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Michael Lim

Build time under attention šŸ’Ŗ


When I started going to the gym, I always dreamed of doing a muscle-up.

That’s where you do a regular pull-up,

But you pull to your belly button and then do a chest dip at the top.

Sounds complicated, I know.

It’s an even harder movement to execute.

One of my gym mentors taught me the concept of ā€œtime under tensionā€.

It’s where you want to build up time for your muscles to contract under movement.

He told me to do a regular pull-up, but do it very slowly.

Explode during the pull.

Pause at the top.

And slowly lower myself, counting to 5 seconds.

After 3 months, I got my first muscle-up.

I was stoked. I couldn’t believe it.

I spent those 12 weeks slowly building the time under tension.

I’d held the pull-up contraction for over 45 seconds.

Now, you might be asking:

Michael, what the fck does this have to do with long-form writing?*

That’s a great question.

When you write, you are training your audience’s brain muscle.

But instead of time under TENSION, you are using time under ATTENTION.

Long-form writing generates the best time under attention.

Why?

Well, when someone reads your long-form writing, they can’t do anything else.

Unlike listening to a podcast or YouTube video, when someone is reading, they can’t do anything else.

You can’t read and drive.

You can’t read and clean your house.

You have 100% of their attention for those 4-6 minutes.

The quality of attention is high.

While people spend a lot of time doomscrolling on TikTok or Instagram, their attention suffers from a form of digital amnesia.

I know after I scroll for too long, I feel stupider.

And I forget 90% of what I’ve just watched.

But a good piece of long-form writing lives rent-free in my head.

The ideas from the article enter my mind and stay there.

I’ve had articles that've changed the course of my life.

  • Why do you think every cult leader writes a book?
  • Why do you think every dictatorship burns or bans certain books?

Because long-form writing commands time under attention.

And time under attention changes people’s brains.

Stay Limitless,

Michael ā€˜loves a good gym analogy’ Lim.

Michael Lim

šŸ† x 5 Award-Winning Social Entrepreneur. Sold my first one-person business at 28. Currently traveling Southeast Asia.

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