Indistractable

How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

By: Nir Eyal, Julie Li

Narrated by: Nir Eyal

Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Indistractable provides a framework that will deliver the focus you need to get results." (James Clear, author of Atomic Habits)

You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold.  

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"?  

International best-selling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley's handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction's Achilles' heel in his groundbreaking new book.  

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.  

Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.  

Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals: 

• Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture - and how to fix it  
• What really drives human behavior and why "time management is pain management"  
• Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable  
• How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world 

Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention - helping you live the life you really want.

©2019 Nir Eyal (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Nothing new...

I was disappointed. Learned more from a podcast that Nir was on, than I did from the book. The title and concept of ‘being indistractable’ is catchy, but the book didn’t offer any real depth. The same ol’ turn off your technology and be present, and then other unrealistic strategies for work. Beyond that it focused on parenting, which is unrelatable for me.

Most tactical and practical book on focus

The most tactical and practical book + resources for getting to deep work. One of the few books I’ve read that come with a workbook and other materials to help with the implementation of the theory and guidance outlined in the book. This past weekend I started working through the workbook with my family and they've been largely receptive given the way the points and exercises are laid out. I won’t share all my notes here but a few key points I found really interesting were:
- Distraction is how our brain deals with pain/discomfort. If distraction costs us time, time management is pain management.
- Residual beneficiaries (legal term) are what family become if you don’t prioritize them.
- 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)
- Ego-depletion is NOT real. There was publication bias. It’s all about the thoughts in our head.

Lastly, I appreciate the passion and enthusiasm the author, Nir, put into narrating the audiobook himself!

In short, I highly recommend you take a listen.

Thanks,
Bart

Solid but really nothing new...

Overall a solid book, but seriously lacking in originality. Most, if not all of the info can be found in order and older self-development books, including references to the same studies. Only the labels used slightly differ. Still, if you haven't read any of those books yet, this is a great place to start since it basically summarizes the main points of productivity.

It's about building good habits

A distraction takes you away from something you had planned. Plan your time to gain traction on the tasks you want done. For example, responding to emails at work is traction. While responding to emails at your child's soccer game is a distraction. Disarm the trigger for distractions:
* Look for the emotions that seed distractions.
* Keep track of all the triggers.
* Explore the negative sensation of the triggers (tell yourself to wait 10 minutes before giving in to the craving for the distraction).
* Be extra cautious during liminal moments (transitioning from one task to another, such as leaving a meeting and checking your smartphone).

Much as of the content is familiar if you've read productivity, good habits, and focus books. I gave it high rating because this book is well organized, well written, and a good balance of information and advice.

Great

Loved this book, highly recommended. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and this book is helping me a lot

Incredibly helpful!

I listened to this book twice in a row and each time I found separate little gems I missed. I immediately started timeboxing my schedule and 2 weeks in I've already been more productive. I also loved the chapters on raising indistractable children. Although I'm a big fan of personal development it never occurred to me how many practices I could teach my son that would not only help out now but also make his habits better for everything he dreams to accomplish in the future. Great listen, Definitely highly recommended.

Helpful reminders for self and children

Nir does a great job in helping us realize the power of focus and how distractable we have become. Tips and steps to be indistractable are helpful and well thought out.
I saw Nir at a conference this year and he is great in person as well. Ironically I didn’t remember his name from listening to his book “Hooked”, and was even more glad to be hearing him in person when I finally realized that he was the author of that book.
I only wish that this book was longer, it’s an easy and enjoyable listen. I learned some things to help my children which was a great bonus!

Good Information

Good information its just rehashed and reworded a few too many times. The important lessons in this book could probably have taken up less than fifty pages or an hour of audible - of course that does not a book make.

