Ever have a problem with say “reading a book” or “working on a project” and then you look at a phone and before you know it you have spent 30-60-90 minutes on your phone. Being distracted is so easy in the time we are living in. So many different things to watch; smartphone sending notifications from 100 different applications.
Indistractable by Nir Eyal has helped me focus better
Notes form the book
- Understand root cause of distractions: Distraction is about more than your devices. We need to separate proximate cause with root cause.
- More often than not; motivation is our desire to escape discomfort: If a behavior was previously effective at providing relief, we are likely to continue to use it as a tool to escape discomfort.
- Anything that stops discomfort is potentially addictive, but that does not make it irresistible: If you understand the drivers of your behavior, you can take steps to manage them.
- Time management is pain management: Distractions cost vs time, and like all actions, they are spared by our desire to escape discomfort.
- We can manage distractions that originate from within by changing how we think about them: We can reimagine the triggers, tasks and our temptations.
- By reimagining an uncomfortable internal trigger, we can disarm it by following below steps
- Step 1: Look for emotions preceding the distraction.
- While reading a book – were you getting bored?
- While solving a problem – were you getting frustrated?
- Step 2: Write down the internal triggers.
- Step 3: Explore the negative sensation with curiosity instead of contempt.
- Step 4: Be extra cautious during initial moments of distractions.
- Step 1: Look for emotions preceding the distraction.
- 10 minute rule: If I find myself wanting to check my phone when I can’t think of anything better to do, it is fine to give in, but in 10 minutes not right now.
- What we say to ourself matters: labeling yourself as having full self control is self-defeating.
- Practice self-compassion: Talk to yourself the way you will talk to a friend. People who are more self-compassionate are more resilient.
- There are 3 major life domain: Spend sometime to fill what you think is important for yourself.
- Schedule time for yourself first: You are at the center of three life domains without allocating time for yourself other two domains suffer.
- Show up when you say you will: You cannot always control what you get out of time that you spend, but you can control how much time you spend 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.
- The people you love deserve more than getting what ever time is left over; if someone is important to you, make regular time for them on your calendar.
- Pre-commitments reduce the likelihood of distractions: It help us stick with decisions that we have made in advance.
