ELC590
TEMPLATE: PREPARATION OUTLINE
PERSUASIVE SPEECH
Student’s Name : Muhammad Farid bin Zulkefly
Matric Number : 2023141121
Faculty / Group :
Lecturer’s Name : Munirah Asary
:
Speech Title : How to Stay Focused? Use Apps!
Organizational Pattern : Monroe’s Motivated Sequence
Visual Aid : Power point slide
General Purpose : To persuade
Specific Purpose : To persuade my audience to use productivity apps to stay
focus
Central Idea : Having apps to help people get focus can offer major
difference in day to day if use correctly and benefit in
combatting procrastination.
INTRODUCTION
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Attention)
I. Do you notice that your attention span gets shorter and shorter over the years?
(Attention getter)
A. You are now having trouble sitting down without checking your phone and keep
on fidgeting even after few minutes not watching at those screens? So why?
B. According to various research, the endless use of technology, mostly social
media, has negatively damaged human attention spans and increase feelings of
social isolation.
II. So, should we just not use our phone hoping that suddenly this problem will cure?
A. Though they might be the biggest issue, but it can be solved by using apps on
those phones to help be more focused.
1. These applications provide a variety of functions that allow people to make
better use of their time when studying or working.
2. Let’s face it, online learning is great, but how many of you actually listening to
those lectures?
III. I have done some research regarding the topic that I will talk to you today and will try
to persuade you to start take a step to be more focus in daily activity by using apps
from your phone.
IV. Having apps to help people get focus can offer major benefit if use correctly and
benefit in combatting procrastination.
(Transition: Let us look deeper into the why we’re having hard time focusing these days.)
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
BODY
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Need)
I. Through immediate pleasure, social media has taken over our life, reducing our
capacity to focus on anything we view as less interesting.
A. Have you noticed that you can scroll through Twitter, Instagram and especially
TikTok without doing anything or even eating for hours?
1. According Palak Sharma’s writing on a LinkedIn article, several studies
indicate that too much social media use and multitasking might have a
damaging impact on cognitive ability, memory recall, and long-term focus.
B. Our brains adjust as we get adapted to fast information and instant pleasure from
the phone.
1. Then our tolerance for deep, and concentrated awareness decreases.
II. Furthermore, human need a quality sleep is one of the reasons we lack focus ability.
A. Human’s body need 8 hours of sleep be fully functioning.
1. People often scarify hours of sleep for works and leisure because too busy
during the days, hence, stay up through the night.
2. Online news from Medical News Today, on 24 November 2019 said that
researchers discovered that sleep deprive has a significant impact not just on
our ability to remain concentrate, but also on our ability to follow complex
processes.
B. Since, it’s more difficult to concentrate, people are become confused quickly.
1. This weakens human capacity to do tasks requiring logical reasoning or
complicated cognition.
III. Moreover, stress and anxiety also one of many reasons people facing hard time
staying focus.
A. Changes in worries, and anxiety can have a big influence on capacity to
concentrate.
1. According to a Rakuten Insight study on mental health and wellbeing
performed in Malaysia in May 2022, 59 percent of respondents aged 16 to 24
years said that they experienced a greater degree of stress or anxiety in the
previous 12 months.
B. The brain fog that affects people with anxiety disorders is caused by persistently
high stress chemicals such as cortisol and adrenaline. This stress reaction impairs
cognitive skills such as anxiety, difficulty to focus, and short-term memory
performance.
(Transition: So how can using apps helps to solve our focusing problem with it is one of the
problems in the first place?)
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Satisfaction)
I. Using apps can help us to plan our schedule to stay organize as clear mind help
people to stay focus.
A. Evidence shows that when many stimuli in your surroundings seek your attention,
you have a more difficult time focusing on just one of them.
B. Apps that can be use as time blocking can be used where it involves dividing
one’s day into specific, pre-scheduled blocks for different activities.
C. Instead of attempting to fit everything in at once, time blocking involves
designating time for each job or activity on your to-do list. This allows you to
maintain attention, avoid distractions, prioritise activities according to significance,
and create a better work-life balance.
