How to Become Indistractable
Hey Warriors!
We recently had the opportunity to listen to Nir Eyal's Talk on "How to Control Your Attention and Control Your Life" at Unbounce's CTA Conference in Vancouver.
This topic wasn't directly related to marketing, but it definitely has a lot of valuable lessons that we can all apply to our daily life (in both work and social life).
One of the concepts that Nir talks about is "Akrasia" which is Greek terminology for acting against our better judgment. One of the first steps we can take to become indistractable is to develop a better understanding of why we get distracted.
How to Think About Distractions
- Think of distractions as doing things that go against our better judgement
- The Opposite of Distraction = Traction
- Distraction is something that we do, not something that happens to us
- External triggers (ie. social media, text messages, etc) is not the reason why we get distracted, it's our internal triggers that drives us to distraction or traction
Time Management is Pain Management
Strategies to follow:
1) Note the sensation - write down what internal trigger you're feeling
2) Get curious - start exploring why you're feeling this
3) Surf the urge - utilize the "10 minute rule" (give in to any distraction for 10 minutes) and almost every time, the sensation goes away afterwards
Make Time for Traction
Strategies to follow:
1) Plan The Time (not the output) - scrap your to-do list
2) Get rid of low-value work - use VAs, automation, etc
3) Spend less time communicating & more time concentrating - limit unnecessary emails, meetings, etc
Hack Back External Triggers
Strategies to follow:
1) Ask yourself if this trigger is serving me? Is it prompting you to traction or distraction?
2) Adjust your notification settings
3) Leave distracting devices out of meetings - in social or work context
Use Tech to Block Out Tech:
Strategies to follow:
1) Use "Do Not Disturb While Driving" even when you're not driving
2) Get a focus friend that can hold you accountable and make distractions harder
3) Be careful when using these apps - it can backfire
Recommended apps:
1) Forest App - helps you stay focused and cuts down your dependence to your phone
2) SelfControl (Free Desktop) - lets you block access to distracting websites for a set period of time, You will not be able to access them, even if you restart your computer or delete the application until the timer expires.
3) FocusMate - a virtual co-working tool that pairs you up with other people to work with you side by side for 50-minute silent working sessions over a live video call.
We recently had the opportunity to listen to Nir Eyal's Talk on "How to Control Your Attention and Control Your Life" at Unbounce's CTA Conference in Vancouver.
This topic wasn't directly related to marketing, but it definitely has a lot of valuable lessons that we can all apply to our daily life (in both work and social life).
One of the concepts that Nir talks about is "Akrasia" which is Greek terminology for acting against our better judgment. One of the first steps we can take to become indistractable is to develop a better understanding of why we get distracted.
How to Think About Distractions
- Think of distractions as doing things that go against our better judgement
- The Opposite of Distraction = Traction
- Distraction is something that we do, not something that happens to us
- External triggers (ie. social media, text messages, etc) is not the reason why we get distracted, it's our internal triggers that drives us to distraction or traction
Time Management is Pain Management
Strategies to follow:
1) Note the sensation - write down what internal trigger you're feeling
2) Get curious - start exploring why you're feeling this
3) Surf the urge - utilize the "10 minute rule" (give in to any distraction for 10 minutes) and almost every time, the sensation goes away afterwards
Make Time for Traction
Strategies to follow:
1) Plan The Time (not the output) - scrap your to-do list
2) Get rid of low-value work - use VAs, automation, etc
3) Spend less time communicating & more time concentrating - limit unnecessary emails, meetings, etc
Hack Back External Triggers
Strategies to follow:
1) Ask yourself if this trigger is serving me? Is it prompting you to traction or distraction?
2) Adjust your notification settings
3) Leave distracting devices out of meetings - in social or work context
Use Tech to Block Out Tech:
Strategies to follow:
1) Use "Do Not Disturb While Driving" even when you're not driving
2) Get a focus friend that can hold you accountable and make distractions harder
3) Be careful when using these apps - it can backfire
Recommended apps:
1) Forest App - helps you stay focused and cuts down your dependence to your phone
2) SelfControl (Free Desktop) - lets you block access to distracting websites for a set period of time, You will not be able to access them, even if you restart your computer or delete the application until the timer expires.
3) FocusMate - a virtual co-working tool that pairs you up with other people to work with you side by side for 50-minute silent working sessions over a live video call.
Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.
for the freedoms weak people give away for safety
Lightin' fuses is for blowin' stuff togethah.