Indistractable by Nir Eyal–Summary and Notes

Summary

Nir Eyal’s Indistractable is an excellent primer about distraction and how to overcome them.

The author divided the book into 7 parts. In the first few parts, Nir explores the definition and causes of distraction.

Similar to his previous book, he offers a four-part framework:

1. Distraction is action that moves us away from what we want.
2. Traction, the opposite of distraction, is an action that moves us toward what we want.
3. Internal and external triggers can lead us to distraction or traction.

Indistractable framework

To prevent distraction, we can use pacts:

1. Effort Pact

• Make it harder to do the things that distract you.
• If you like to snack, consider placing the snack inside a tight container and further away.
• The idea is to add as much friction as possible to dissuade you from doing it.

2. Price Pact

• Adds cost to distraction.
• If you want to quit smoking, consider making a bet with your friends. If you break your promise, you need to pay them a certain amount.

3. Identity Pact

• If you label yourself as someone who is healthy and fit, you will more likely to choose healthier food and exercise more to be consistent with your new label.
• Add self-affirmation. If you repeatedly say “I am someone who does not smoke” to yourself and friends, you will have less temptation to smoke.

The second half of the book focuses on managing distractions in different aspects of life in workplace, family or relationship.

The part that resonates with me the most is part 7: “How to have indistractable relationships”.

In that section, Nir wrote:

If we are not intentional about making the time and space for distraction-free discussions, we risk losing the opportunity to truly know others and allow them to truly know us.

My personal distraction

Before the pandemic, I used to have a monthly gatherings with a few friends. We would take turns to host each other and catch up about our lives.

When the pandemic hit, government started limiting social gatherings and household visits. We replaced our monthly gathering with Zoom calls. This has its perks, we don’t have to commute and can extend our gathering time.

But in the virtual space, it’s very easy to be distracted. I can have the zoom call on one screen, and another screen playing YouTube with emails on the side.

The real world has physical limitations. But virtual world has no such limitations.

You can open as many virtual screens as you want and toggle between them every few minutes. Faced with an infinite option of entertainment, we default to consume them all at the same time.

The result is, I am only half-listening to my friends.

Solution

Thankfully, the book offers many actionable ideas. After completing the book, I incorporated the following ideas:

1. Pre-commitment

• Before each zoom calls, we commit to switch our camera on for the next few hours of discussion. When we switch the camera off, it’s easier for us to get distracted as we know no one is looking at us.
• We also rotate the host every month. To keep the gathering more interesting, the host needs to prepare a few topics for discussion or some game. When I am the host, putting those extra efforts in makes me feel more invested in the gathering.

2. Schedule time for important relationships

• We schedule our next gathering date at the end of each session.
• When we schedule our agenda earlier in advance, there is no excuse to skip the gathering as we have previously agreed to it ourselves.

3. Developing social antibodies

• We clarified that if we notice any of us getting distracted, we should call them out.
• By doing so, we make distracting actions a taboo during our gathering.

Conclusion

After trying the ideas for a few gatherings, I find them to be highly effective. I highly encourage you to read the entire book. It’s a great choose-your-adventure book. I know I will revisit the book again the next time I get distracted.