Indistractable
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"?
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What Hacker News says
- I posted this a while back: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48990399
Maybe it helps you as well.
Additionally I highly recommend the book "Indistractable" by Nir Eyal. Best book on living a distraction free life.
- His followup book, Indistractable, is also quite good.
- > I am a remote worker, and the only solution I've found to stay focused is to close the door of my room. What about you?
Years of practice. Closing the door is a good strategy. I can't do the 'earphones in, work mode on' strategy, music is a distraction - so simply put, years of practice.
I've heard good things about the book Indistractable by Nir Eyal. I'll get around to reading it when I'm not busy / distracted.
- "Indistractable" by Eyal Nir is a good book if you want to dive into this topic.
- I highly recommend Indistractable by Nir Eyal
- Lots of people will come in here with technological solutions. Adding limiting software and blockers may help with some aspects of a phone distraction habit, but they're unlikely to solve the problem long term.
The first step is to notice why you're using the phone. Since this habit is likely very strongly engrained it will be difficult to notice.
Here's an example from my life:
I'm working on problem -> I don't understand what to do next -> I feel confused and anxious -> This feeling is unpleasant and I want to avoid it -> I pick up my phone to browse something meaningless to take my mind off of the unpleasant feeling.
Your exact triggers and feelings might be very different. Finding the pattern of your thoughts is the important thing. With this in mind, you can start to understand why getting rid of the phone probably won't help. You will just replace it with another activity.
I tried switching to a dumb phone and cutting the internet off to my house for 6 months. It didn't help that much. Instead I would deal with the unpleasant feelings by watching TV or picking up a book.
Your habit was built over months and years. You won't change it in a day. The first step is just noticing your feelings (harder than it sounds!).
I recommend the book Indistractable [1]. It gives a lot more detail about how these internal distractions are the root cause of a lot of procrastination habits. Just reading the book will not fix your problem in the same way as reading a book on running will not get you through a marathon. You have to put in the work over weeks and months.
Good look. With time and effort you can change this habit.
