Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

by Nir Eyal

Researchers tell us attention and focus are the raw materials of human creativity and flourishing.

The curse is not that Tantalus spends all eternity reaching for things just out of reach, but rather his obliviousness to the greater folly of his actions. Tantalus’ curse was his blindness to the fact he didn’t need those things in the first place. That’s the real moral of the story.

Even when we think we’re seeking pleasure, we’re actually driven by the desire to free ourselves from the pain of wanting.

Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality. How we deal with uncomfortable internal triggers determines whether we pursue healthful acts of traction or self-defeating distractions.

Only by understanding our pain can we begin to control it and find better ways to deal with negative urges.

If distraction costs us time, then time management is pain management.

Dissatisfaction and discomfort dominate our brain’s default state, but we can use them to motivate us instead of defeat us.

Dissatisfaction is responsible for our species’ advances and its faults. To harness its power, we must disavow the misguided idea that if we’re not happy we’re not normal – exactly the opposite is true.

It’s good to know that feeling bad isn’t actually bad; it’s exactly what survival of the fittest intended.

An endless cycle of resisting, ruminating, and finally giving in to the desire perpetuates the cycle and quite possibly drives many of our unwanted behaviours.

Step 1: Look for the discomfort that precedes the distraction, focusing in on the internal trigger

‘First, pay close, foolish, even absurd attention to things.’

Operating under constraints, Bogost says, is the key to creativity and fun.

‘The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.’

Fun is looking for the variability in something other people don’t notice. It’s breaking through the boredom and monotony to discover its hidden beauty.

People who did not see willpower as a finite resource did not show signs of ego depletion.

Addicts’ belief regarding their powerlessness was just as significant in determining whether they would relapse after treatment as their level of physical dependence. Just let that sink in – mindset mattered as much as physical dependence! What we say to ourselves is vitally important. Labelling yourself as having poor self-control actually leads to less self-control.