The following is my own personal interpretation, review and action items that have served me well from recently reading Indistractable by Nir Eyal. The cover tag line is “How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life”.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by the constant dinging, pinging and notifications from your digital devices in your life, I have a few takeaways from this book that will serve you well. I’ve personally done these things, and they have helped me regain my focus and attention to the important emails and texts, in a time block that allows me to control when and where I read and respond.
- TURN OFF ALL NOTIFICATIONS! Hack back your smartphone: remove apps you don’t need, move apps you mindlessly open to harder to find places, and reclaim your attention by removing all notifications that trigger by sound and sight. There are so many options for how to be notified on each and every app. Choose wisely for each one to stay focused.
- Timebox or block schedule your day. Think about when you are most productive and when your brain and body needs a break naturally throughout the day. Plan your day around those times! Don’t force your body/brain to work when it wants to rest. You will be the most distracted at those times. Enjoy the break and refocus when it’s time to get work done.
- Declutter your desktop. If you have a zillion documents and link shortcuts in your face every time you open your computer, it just distracts you from what you opened your computer to do in the first place! Put all of that stuff in a folder, and use the “search” tool when you need to find a document. It does not all need to be right in your face. This allows your brain to stay focused when you timeblock your work time.
- Use Pocket to save online articles to read during your scheduled time.
- Set a timer for social media. Get in and get out.
- Use Calendly or some other online scheduler to make appointments with other people.
- Flag or tag emails with importance ranking and response deadlines. Set specific times in the day to sift through emails, delete the junk and mark the important items for action.