you’re already applying it well. In this case, it still helps to be aware of the Speedometer App so that you understand what you’re doing right to control speed. Beyond that, however, put more practice into Apps you need to work on.

Use them with somebody else. Show friends, parents, or teachers what you’re doing. Get their opinions on how well the Apps are working and how you can use them better.

Use your Apps often. As with just about every skill, the more you use an App, the better you’ll get—and the better it will work. It may take time to master. Avoid trying an App once or twice, concluding that it doesn’t do much, then junking it. To get the real benefit, you may need to keep trying.

Combine Apps. You don’t build a house with just a hammer or a screwdriver—you need many tools. Mentally, too, there are many tasks for which one App is not enough. Writing long essays, for example, requires Your Mind’s Site Selector for staying on task, Your Mind’s Pizza Cutter for slicing into sections, Your Mind’s Cheerleader for working hard, and Your Mind’s Activator for gearing up. So if you find one App isn’t getting the job done, bring in reinforcements.

Treat your Apps with the value they deserve. Your Attention Apps may not cost any money, but they still have lots of value. If you use them regularly, you’ll get more out of them than the most expensive smartphone app ever.

Attention is your mind at its best. When you’re focused, motivated, and organized, you’re totally on top of school. Your Apps are fully loaded and ready to go. Use them!