This is the new title from Nir Eyal, the author of the well-known ‘Hooked’ which uncovered the research behind how social media (and other tech products) keep their users engaged. This new book took him five years of research and essentially offers advice on staying focused.
The book does a great job of explaining the Human Psychology behind much of what we all experience every day. Nir uses simple terms to cover many academic studies and uses lots of relatable examples.
The essence of the book is down to a neat set of four practices to help avoid distraction. Without going into the detail they deserve, these are:
- Removing External Triggers – controlling gadgets, environment and people.
- Controlling Internal Triggers – managing the day and tasks properly.
- Make Pre-commitments – make pacts to help you stay on task.
- Make Time – set times for the enjoyable things.
Sweeping insights that get made throughout the book include the proposition that our over-use of technology is actually helping us avoid pain. That might be having specific interactions, honest conversations or trying to work in a dysfunctional culture.
As such busying ourselves with invented tasks (like meetings and email) allow us to do something which looks like progress but often isn’t.
As you’d expect there is a lot about using settings on gadgets and leveraging proper calendar time-boxing to really get things done.
The book clearly focuses on jobs that include a decent amount of solo tasks generating creative output – like writing, programming, or design. That said I don’t think anyone can ignore advice on reducing distraction and this interesting and accessible book is a treat.
Working From Home 