---
title: Self-Monitoring Compartmentalization, Personal Development, and Dual N-Back Training - Limitless Mindset
description: About 30 sessions into my Dual N-Back training practice I realized an interesting personal development take away...
author: Jonathan Roseland
url: https://www.limitlessmindset.com/blog/633-self-monitoring-compartmentalization
---

# Self-Monitoring Compartmentalization, Personal Development, and Dual N-Back Training

Ⓒ By **Jonathan Roseland**

Applied Neuroscience Strategist, K-Selected Biohacker, Tantric husband, Promethean peaceful parent, Adventuring philosopher, Raconteur, and Author. He spent +14 years researching the intersection of human performance enhancement and advanced personal growth in his obsessive quest - spanning three continents - to find real-life "NZT-48."

---

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About 30 sessions into my [Dual N-Back](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/Dual-N-Back-Pro) training practice I realized an interesting personal development takeaway. Something that a cognitive psychologist would describe as *domain-general*; meaning that it has transfer effects that influence my life when I'm NOT playing the Dual N-Back game.

## For those who haven't played Dual N-Back...

Inevitably you will usually get a match or two (or more if you are just getting started) wrong per block and there are 20 blocks in the recommended 20-minute daily training session. Dual N-Back training is not like the rest of life where you can let your mind wander or multi-task, the game is designed specifically to take up all your attention focusing on the present. I set HighIQPro to instant feedback mode; if I select an incorrect spatial or audio N-Back match it responds with a *harsh negative beep.*

## ![HighIQPro Self Monitoring](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/images/stories/blog/HighIQProSelfMonitoring.jpg)

As I advanced into the 4-Back training level, the game required high levels of concentration; holding in mind the previous 4 audio sounds and spatial positions - 8 total items to mentally rehearse.**I became increasingly aware that self-critical or self-judgemental thoughts (even thoughts *lasting less than a single second*) were a serious distraction from playing the game** and could make me forget the previous N-Back positions.

![4-backtask](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/images/stories/blog/4-backtask.png)If you haven't Dual N-Back trained before the way it works is that even if you get a spatial or audio N-Back match wrong the game continues, it doesn't reset, and you still have to remember the audio and spatial position of the wrong match as it may repeat itself N positions forward in the future. Unlike a lot of other games we play, if you get it wrong, it doesn't give you a momentary break to '*get your head back in the game*'.

![SelfMonitoringBrain](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/images/stories/blog/SelfMonitoringBrain.jpg)There's a natural human tendency to self-monitor (this comes from the *lateral prefrontal* part of our brain) and provide self-feedback on our decisions:*I did a bad job in that meeting, I feel excited about this call, my hair is messy today, etc.* A lot of times we begin a dialog with our self-monitoring faculty:

*I shouldn't have gotten so drunk last night... But it was my best friend's birthday party...*

If we are honest with ourselves we spend the better part of our day debating the pros and cons of our past or future decisions with our self-monitoring faculty.

When you mismatch in Dual N-Back training your self-monitoring will inevitably tell you: *You made a mistake.*

**Dual N-Back training provides a very unique environment to train this self-monitoring capacity of our mind.** What I found is that at some of the more advanced N-Back training levels, if I allowed my mind to dwell at all on the mistake I made it would screw up my concentration and I would lose track of the audio and spatial N-Back positions. This could be particularly problematic if I mismatched twice or three times in a row which happens at least once per training session to me.

**![SelfMonitoring](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/images/stories/blog/SelfMonitoring.jpg)**

**The Solution**: Compartmentalization of Self Monitoring, this is a technique that I learned from a *gangster* mediation practitioner, [Tyler of *Real Social Dynamics*](http://www.youtube.com/user/RSDTyler). In his long, but very educational YouTube video on mediation he explains that when you are meditating and a self-monitoring thought happens you do NOT want to...

- Start an internal dialog with that thought.
- Judge yourself for screwing up and thinking while you are supposed to be meditating (thinking about nothing) - *God, I suck at meditating!*

**Instead**: Acknowledge *that's a thought, ignore it,* and continue meditating

The same can be applied to Dual N-Back training, at the advanced levels you simply don't have a millisecond to spare on a negative thought. When you audibly hear that incorrect buzzer noise and mentally hear the corresponding self-monitoring, simply acknowledge: that's a thought, ignore it, and continue focusing on the game. I found this was the most effective way of keeping 'my head in the game' despite making occasional mistakes.

**![glass-prison](https://www.limitlessmindset.com/images/stories/blog/glass-prison.jpg)**

**Transfer effects**: I've noticed the same happening in my *non-Dual N-Back life*, primarily when I'm working on my computer (blogging, working on my websites, responding to emails, etc). Some critical Self-monitoring thoughts will enter my mind, instead of letting these thoughts distract me (even for two seconds), I respond immediately to them: *that's just a thought*.

**The thought is compartmentalized and I continue doing whatever I'm doing undistracted.**

Get a Dual N-Back software app

In my early days as a biohacker, Dual N-Back training was one thing that upgraded my powers of focus and got my emotions working FOR me (instead of me working FOR my emotions). Brain training is a whole LOT LESS sexy than Nootropics or the latest biohacking gadget BUT it does make you a more *dangerous dude* (or *dudette*) if you can stick with it for a month or two. Use the Coach.me app and add the [brain training habit](https://www.coach.me/plans/16229-brain-training) to keep you consistent with your practice.

## **Finally**...

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