Indistractable

Nir Eyal;

June 25, 2024

However, the third group of participants provided the most interesting results. In this group, called the “deposit group,” participants were required to make a precommitment deposit of $150 of their own money with a pledge to be smoke-free after six months. If, and only if, they reached their goal, they would receive the $150 deposit back. In addition to recouping their cash, successful deposit-group participants would also receive a $650 bonus prize (as opposed to the $800 offered to the “reward” participants) from their employer. The results? Of those who accepted the deposit challenge, an astounding 52 percent succeeded in meeting their goal! One would imagine that a greater reward ought to lead to greater motivation to succeed, so why would winning the $800 reward be less effective than winning the $650 reward, plus $150 deposit? Perhaps participants in the deposit group were more motivated to quit smoking in the first place? To combat this potential bias, the study’s authors only used data from smokers willing to be in either test group.

June 25, 2024

However, the third group of participants provided the most interesting results. In this group, called the “deposit group,” participants were required to make a precommitment deposit of $150 of their own money with a pledge to be smoke-free after six months. If, and only if, they reached their goal, they would receive the $150 deposit back. In addition to recouping their cash, successful deposit-group participants would also receive a $650 bonus prize (as opposed to the $800 offered to the “reward” participants) from their employer.

June 25, 2024

•    An effort pact prevents distraction by making unwanted behaviors more difficult to do. •    In the age of the personal computer, social pressure to stay on task has largely disappeared. No one can see what you’re working on, so it’s easier to slack off. Working next to a colleague or friend for a set period of time can be a highly effective effort pact. •    You can use tech to stay off tech. Apps like SelfControl, Forest, and Focusmate can help you make effort pacts.

June 24, 2024

•    Being indistractable does not only require keeping distraction out. It also necessitates reining ourselves in. •    Precommitments can reduce the likelihood of distraction. They help us stick with decisions we’ve made in advance. •    Precommitments should only be used after the other three indistractable strategies have already been applied. Don’t skip the first three steps.

June 24, 2024

•    Desktop clutter takes a heavy psychological toll on your attention. Clearing away external triggers in your digital workspace can help you stay focused. •    Turn off desktop notifications. Disabling notifications on your computer ensures you won’t get distracted by external triggers while doing focused work.

June 19, 2024

•    You can hack back the external triggers on your phone in four steps and in less than one hour. •    Remove: Uninstall the apps you no longer need. •    Replace: Shift where and when you use potentially distracting apps, like social media and YouTube, to your desktop instead of on your phone. Get a wristwatch so you don’t have to look at your phone for the time. •    Rearrange: Move any apps that may trigger mindless checking from your phone’s home screen. •    Reclaim: Change the notification settings for each app. Be very selective regarding which apps can send you sound and sight cues. Learn to use your phone’s Do Not Disturb settings. 3  Although

June 19, 2024

•    Make it harder to call a meeting. To call a meeting, the organizer must circulate an agenda and briefing document. •    Meetings are for consensus building. With few exceptions, creative problem-solving should occur before the meeting, individually or in very small groups. •    Be fully present. People use devices during meetings to escape monotony and boredom, which subsequently makes meetings even worse. •    Have one laptop per meeting. Devices in everyone’s hands makes it more difficult to achieve the purpose of the meeting. With the exception of one laptop in the room for presenting information and taking notes, leave devices outside.

June 19, 2024

•    Make it harder to call a meeting. To call a meeting, the organizer must circulate an agenda and briefing document. •    Meetings are for consensus building. With few exceptions, creative problem-solving should occur before the meeting, individually or in very small groups. •    Be fully present. People use devices during

June 19, 2024

If we are going to spend our time in a meeting, we must make sure that we are present, both in body and mind.

June 19, 2024

teams who brainstormed individually before coming together not only generated better ideas but were also more likely to have a wider diversity of solutions as they were less likely to be overrun by the louder, more dominating members of the group.

June 19, 2024

No agenda, no meeting.