Exceptionally practical advice to claim your life back

This was easily the best book I have read in the past year. The steps laid out to help improve relationships with family, friends and work are simple, elegant, and effective. Much care was put into explaining how our time and attention is diverted away from what we truly want, while referencing the relevant peer reviewed psychology articles supporting the proposed conclusions. Debunking common myths, helping me understand how to take accountability for excuses I didn’t even realize I was previously making. I recommend this book for any parent, manger, child or person who finds themselves distracted. In essence, I think everyone could benefit from this book. The real question is, do you actually apply the advice or just listen to it?

Good book with some drawbacks

There are some great advice in this book, and I think most will find the methods very useful. I do not like the self-help book genre, and I wish this wasn’t written in that style. My other drawback is that the author in the introduction claims he has tried meditation but that it didn’t help him get Indistractable. I would on the other hand claim that most of the methods here are thaught in meditation by people like Joseph Goldstein.

The chapters on parenting and kids relating to technology were very useful. 3,5 stars overall.

Total waste of time (and credit)

I was prepared for some fascinating new insights into how to thwart the incessant gamification/intentional-addictiveness of tech. Instead I got mindfulness written in a self help style, advice to remove unused apps from my phone, turn off notifications and read email once a day and use a time block method to schedule your day. There was really nothing new or especially noteworthy about this book, and it certainly wasn't the best version of this advice I've ever read either.

Oh and to download the workbook you have to download it from his website where he takes your email address and proceeds to start adding to the distractible nature of your inbox with his unwanted newsletter. Sigh.

Good tips

It took 5 chapters before he gets to anything remotely practical... the first 5 simply spent on framing the problem, i.e. people have distractions.

The rest is pretty good advice although it goes off on a tangent with kids distractions, then social conditioning at the end

but at least a few chapters of good info here

Nothing new here.

Very repetitive with nothing really new to say. In parts I felt like I was listening to adverts for Apps the author had invested in.

Dull

some reasonable points and ideas here, but dragged out and hard work to listen to.

great book, excellent chapters relating to kids

after listening to the book i want a hard copy as it's a book you can go back to over again.

It's not a book, it's an advert.

This book is thinly veiled self-help bunkum which panders to problems created by people like the author.

Count the number of times that you're told to visit the author's website. Listen closely to the names of the apps that you're recommended to start using. Then explore the author's involvment and financial investment with said apps.

Spend your time wisely, spend it elsewhere.

Has actually changed my life

Nir's book is warm and engaging, whilst being packed full of insights and practical examples right down to the names of helpful apps and products to keep you connected with people next to you in the real world. It's all about where your attention is. I like that he's stripped out any padding. He refers to "a study" rather than quoting chapter and verse - so the book itself is focused and clear. very well done. Thank you, Nir!

Life changing strategy and awareness

Ever since listening to the interview of Nir Eyal on the Paul Chek podcast I've been excited to read and integrate this book so bear that in mind. I skipped his previous work 'Hooked' and went straight into Indistractable for which I am glad that I did.

Nir narrates his writing with passion and pace, and as you'd expect with full attention. I enjoyed the two part structure, the concepts are logically laid out with a steady progression of topics building on the previous. In the second half applying the techniques in the real word and the main domains of our lives are covered comprehensively and are easy to understand or implement.

The accompanying work-book is very useful for parts that are relevant to the reader/listener to exercise the strategies and techniques the book offers, on the journey of becoming Indistractable. I AM INDISTRACTABLE....well not fully yet but I'm definitely on my way, and a lot more than what I was prior to reading. I've bought the paperback copy just to refer to on the go.

I recommend this for anyone ranging from personal self growth advocates, to parents, to entrepreneurs and workers. Thank you Nir for a great piece of work.

Some improvements to be made

Please don't start off an audiobook by telling us to download your 60 page written work book. I listen to audio books because I don't have time to read.

The tone of voice shifts up and down between different sections of the same paragraph which can be off-putting.

Its an alright book, but the majority of it is about turning off notifications in different situations, we get it. Notifications are bad.

Great book

If you want a simple and practical book about how to be indistractible. This book it’s the perfect one!