Stop Blaming Technology — We Need Distractions
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Let me tell you about a book which I have no intention of buying. I will also tell you why.
Currently, it is ranking #4 in the Workplace Culture books category on Amazon.
It’s got a typically long title “Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life” by Nir Eyal. (This is not an affiliate link).
It teaches you all about how to lead a distraction-free existence and so you will become indestructible — sorry, couldn’t resist that one!
I have just read the reviews and comments and based on this “scientific analysis”, I have decided the book is not for me.
I will also explain how we can easily deal with distractions and more importantly why we need them.
Worried about all those emails?
Distracted by emails in your box and an iPhone which take far too much of your attention so you get nothing done? This book is not for you because I will show you a few easier ways.
If you are worried about emails, rest assured that about 50% of these either don’t need any response from you or should never have been sent to you in the first place.
For all other emails, press#4. Seriously, all you need to do is to turn off notifications and schedule about 5 minutes an hour just to check for those nasty urgent ones. Those are the ones that if you do not answer will get you labeled as a slow communicator!
The rest of the time you can use to get on with your day and life.
Have you heard about timeboxing?
This is one of the main methods to get round distraction mentioned in the book. All you have to do is to plan your day rigorously so that every minute is accounted for.
Yes, you read that right — every minute. Now that is scary.
This micro-planning is simply a way to identify what we should have been doing the moment we were distracted!
That will spur us on to do it or make us more alarmed at our procrastination and so on.
