 What if instead of saying I want to be stronger, one can remodel the statement and start saying I want to be faster. I want to be faster when doing my work, when writing, when cleaning the house. I want to be faster when walking the dog. I also want to be faster when going through that coding tutorial and learning how that Excel spreadsheet works. And do you know what do all these things have in common? They do not involve strength. So get that thing away from my face, as in today's world it is more useful to be the flash instead of Superman. So I started doing some research trying to better understand if and how can we increase our speed across multiple domains. And if we could indeed, what does it mean for our brain? And even though you'd think I might be joking right now, I think we are all kind of ultimately agreeing when saying that you would want to become faster in a lot of things. And this is why I want to focus my attention on the common factor in today's world that is, of course, the internet. And I also believe that we can all agree that we have become faster when using technology. We understood how most user interfaces work, and we are intuitively growing and cultivating our understanding of how to use different pieces of technology. And the first thing we can explore when trying to understand the use of speed in this context is social media. As almost everyone on the planet is using it, and we can pull out a lot of interesting data in regards to this topic. For example, I found a study where scientists were researching the effects of social media use at older ages, which was largely focused on social benefits. Yet participation in these new media forums resulted in other favorable outcomes, such as improved cognitive functioning. The study examined the effects of social media engagement among novice adults' social media users in four cognitive domains, attention, processing speed, working memory and inhibitory control. And the baseline and multiple POST tests indicate improvement of intervention participants in inhibitory control. These findings demonstrate that the benefits of social media use at older ages extended beyond mere social engagement, and into other domains of everyday well-being. And also the way a social media platform works, having a constant flow of information going through your feet, it basically pushes your brain to adapt to survive. And this is not as dark and sad as it sounds, as we will probably biologically merge with AI anyway. But the overall tip, for myself at least, is to use social media with some sort of balance and also selfish interest. Meaning that if one individual uses social media when necessary, it can give a positive outcome to the user. But when the user finds out that his mood has declined and his kind of feeling overwhelmed, that's where the user should pull out the plug. And this is why things like speed reading and skimming or speed listening might come in handy. Because you can simply jump into social media for a few minutes per day and force yourself to speed things up, and construct a mental summary of what's happening in the world, or on your social network. Like Eurus Holmes, Cheryl Connse's clinically unique sister, who was able to predict the exact dates of three separate terrorist attacks on British mainland after only one hour on Twitter. And the overall conclusion that social media may increase the speed of how older people process information is a decent starting point as well. And again I'm not aiming for over-stimulation here. Now learning how to do this is indeed a skill, and it is all about content consumption. And overall the available evidence indicates that the internet can produce both acute and sustained alterations in each of these areas of cognition, which might be reflected in changes in the brain. But I want to point out that the unique features in the online world are helping us increase our processing speed and capacities. I also got interested in the idea of video game speedrunning. And essentially a speedrunner is a person who can beat a game at a very fast time. To do a speedrun, one has to ingest, digest and analyze a game in such a way that enables finding more productive ways to finish it. And this is why it is very likely that speedrunners will have different brains than most people. And I know that sometimes people say and think that video games are a waste of time, but most of the people who say that probably have never been immersed in a magical world with their game avatar. It is indeed a sensation that can never be replicated in the real world. And that's what makes it interesting. And then if you look at studies and find out that a gamer slash speedrunner is not actually impatient, but actually smarter than a known gamer, one will start being amazed. Because there is evidence that computer gamers tend to have higher IQs than non-gamers, especially those who play MMORPGs. Their skills are mostly focused on logical slash mathematical and spatial reasoning, including reflexes, inclination towards finding shortcuts and efficient ways to do things, and also improved overall cognition. And this is when speed gaming morphs into speed thinking and speed acting, because the gamers won't be able to play the game in the same way once they start exploring new ways to do things. And in terms of digital productivity, i.e. working on a computer, speeding things up might be the best thing you can do most of the time. And I want to highlight a Jake Knapp article titled Go Fast to Stay Authentic. And Jake Knapp is the author of books such as Sprint, How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just 5 Days, or Make Time, How to Focus on What Matters Every Day. But in his article, Jake had some interesting points I will highlight right away. Jake says that going fast prevents you from second guessing. Speed keeps you authentic. If you got a weird, opinionated, crazy, possibly stupid, possibly great plan, and you take a long time to think it through, revise it, and make it perfect, you water down and wash out the goodness. If you are building a product, there are lots of reasons to go fast. It's cheaper, and you get to the market sooner. And if you are off course, you might find out before it's too late. If you are writing, there are lots of reasons to go fast. You won't lose your nerve. You won't lose your inspiration. You won't edit yourself to death. And I also want to bring up a kind reminder that perfection is the enemy of good. And most of the time, good enough is good enough. If you want to learn some new software, why shouldn't you jump on YouTube and increase the speed of that video tutorial as the guy is talking kind of slow? If you want to understand the central, essential, or general matter of something, such as an argument, speech, concept, or process, without being proficient in the more specific details, why shouldn't you speed things up when trying to learn about it? It's essentially like a superpower you want to turn on and off, and in terms of how your brain's processing speed reflects in the real world, now I want to talk about how speed running through a game or mastering chrome shortcuts can translate into improved productivity in the physical world. And I believe that there are individuals out there who are speedy in terms of their physical work as well, without probably even knowing that they are actually speed running through real life, because it's the brain who's wired to find shortcuts to getting from point A to point B as fast as possible. And these are individuals who figured out that they have some special abilities they can practice, improve, and leverage, just to speed things up and make their work more efficient, and also differentiate themselves from the herd. So if someone comes up to this guy saying that, hey, you should stop and smell the roses, the guy might simply reply with something like, but who is maintaining the roses? And we must not forget that speed of processing and execution has been a key factor throughout history, from the atomic bomb and who's getting to moon first, to the nowadays speedy but not inaccurate medical procedures and feedback loops. But how can we increase speed? Well, first of all, one can use digital supplements such as some background music. A study from 2014 on cognitive effects of listening to background music on older adults showed that processing speed has improved with upbeat music, while memory seems to benefit from both upbeat and downbeat music. So the music will get you into a flow state and hopefully you will stay there for a few hours. A few more exercises you can try to practice speed in the era of the internet, improve your typing speed using something like type racer or playing some speed chest online, gradually increasing the speed of that YouTube video you are watching and also skipping different parts of a movie. And I know that this is a debatable topic but let's face it, most of the movies nowadays are garbage, they contain scenes you have seen before and you're pretty much adjusted with the expectation. You will rarely see a mind blowing movie, and this is why I believe we can gradually increase the speed with which we use technology, because we have the feedback loops. I also believe that there are two sides of this story, because we have people who consume content because they enjoy the journey. And on the other camp we have people who are speeding things up because they might be about getting to the destination faster. And this is why I'm not going to judge, and each individual has his own rhythm, and I'm not saying that the path of speed is best for everybody. But one cannot neglect the fact that once you increase your overall speed of doing, you will also adapt and possibly convert that speed into your new default state of B.