June 16, 2024

•    Real-time communication channels should be used sparingly. Time spent communicating should not come at the sacrifice of time spent concentrating. •    Company culture matters. Changing group chat practices may involve questioning company norms. We’ll discuss this topic in part five. •    Different communication channels have different uses. Rather than use every technology as an always-on channel, use the best tools for the job. •    Get in and get out. Group chat is great for replacing in-person meetings but terrible if it becomes an all-day affair.

June 16, 2024

To hack back, schedule time in your day to catch up on group chats, just as you would for any other task in your timeboxed calendar. It’s important to set colleagues’ expectations by letting them know when you plan to be unavailable. You can put them at ease by assuring them that you will contribute to the conversation during an allocated time later in the day, but until then you shouldn’t feel guilty for turning on the Do Not Disturb feature while doing focused work.

June 16, 2024

“A conference call with three people is perfect. A call with six or seven is chaotic and woefully inefficient. Group chats are no different. Be careful inviting the whole gang when you only need a few.” The key is to make sure that everyone present is able to add and extract value from being a part of the conversation.

June 16, 2024

We wouldn’t choose to participate in a conference call that lasted for a whole day, so the same goes for group chat. Fried recommends we “treat chat like a sauna—stay a while but then get out . . . it’s unhealthy to stay too long.”

June 16, 2024

As the psychologist B. F. Skinner famously discovered, pigeons pecked at levers more often when given a reward on a variable schedule of reinforcement. Similarly, email’s uncertainty keeps us checking and pecking.

June 15, 2024

•    Interruptions lead to mistakes. You can’t do your best work if you’re frequently distracted. •    Open-office floor plans increase distraction. •    Defend your focus. Signal when you do not want to be interrupted. Use a screen sign or some other clear cue to let people know you are indistractable.

June 15, 2024

•    External triggers often lead to distraction. Cues in our environment like the pings, dings, and rings from devices, as well as interruptions from other people, frequently take us off track. •    External triggers aren’t always harmful. If an external trigger leads us to traction, it serves us. •    We must ask ourselves: Is this trigger serving me, or am I serving it? Then we can hack back the external triggers that don’t serve us.

June 15, 2024

A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance found that receiving a cell phone notification but not replying to it was just as distracting as responding to a message or call. Similarly, the authors of a study conducted at the University of Texas at Austin proposed that “the mere presence of one’s smartphone may impose a ‘brain drain’ as limited-capacity attentional resources are recruited to inhibit automatic attention to one’s phone, and are thus unavailable for engaging with the task at hand.” By having your phone in your field of view, your brain must work hard to ignore it, but if your phone isn’t easily accessible or visually present, your brain is able to focus on the task at hand.

June 15, 2024

The Fogg Behavior Model states that for a behavior (B) to occur, three things must be present at the same time: motivation (M), ability (A), and a trigger (T). More succinctly, B = MAT.

June 13, 2024

•    Syncing your schedule with stakeholders at work is critical for making time for traction in your day. Without visibility into how you spend your time, colleagues and managers are more likely to distract you with superfluous tasks. •    Sync as frequently as your schedule changes. If your schedule template changes from day to day, have a daily check-in. However, most people find a weekly alignment is sufficient.

June 12, 2024

REMEMBER THIS •    The people you love deserve more than getting whatever time is left over. If someone is important to you, make regular time for them on your calendar. •    Go beyond scheduling date days with your significant other. Put domestic chores on your calendar to ensure an equitable split. •    A lack of close friendships may be hazardous to your health. Ensure you maintain important relationships by scheduling time for regular get-togethers.

June 12, 2024

Perhaps the most compelling evidence that friendships affect longevity comes from the ongoing Harvard Study of Adult Development. Since 1938, researchers have been following the physical health and social habits of 724 men. Robert Waldinger, the study’s current director, said in a TEDx talk, “The clearest message that we get from this seventy-five-year study is this: good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.” Socially disconnected people are, according to Waldinger, “less happy; their health declines earlier in midlife; their brain functioning declines sooner; [and] they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.” Waldinger warned, “It’s not just the number of friends you have . . . It’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.”

