I heard about this book from the Product community before the launch of this book last year. People talked about a lot and even many have pre-booked the book on Amazon. I’ve read it from one of the articles about his previous book “Hooked” was very interesting and popular. Many corporates have a copy of his book Hooked in their training of Product Managers. The author is none other than Nir Eyal who is one of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling authors. The author has attributed this book to his wife Julie Li and acknowledged her help and his daughter Jasmine who was an indirect trigger to write this book Indistractable.
The subject also looked attractive to me, since I was trying to be indistractable myself. Indistractable is a guide on how to stay focused in a world filled with noise and distractions. So, I waited for the kindle version and ordered the book last October and read it. It is worth reading and personally, I loved it. Let us go into the topic.
My Key Learnings from this book:
- Identify the Distractions
- Work on a time-boxed schedule
- Review the schedule
- Preventing distraction with Pacts
- How can I make myself indistractable
- How to raise indistractable children & maintain relationships
The below picture shows my key learnings in infographic view
We are going to see these points briefly below:
Identify the Distractions
I have done the exercise for this and I have uninstalled the mobile apps which I have not used for a month or so and the apps used often. Disabled all the other app notifications from my mobile except SMS notifications. It really helped to be productive and I will check the apps when I want to check.
Work on A Time Boxed Schedule
I already had a schedule, I have made some adjustments to that to cover all the 3 domains work, relationships and Me. I was lagging behind especially in the Me time. This time should be completely dedicated to me without any disturbance. I am trying to make time for myself at least in a week to pursue my passion for 2 hours. I am at 30 minutes now.
Review the schedule to know how I am progressing
I am reviewing the schedule biweekly to ensure how I am progressing to make myself as indistractable.
Preventing distraction with Pacts
There are three kinds of precommitments you can use to keep yourself on track:
Effort Pacts: An effort pact prevents distraction by making unwanted behaviours most difficult to do. Nir has given an example, Placing your tempting treats (like Oreo cookies, my personal favourite) in the container and setting the Kitchen Safe timer locks the container until the timer runs out.
Price Pacts: A price pact is a type of precommitment that involves putting money on the line to encourage us to do what we say we will. For example, if we have planned to do something, but not accomplished as per the precommitments, money has to be put in the piggy bank.
Identity Pacts: One of the most effective ways to change our behaviour is to change our identity. As modern psychology confirms, slight alterations in the way we see ourselves can have a dramatic effect on our future actions.
How can I make myself indistractable?
I am considering becoming indistractable with these key learnings. I felt the best thing I have done was to disable the app notifications. Earlier I was tempted to see what it was and then it won’t stop there and I spent extra time than what I thought actually in that particular app.
How to raise indistractable children & maintain relationships?
I have talked to my son and encouraged him to choose his schedule when he has to work on his schoolwork, TV, games and his hobbies drawing and exercise. He is also happy since he is able to choose the timings for his activities. He is also trying to be indistractable.
I hope my key learnings help you to enhance your life!