Why Concentration Feels so Exhausting
Concentrating drains you because you have not practiced it, not because concentration itself demands a tremendous amount of energy.
Dandapani explains why concentration feels exhausting while distraction feels effortless: you become good at whatever you practice, and most people have practiced distraction for years. He then describes the mentorship program he is building for entrepreneurs, and why he thinks spirituality needs a clear goal, path, practices and a way to measure progress.
What this talk covers
- Anything you are not good at doing takes a lot of energy.
- In workshops, most people raise their hands when asked if they are good at distraction, and they say it takes no effort at all, because they practice it.
- People struggle with concentration because they do not practice it, so half an hour of it costs them a tremendous amount of energy.
- The reverse is true for him: being asked to be distracted for ten minutes would drain him, because switching from one thing to another is not something he is trained at.
- Spirituality is an area where anyone can be gray, because unlike an accountant who cannot claim one plus one is three, a teacher can tell you your aura looks murky and offer no proof, and he is building a program for entrepreneurs with a clearly defined goal, a path to it, practices and guidelines, and ways to measure progress.
Whatever you practice comes easily to you.Dandapani
Questions
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Because concentration is not something you have practiced. Dandapani says anything you are not good at takes a lot of energy, and whatever you practice comes easily to you.
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Because you have practiced it all day, for years. He points out that people who admit they are excellent at distraction also say it takes them no effort at all.
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He wants clear ways to measure progress rather than vague claims, and quotes his guru: if you have meditated every day for six months and you still reject it, that is probably the wrong practice for you.
Transcript
963 words · 5:03
Anything that we're not good at doing takes a lot of energy. This is one question I ask people like in workshops with EOA events and stuff, how many of you are really good at distraction? Most of the room put their hands up.
Then I ask you, how hard do you have to try at working at being distracted? And people go like it takes no effort at all. I'm really good at it. Because you practice it.
Whatever you practice comes easily to you. They struggle at concentration because they don't practice it, so they're not good at it. And then when they're in a position where they have to concentrate for half an hour,
it takes tremendous amount of energy. The opposite is true for me too. If you ask me to practice distraction for half an hour, I am going to be exhausted. Because it's not something I am good at doing. It takes me so much effort for me to switch from one thing to another to another to another to another to another, and I'm just like,
stop, I can't do this. I'm just drained because I'm not trained at doing it. I'm not trained at running 10 miles. So if you ask me to do this, it's going to take so much energy out of me. But for you, yes, it does wipe you out. But you know how to do this. You know how to manage your energy. So people feel exhausted from
concentrating because it's not because concentration requires tremendous amount of energy. It's because it's not something they've practiced. And because they haven't practiced it, it requires a lot more energy. In a way, I don't practice distraction. You asked me to be distracted for 10 minutes. It's going to take tremendous amount of energy for me to do that because
because it's just something I don't know how to do. And I'll feel drained after it. But if you ask me to concentrate for 10 minutes, no problem at all, it doesn't take any energy.
I become good at whatever it is I practice. I feel like you're coaching me and I love it. And this is part of the value I get out of doing this thing personally, is what I enjoy about interviewing people.
It's almost like I have a different coach every time I interview somebody. But this is also something, this is where you're turning your philosophy into a business.
building a or have built a mentorship program. Tell me about that. Yeah, it's a mentorship program that we're going to launch next year and the early part of next year.
And next year being 2026, by the way. So we're recording this in the Q4 of 2025. Thank you for clarifying that. Yes, so Q1 of 2026.
We're initially going to roll it out just for entrepreneurs and founders. And it's really an ongoing membership to create a space where people can come and learn about spirituality. And I'll see it this way.
30 years ago, if someone were to say they were gay or lesbian, people would might look at them strangely. Now when you say you're gay, it's just like, why are you telling me this? This is, you know, okay.
I feel it's the same with spirituality and entrepreneurship. 20 years ago, if a male entrepreneur were to say, oh, I want to go do this vipassana meditation or do kundalini yoga, people go like, wow, dude, that's weird, man. And now it's normal for entrepreneurs to talk about spirituality and being in circles
and talking stuff. And ayahuasca. Like, psychedelics have become almost normal in this community. Back when I was growing up, people had smoked weed where you got to look out for them.
Now it's like everybody does, it seems like. And all entrepreneurs, not all, a lot of entrepreneurs go on virtual retreats, brotherhoods, sisterhoods, whatever it may be. But what I find is that there's no clear information out there.
And spirituality is one area where you can be so gray about things. Because if I'm an accountant, I can't BS you. One plus one equals two. I can't say it's three.
How am I going to lie about that? With spirituality, I can say, Dave, your aura looks a little murky. And you go like, oh shit, he must know what I'm talking about. He must know what he's talking about.
He's this former monk priest guy. Can he read my aura? And then you believe me. But I have no proof.
So what I would like to create, what I'm creating is... Wait, wait, wait. Can you see Oras? If I can't, oh, huh. I was trained not to say so.
Oh my God, that's such BS. Yeah, it's such BS. But yeah, so what I'm creating is a space where entrepreneurs, founders can come
and do a deep dive into spirituality to understand philosophy. What is God? Is there one life?
Is there reincarnation? What is karma? You know, how do we work with that? How do we bring all the understand, first of all, philosophy from the Hindu perspective?
Obviously, you don't have to be a Hindu to be part of this, but that's the angle that I'm coming from. And then how do I, as an entrepreneur, start living a spiritual life that actually has a clear goal defined, a clear path to that goal, practices and guidelines that I live by, and
then ways to measure if I'm making progress. My guru said to me once, you know, if you're meditating for six months, every day for six months and after six months you still reject, that's probably the wrong practice for you.