Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

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There are many curious contortions here. Eyal’s conception of distraction remains mercurial. His foundational claim that avoiding discomfort or dissatisfaction is our motivation for everything we do in life is simply asserted; no evidence is adduced. (It’s a claim that, in any event, seems unfalsifiable – can’t any desire for change be framed as “dissatisfaction” with some status quo?) Yet the essential rhetorical move, for which Eyal gives no justification, is his separation of inner motivations from external factors and his conception of them as root causes. This root/proximate cause distinction comes from a diagnostic process in engineering and management sciences called root cause analysis. Why is this method appropriate for diagnosing human behaviour? No reason is given. Why can’t a behaviour be the result of multiple root causes? The question goes unasked. Can’t technologies, like many other external influences, increase our degree of inner discomfort and dissatisfaction? The issue is not even raised. What even counts as a “root cause”? Eyal leaves it undefined. Price pacts aren’t good at changing behaviors with external triggers you can’t escape (e.g. nail biting); What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become "indistractable"? It's good to know that feeling bad isn't actually bad; it's exactly what survival of the fittest intended."

To make traction, we need to examine how we spent our time. And to do that, we need to begin with our values. “Our values,” writes Russ Harris, are “how we want to be, what we want to stand for, and how we want to relate to the world around us.” Anya Kamenetz, author of The Art of Screen Time, "writes that making sure kids get enough sleep is 'the one issues with the most incontrovertible evidence.' Kamenetz strongly advises that 'screens and sleep don't mix' and implores parents to keep all digital devices out of kids rooms at nighttime and to shut down screens at least an hour before bedtime."Sometimes people call a meeting to avoid going through the effort of thinking through a problem themselves. Require: agenda and a brief (a proposed solution) I liked Nir's other book, "Hooked." It is one of my favorite and best product/business books ever (and also useful for non-product people). After "Hooked" taught the whole industry how to build addictive products, Nir is now basically selling the "cure." For anyone dealing with an inner critic, here's another reason to focus on being more self-compassionate. "A 2015 review of 79 studies looking at the responses of over 16,000 volunteers found that people who have 'a positive and caring attitude ... toward her- or himself in the face of failures and individual shortcomings' tend to be happier." And people who have a tendency towards self-blame, are more likely to deal with depression and anxiety.

Is time management some sort of pain management? What is the best way to stay focused in this world filled with distractions? Nir Eyal tries to answer these questions through this book. Could it be anxiety, anger, boredom, or anything else? Identify that emotion, then you’ll be able to let go of them. How? Psychologists suggest visualizing them being carried away by a force, like water, or wind. Diminish them in your mind, and your body will follow. You can also try making your tasks more engaging by setting a record time to finish them, or try a creative way of doing them. This way, you’ll be less prone to indulge in your social media. Lesson 2: Use timeboxing to set intervals of work and increase productivity.Dissatisfaction and discomfort dominate our brain’s default state, but we can use them to motivate us instead of defeat us.”