Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

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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." The positive of this book is that you will get some key takeaways that will be helpful to you from this book. While it doesn’t seem like such a big issue at first sight, distraction can seriously impact our work performance, consume our precious time, and alter our work-life balance. Therefore, to increase productivity, have more time to spend with your loved ones, and target your focus better, Indistractable by Nir Eyal comes forth with a series of solutions for this concerning issue. 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. 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)

What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you knew how to improve concentration and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to stay focused and become “indistractable?” In Hooked, Eyal wrote: “It will be years, perhaps generations, before society develops the mental antibodies to control new habits.” However, in Indistractable he writes: “We have the unique ability to adapt to such threats. We can take steps right now to retrain and regain our brains. To be blunt, what other choice do we have? We don’t have time to wait for regulators to do something and if you hold your breath waiting for corporations to make their products less distracting, well, you’re going to pass out.” People want autonomy yet, according to Robert Epstein, author of "The Myth of the Teen Brain" in Scientific American, his surveys showed that "teens in the U.S. are subjected to more than ten times as many restrictions as are mainstream adults, twice as many restrictions as active-duty U.S. Marines, and even twice as many restrictions as incarcerated felons." No wonder they love playing video games that give them a sense of control.To ensure our survival, we’re evolutionarily wired to feel easily dissatisfied. Without discontentment, we wouldn’t look for further benefits or advances. Contrary to belief, external triggers aren’t always harmful. Of each external trigger, ask: “Is this trigger serving me, or am I serving it?” Does it lead to traction or distraction? If it’s the former, it serves you. In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more.

Lastly, I appreciate the passion and enthusiasm the author, Nir, put into narrating the audiobook himself!The best part of this entire book was his advice on setting guidelines on tech usage with your kids, partner, and your friends.

Some ideas are repeated multiple times, which ironically will distract you from reading this book written to avoid distractions.

Let’s get this out of the way up front: the guy who (literally) wrote the book on making addictive tech writing a guide on how to not get distracted by addictive tech is like someone writing a book on the merits of veganism and then writing a follow-up called “Eating Yummy Baby Cows and Other Ways to Fill Your Cramhole With the Savory Flesh of Delicious, Fluffy Creatures!”