Rating: ★★★★
Summary: Indistractable (Canada/US) offers a four-part framework for handling distractions and building focus. To manage internal triggers, recognize and account for the fact that we often distract ourselves to avoid discomfort and pain. To make time for traction, try timeboxing, coordinating schedules and prioritizing your values. You can also regain control of your attention by hacking back external triggers. Examples of this include turning off phone notifications and using apps to control social media use. Lastly, distractions can be minimized by making pre-commitments to yourself, creating an identity pact ("I don't" instead of "I can't") or even a money pact, where you risk money to ensure that you follow through. Click "Read More" to see my notes on the book.
Being indistractible comes down to mastering your internal triggers, controlling your external triggers, making time for traction, and managing distraction through planning.
We are all a bit like Tantalus, constantly longing for the next experience, meal, TV episode, drug, etc. At the root of all our behaviours lies the desire to avoid discomfort. Devices are not the cause of our distractions. There have always been things in the external world that take us away from what we intend to do. TVs and smartphones are just more sophisticated in their ability to keep our attention. -- Humans are chronically dissatisfied, and it’s largely an evolutionary adaptation. Our dissatisfaction is caused by four main things: rumination, negativity bias, hedonic adaptation, and boredom. Surfing the urge can help you overcome the immediate temptation to give in to distractions. You can do this by being aware of the conditions arising during the desire, tracking them, being aware of the physical sensations, and not trying to fight the desire, which can backfire. You can try imagining yourself by a stream, and envision the thoughts, words, memories forming into leaves and floating downstream. You can reframe triggers to involve play. Play isn’t exclusively about fun—it can mean seeing challenging activities and constraints in a different light. By choosing to look at routines differently, you can frame them as play. -- Scientists believed that willpower and mental energy gradually declined throughout the day, and called this phenomenon ego depletion. However, they ignored evidence and research that found otherwise (publication bias). As it turns out, people only succumb to ego depletion if they believe they will. Self-limiting beliefs are powerful, and self-compassion is correlated with well-being. In cases of drug addiction, self-reported beliefs about levels of addiction are as predictive as levels of physiological dependence when it comes to relapsing. We safeguard our properties, but often squander our time carelessly. To-do lists aren’t the most effective way at managing time, and can lead to even more chaos. Timeboxing is a great strategy for creating what psychologists call implementation intention—knowing when and where something will be done. This relieves anxiety and gives you a sense of predictability. Approach your daily and weekly scheduling like a scientist tracking data— look for evidence of distractions (note them throughout the day) and try to continually refine them. Order of importance: Personal life (i.e. health, mental health), relationships and then work. You can control the inputs, but you can’t control the outcomes. You can carve out time to get enough sleep, but you can't force yourself to fall asleep or stay asleep. All you can do is make the time, and commit a course of action. -- Screens are less than ideal during meetings, as they are often a way to assuage people discomfort due to internal triggers, and they lead to distraction. Contrary to popular belief, we can multitask, but only when it is multimodal. Taking a walk while listening to a podcast or cooking a meal and talking with a friend are ways to engage in two activities simultaneously. Hack back your phone by turning off all notifications that lead to distraction, and maintaining those that lead to traction. Having too many desktop icons can lead to distraction and cognitive burden. Unprocessed items in the background keep your brain on alert, and require mental energy to resist.
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