Alright, I’m not wasting anytime here (very poignant), and this may freak you out a little bit, but it’s something I heard a few days ago, so I had to dive deeper and then share it with you.
Here is a number you need to hear…
According to a recent study by Exploding Topics, the average person now spends 6hrs and 58mins a day, staring at a screen.
That roughly adds up to about 2000 hours every single year! 2000hrs gone, just like that!
Scrolling. Tapping. Swiping. Clicking. Watching. Numbing. Dulling…
All of the above.
Distracting yourself into a life that can ‘feel busy’, sure, but honestly, it’s one that is going nowhere pretty f*ckin fast.
Now, believe it or not, it gets even worse… Around 4hrs and 37mins of that total daily time is spent on that thing in your hand now… Your phone!
That’s just random content consumption, too. So, not building, not progressing, and not getting any closer to anything that actually matters.
You have all that time just sitting right there, waiting to be reclaimed, but instead, you’re just wasting it. Everyone is, and the sad fact of the matter is you know it too!
That is the real enemy that we are dealing with here: distraction, coupled with a lack of focus and concentration.
It’s important to point that out as it’s not a lack of time. You have plenty of that. It’s just a lack of ownership. I see it all the time.
Every day I meet drummers who genuinely want the world, and have all the potential to get it too, but are leaking their energy and attention everywhere except where it should be going – into their craft.
As I mentioned last week, too many gigs, and often too many students, and now, to make it worse, too many dam hours lost to the mindless action of staring at a screen, trading real growth for a very cheap and shallow dopamine hit. What a con this is!
And don’t worry, it’s not that you are lazy (although some of you may very well be), you are just dealing with one of the most highly addictive technological breakthroughs we’ve ever seen in the history of humankind… Thats all. Ha!
Sometimes we’re just confused too… We think in order to move forward we need better gear, or that we need a better practice schedule, but trust me, you don’t. You just need accountability.
You need to step up, be honest, and take ownership. You need to draw a line in the sand and actually stick to it!
Inside MasterMind Drummer, I teach this from day one. The idea that you are responsible for your time. No one else. It’s up to you. It’s literally the first video you will see in all of my courses – a rant about personal accountability.
It’s not really about the ‘perfect curriculum’ either. It never was. Even if you got shown some average material but started working through it daily, consistently, you’d still get infinitely better. That’s the beauty of ‘reps, reps, reps’.
It’s about how you show up for yourself when no one is watching. When no one is waiting to pat you on the back once you are done. Doing things purely because they need to get done, and not so someone can tell you that you’ve done a great job. Becoming self-sufficient.
The students who break through are not always the most talented. Often it’s quite the opposite. They are simply the ones who figured out that consistent time under tension matters more than anything else.
They stopped chasing feelings and started chasing the standard. The golden standard. They are not working when they feel like it. They are working in spite of feeling like it. Because that’s what they do: rain, hail, or shine.
Average effort gets average results. Being general gets general results. Being beige should never be the goal. Me personally, I can’t stand beige. How about you?
I’m grateful I made this mental shift pretty early on, back when I was just seventeen years old. I remember the exact moment when it clicked too…
In a somewhat ‘heightened’ state, I suddenly saw the path forward, I realised at that very moment that the only difference between me and all the drummers that I looked up to was simply the amount of time they had put in. Thats it. Nothing else. No magic. No luck. Just the work.
That’s when I first started thinking about the saying ‘Time + Effort = Results’. When it comes to a good life, man, that is the formula right there.
It was no longer “that looks hard”. From then on it was “all I have to do is show up.”
Same situation. Different mindset. And a completely different outcome.
It still holds true today, too. The amount of focus a person can hold really is the biggest divider between someone that meets their goals, and someone that doesn’t.
If you are literally burning 2000hrs a year on your devices – which you are, you are not short on time. Just accept that. You’re just choosing to waste it.
When it comes to phones specifically, there are five levels of ‘phone management’ I have used personally to win that time back. You’ll know some of these, and may even have used some, but either way, a refresh doesn’t hurt –
1. Turn off notifications. Stop letting your phone hijack your focus every five minutes. Even if you still open it out of habit, at least you are not being interrupted mid-flow. That alone will change everything, so start here.
2. Move your social media apps. It sounds simple, but put them on the second or third page of your phone, inside a folder, out of the way. The point here is to add steps. Essentially creating friction.
Make it super annoying to reach them, and you will open them less. I promise you.
3. Delete the apps off your phone. Sounds pretty big, right? But trust me, when you really want to level up and get some work done, remove the access completely. Out of sight, out of mind.
Now, if you need to post for work, fine. Just redownload the app in the afternoon, post, and delete again. The apps actually make logging back in pretty easy, so although it’s a good barrier, it’s not overly a massive pain in the ass to get back in.
4. Use a phone lockbox. I love my lockbox! I do this when deadlines really matter.
When work can not wait, and I need to lock in, I just lock the phone away for a period of time. I’ve sort’ve decided that willpower is overrated, and honestly, is bullsh*t. Just remove the option completely. Temptation is an evil mistress, so don’t even give her that chance!
5. Do a 30-day app detox. I have done this a few times. It hurts at first. Your hands twitch. Your brain looks for the hit. But, guess what? Then it passes! And what is left is just clarity. True clarity. Your focus comes back, and honestly, it will be one of the most freeing things you will ever do.
Look, here is the bottom line…
You now know you have roughly 2000hrs sitting right there on the table… every.single.year. Not time that you need to find, it’s time that you already have, you just need to apply it to something much more constructive.
What’s the other option here? Keep on wasting them? Keep on scrolling them away? This life is it man. You are going to be 85 before you know it, and I can guarantee that at that point you’ll give anything for this time back.
Or the other option is, you take action, reclaim the time, and build the skills you want for the life you want to live.
It’s your choice.
This is not about quitting your phone forever. Of course not. Be realistic, we live in 2025. At this point, that does not seem like an option. That’s not what this is about. Remember what I said – it’s about reclaiming your time. The phone is either a tool or a weapon.
It’s about taking back your focus, taking back your attention, and owning your time the way you choose.
Remember –
Your time is not infinite, so don’t waste it.
Your creativity is not infinite, so don’t waste it.
Your energy is not infinite, so don’t waste it.
It’s all about focus, investment, and reps reps reps.
The choice is yours…
Let’s leave it there this week as I need to finish my YouTube video for the week, and also finish off my free PDF groove for the week too 🙂
Thanks for taking the time, and for all the great and thoughtful replies too. I appreciate it.
Stay hungry (and healthy),
Stan