June 12, 2024

Darcy Lockman, a psychologist in New York City, wrote in the Washington Post, “Employed women partnered with employed men carry 65 percent of the family’s child-care responsibilities, a figure that has held steady since the turn of the century.”

June 12, 2024

REMEMBER THIS •    Schedule time for yourself first. You are at the center of the three life domains. Without allocating time for yourself, the other two domains suffer. •    Show up when you say you will. You can’t always control what you get out of time you spend, but you can control how much time you put into a task. •    Input is much more certain than outcome. When it comes to living the life you want, making sure you allocate time to living your values is the only thing you should focus on.

June 12, 2024

The takeaway is that, when it comes to our time, we should stop worrying about outcomes we can’t control and instead focus on the inputs we can. The positive results of the time we spend doing something is a hope, not a certainty.

June 12, 2024

•    You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what it is distracting you from. Planning ahead is the only way to know the difference between traction and distraction. •    Does your calendar reflect your values? To be the person you want to be, you have to make time to live your values. •    Timebox your day. The three life domains of you, relationships, and work provide a framework for planning how to spend your time. •    Reflect and refine. Revise your schedule regularly, but you must commit to it once it’s set.

June 07, 2024

•    Reimagining our temperament can help us manage our internal triggers. •    We don’t run out of willpower. Believing we do makes us less likely to accomplish our goals by providing a rationale to quit when we could otherwise persist. •    What we say to ourselves matters. Labeling yourself as having poor self-control is self-defeating. •    Practice self-compassion. Talk to yourself the way you’d talk to a friend. People who are more self-compassionate are more resilient.

June 07, 2024

Reimagining the internal trigger, the task, and our temperament are powerful and established ways to deal with distractions that start within us. We can cope with uncomfortable internal triggers by reflecting on, rather than reacting to, our discomfort. We can reimagine the task we’re trying to accomplish by looking for the fun in it and focusing on it more intensely. Finally, and most important, we can change the way we see ourselves to get rid of self-limiting beliefs. If we believe we’re short on willpower and self-control, then we will be. If we decide we’re powerless to resist temptation, it becomes true. If we tell ourselves we’re deficient by nature, we’ll believe every word. Thankfully, you don’t have to believe everything you think; you are only powerless if you think you are.

June 07, 2024

toxic guilt that makes us feel even worse and can, ironically, lead us to seek even more distraction in order to escape the

June 07, 2024

An individual’s level of self-compassion had a greater effect on whether they would develop anxiety and depression than all the usual things that tend to screw up people’s lives, like traumatic life events, a family history of mental illness, low social status, or a lack of social support.

June 07, 2024

Just let that sink in—mind-set mattered as much as physical dependence! What we say to ourselves is vitally important. Labeling yourself as having poor self-control actually leads to less self-control. Rather than telling ourselves we failed because we’re somehow deficient, we should offer self-compassion by speaking to ourselves with kindness when we experience setbacks.

June 07, 2024

•    We can master internal triggers by reimagining an otherwise dreary task. Fun and play can be used as tools to keep us focused. •    Play doesn’t have to be pleasurable. It just has to hold our attention. •    Deliberateness and novelty can be added to any task to make it fun.

June 07, 2024

Bogost gives the example of mowing his lawn. “It may seem ridiculous to call an activity like this ‘fun,’” he writes, yet he learned to love it. Here’s how: “First, pay close, foolish, even absurd attention to things.” For Bogost, he soaked up as much information as he could about the way grass grows and how to treat it. Then, he created an “imaginary playground” in which the limitations actually helped to produce meaningful experiences. He learned about the constraints he had to operate under, including his local weather conditions and what different kinds of equipment can and can’t do. Operating under constraints, Bogost says, is the key to creativity and fun. Finding the optimal path for the mower or beating a record time are other ways to create an imaginary playground.