II. Moreover, focus apps can help people to avoid context switching or moving between
different, unrelated tasks or multitasking.
A. When you concentrate on one activity at a time, you give that task your undivided
attention and productive time. When we add another activity to the mix, our brains
must work harder.
B. According to psychologist Gerald Weinberg, moving between two activities at
once only allows us to devote 40% of our productive time to each activity, while the
remaining 20% is wasted to context switching.
C. Attempt to do one task at the time and avoid starting a new one without finishing
the first one.
III. Some phones have settings that people can configurate to put time limit to the apps
on their phones minimize phone usage.
A. Reduced screen time allows your brain to calm down and concentrate on things
without distractions.
B. This improves your capacity to focus and manage emotions over time, as well as
assist you organize your thoughts and responsibilities.
(Transition: See how much things can be done if people can focus and use the technology in
the phone correctly?)
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Visualisation)
I. Imagine waking up in the morning feeling light and excited to go through the day.
A. Just because you have no problem finishing tasks and assignment, engaging full
attention in class, and no longer addicted to the machine in front of you right now.
B. Your success will come to you because you work hard to achieve those goals.
C. With the aid of these handy apps on your phone, these things will work out when
you determine to make them happens.
II. Now imagine you still hooked with all those social medias, leads to unhealthy sleep
pattern and mental health, now can you focus to produce quality works and succeed
in life?
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
CONCLUSION
(Monroe’s Motivated Sequence Action)
I. What you are genuinely pay attention to is who you truly are.
A. In other words, you are who you are when you can give everything your undivided
attention.
B. Your confidence will grow indefinitely.
C. You enjoy who you've been so far, and you're excited about who you'll be in the
future.
II. Research, and try yourselves the productivity apps available that suit you goal.
A. It important to implement one goal at a time.
B. The persons who attempted to achieve many goals were less dedicated and less
likely to succeed.
III. For a kick starter, what you can do for yourself to put those phones down.
A. Think twice do you really need to pick up your phone or you just need some
serotonins boost to fill the boredom.
B. No matter how strong your willpower is, if you don't stay focused on what you're
doing, you'll get drawn into another distraction on your phone.
C. Having self-control is important to start keeping distance with your phone.
IV. Having apps to help people get focus can offer major benefit if use correctly and
benefit in combatting procrastination.
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
REFERENCES
Alton, L. (2017, June 23). Why Clutter is Killing Your Focus (and How to Fix It). NBC News.
[Link]
Cook, B. (2022). Context Switching: What It Is and 7 Ways to Rebuild Your Focus. [Link].
[Link]
#kills
Cohut, M., PhD. (2019, November 24). Sleep deprivation “triples the number of lapses in
attention.” Medical News Today. Retrieved May 26, 2023, from
[Link]
Deady, K. (2023, June 7). Time blocking: What it is and how to do it. Timely. Retrieved May 25,
2023, from [Link]
Hall, J. (2020, May 3). The Biggest Culprit Behind Your Lagging Productivity: You. Forbes.
[Link]
productivity-you/?sh=7fad3aa37625
Kulahlioglu, C. (2021, April 23). Social Media’s Influence on Our Attention Spans. The Science
Survey. [Link]
attention-spans/
MacKay, J. (2021). Context switching: Why jumping between tasks is killing your productivity
(and what you can do about it). RescueTime Blog. [Link]
switching/
Peri, C. (2009, December 30). What Lack of Sleep Does to Your Mind. WebMD.
[Link]
%20measuring%20sleepiness%20have%20found,logical%20reasoning%20or%20complex
%20thought
Sharma, P. (2023, May 31). The Attention Span Conundrum: How Social Media Has
Transformed and Challenged Our Focus. LinkedIn. [Link]
span-conundrum-how-social-media-has-our-focus-palak-sharma/
Statista. (2022, October 5). Share of people feeling more stressed in the past year Malaysia
2022, by age group. [Link]
feeling-more-stressed-or-anxious-by-gender/
Updated: 20 August 2020 ELC590 Resource Team
