Indistractable
Easy read
Educational

Indistractable How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

Nir Eyal2020
'A must-read' MARK MANSON 'Exactly what most of us need in order to focus on what is important, rather than the dazzling, illuminated, unsatisfying distractions of modern life' MATT HAIG 'Does exactly as it promises. Amazing' CHRIS EVANS 'A guide to staying focused in an age of constant distraction' GUARDIAN 'Eyal argues with impeccable logic' THE TIMES 'Masses of really useful arsenal and some very interesting studies about how to be less distracted in the world' PANDORA SYKES 'Now there's a way we can regain our ability to focus' RED ___________________________ We are living through a crisis of distraction. Plans get sidetracked, friends are ignored, work never seems to get done. Why does it feel like we're distracting our lives away? In Indistractable, behavioural designer Nir Eyal shows what life could look like if you followed through on your intentions. Instead of suggesting a digital detox, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving you to distraction, and teaches you how to make pacts with yourself to keep your brain on track. Indistractable is a guide to making decisions and seeing them through. Empowering and optimistic, this is the book that will help you design your time, realise your ambitions, and live the life you really want.
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Reviews

Photo of Heiki Riesenkampf
Heiki Riesenkampf@hrk
3 stars
Dec 18, 2023

** spoiler alert ** Planning ahead is the only way how to be deliberate with our time. I suppose then that living a "I do what I want when I want" kind of mentality is not ideal even when it feels ideal. A fair book - mostly obvious.

Photo of Nenad Nikolic
Nenad Nikolic@nnikolic72
1 star
Dec 12, 2023

Mindless rehashing of questionable research, sprinkled with “references” to other cheap self-help titles. There is no legitimate scientific background here. This book is so poorly done that the author even borrowed the definition of “values”. He could not come up with original one and used pretty stupid one he found I’m guessing in 15 minutes of “research”. Waste of time.

Photo of Scott Wilson
Scott Wilson@createpei
5 stars
May 7, 2023

An interesting and easy-to-read book highlighting how easily the human mind is distracted, and more importantly the methods that you can employ to avoid this distraction. Nir showcases how technology is designed with your psychology in mind in order to attract your attention and kidnap your thinking. I really liked how Nir doesn't blame the technology (maybe the designers of said technology a bit LOL) but rather embraces the good that technology offers us while using it to help fight back against the never-ending "dings, pings, and rings". I suggest that you consider sharing this book with your children after you read it so that they understand how tech has been designed to capture their attention and then arm them with the means to help protect themselves.

Photo of Keven Wang
Keven Wang@kevenwang
5 stars
Feb 4, 2023

Very good books. I am personally trying to avoid getting time wasted consume content on my phone. So I deleted all the social media apps, instant messaging apps and email app. My phone is free of not so important notifications

Photo of Fred Rivett
Fred Rivett@fredrivett
3 stars
Jan 21, 2023

A decent guide on resisting distractions, though I listened to this 6 months ago and I don’t remember much of this one.

Photo of Nick Gracilla
Nick Gracilla@ngracilla
3 stars
Jan 16, 2023

I was an early reader for Indistractable. Eyal literally wrote the book on distraction and habit-forming products (Hooked). Here, he applies the research and dark arts for good, with adjustments to behavioral models of distraction, pain avoidance, triggers, and loop cycles of rewards. The strength of the book lies in thinking beyond the task — and towards relationships and happiness in general. The weakness lies in the second half, with stories that were not compelling.

Photo of Felipe Saldarriaga
Felipe Saldarriaga @felipesaldata
5 stars
Jan 3, 2023

If you are looking for strategies to keep yourself on track of your projects and improve your productivity without feeling yourself a machine without joy and emotions, this is your book.

Photo of Raúl Barroso Moreno
Raúl Barroso Moreno@raulb
4 stars
Aug 31, 2022

Book is well structured giving clear common situations in which being distracted become an issue such as preventing us from doing those things that really fulfil us. Distractions are representation of our human condition of avoiding the uncomfortable. Being intentional, time boxing, and a long etc you'll find in this book is what help us stay on track and indistractable. Something I appreciate from books such as these is having take aways at the end of not only each chapter, but also at the end of the book recapitulating its main points so even if time goes by I know I'll have the chance to quickly come back to those.

Photo of Lee Herman
Lee Herman@macbikegeek
4 stars
Aug 21, 2022

Interesting coverage from the person who literally wrote "the" book on how to make games and social media addictive. Good advice and for a fairly directive self-help book, recognition that the problems to be solved fit everyone but not every technique for addressing them will fit everyone. It was definitely useful for his framework on how we get distracted and ways to interrupt those cycles.

Photo of Tarlan Asadli
Tarlan Asadli@tarlansd
2 stars
Aug 19, 2022

Apart from being my first ever audiobook I've listened to from the beginning till the end, there aren't many novel ideas worth mentioning. Somehow all these be-mindful-of-your-phone-usages, and timebox-your-each-days could sound (or read) like helpful advice for those who are new to the topic. But jumping right after completing two books by Cal Newport, this one felt like a downgrade. Anyway, the most hilarious analogy of the whole book which I totally can relate: Treat work chats like saunas — try to stay as little as possible.

Photo of Omar Fernandez
Omar Fernandez@omareduardo
3 stars
Dec 10, 2021

Good and practical

Photo of Arjun
Arjun@arjun
2 stars
Aug 12, 2021

Finished the book. Turns out I already know 85% of the stuff in it. Nothing remarkable. A summary would've just done a better job by saving me a lot of time.

Photo of Ilia Markov
Ilia Markov@ilia
2 stars
Aug 1, 2021

I really liked Nir's previous book "Hooked", because it had a scientific approach towards the topic it was exploring — there was a framework to follow, etc. This feels more like a collection of various facts and hacks to use and none of them are particularly new or innovative.

Photo of Clint Bedwell
Clint Bedwell@clintbedwell
+1
Photo of Huzefa Chabukswar
Huzefa Chabukswar@huzefa
3.5 stars
Sep 11, 2023
Photo of Phil K
Phil K@readmorebooks
4 stars
Jul 29, 2022
Photo of Masharty Tembo
Masharty Tembo@masharty
4 stars
Apr 16, 2022
Photo of Eduardo Z
Eduardo Z @eduardozulian
3 stars
Oct 4, 2021
+2
Photo of Gerbert-Jan
Gerbert-Jan@gjrosmalen
5 stars
Jul 23, 2024
Photo of Christian Bager Bach Houmann
Christian Bager Bach Houmann@cbbh
5 stars
Jul 20, 2024
Photo of Niels Andersen
Niels Andersen@nielsandersen
4 stars
Apr 30, 2024
Photo of Taylor Murphy
Taylor Murphy@tayloramurphy
3 stars
Apr 7, 2024
Photo of Pierre
Pierre@pst
2 stars
Apr 4, 2024
Photo of veekay
veekay@veekay
4 stars
Jan 3, 2024