June 07, 2024

A technique I’ve found particularly helpful for dealing with this distraction trap is the “ten-minute rule.” If I find myself wanting to check my phone as a pacification device when I can’t think of anything better to do, I tell myself it’s fine to give in, but not right now. I have to wait just ten minutes. This technique is effective at helping me deal with all sorts of potential distractions, like googling something rather than writing, eating something unhealthy when I’m bored, or watching another episode on Netflix when I’m “too tired to go to bed.” This rule

June 07, 2024

•    By reimagining an uncomfortable internal trigger, we can disarm it. •    Step 1. Look for the emotion preceding distraction. •    Step 2. Write down the internal trigger. •    Step 3. Explore the negative sensation with curiosity instead of contempt. •    Step 4. Be extra cautious during liminal moments.

June 07, 2024

•    Without techniques for disarming temptation, mental abstinence can backfire. Resisting an urge can trigger rumination and make the desire grow stronger. •    We can manage distractions that originate from within by changing how we think about them. We can reimagine the trigger, the task, and our temperament.

June 07, 2024

The New York–bound flight attendants knew they could not smoke in the middle of a flight without being fired. Only later, when they approached their destination, did they report the greatest desire to smoke. It appeared the duration of the trip and the time since their last cigarette didn’t affect the level of the flight attendants’ cravings. What affected their desire was not how much time had passed after a smoke, but how much time was left before they could smoke again. If, as this study suggests, a craving for something as addictive as nicotine can be manipulated in this way, why can’t we trick our brains into mastering other unhealthy desires? Thankfully, we can!

June 07, 2024

An endless cycle of resisting, ruminating, and finally giving in to the desire perpetuates the cycle and quite possibly drives many of our unwanted behaviors.

June 07, 2024

REMEMBER THIS •    Time management is pain management. Distractions cost us time, and like all actions, they are spurred by the desire to escape discomfort. •    Evolution favored dissatisfaction over contentment. Our tendencies toward boredom, negativity bias, rumination, and hedonic adaptation conspire to make sure we’re never satisfied for long. •    Dissatisfaction is responsible for our species’ advancements as much as its faults. It is an innate power that can be channeled to help us make things better. •    If we want to master distraction, we must learn

June 07, 2024

A 2014 study published in Science asked participants to sit in a room and think for fifteen minutes. The room was empty except for a device that allowed the participants to mildly but painfully electrocute themselves. “Why would anyone want to do that?” you might ask. When asked beforehand, every participant in the study said they would pay to avoid being shocked. However, when left alone in the room with the machine and nothing else to do, 67 percent of men and 25 percent of women shocked themselves, and many did so multiple times. The study’s authors conclude their paper by saying, “People prefer doing to thinking, even if what they are doing is so unpleasant that they would normally pay to avoid it. The untutored mind does not like to be alone with itself.”

June 07, 2024

REMEMBER THIS •    Understand the root cause of distraction. Distraction is about more than your devices. Separate proximate causes from the root cause. •    All motivation is a desire to escape discomfort. If a behavior was previously effective at providing relief, we’re likely to continue using it as a tool to escape discomfort. •    Anything that stops discomfort is potentially addictive, but that doesn’t make it irresistible. If you know the drivers of your behavior, you can take steps to manage them.

June 07, 2024

Chance felt stuck. “I knew that even my best efforts couldn’t guarantee a good outcome for either my marriage or the job market, and in hindsight, I can see that Striiv gave me something I could control and succeed at.” During this particularly difficult time in her life, she says she used her Striiv as a coping device. “It was an escape from reality,” she now admits.

June 01, 2024

The story goes that Tantalus was banished to the underworld by his father, Zeus, as a punishment. There he found himself wading in a pool of water while a tree dangled ripe fruit above his head. The curse seems benign, but when Tantalus tried to pluck the fruit, the branch moved away from him, always just out of reach. When he bent down to drink the cool water, it receded so that he could never quench his thirst. Tantalus’s punishment was to yearn for things he desired but could never grasp.