Without This Skill, You Will Not Survive

Distraction, it turns out, isn’t about the distraction itself; rather, it’s about how we respond to it.

Nir Eyal, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

We live in a world filled with distractions.

There have always been distractions, but many of the distractions we face today were engineered to bypass our awareness and manipulate our behavior.

Unless we are willing to completely disconnect from technology and society, we need to learn how to manage these external distractions.

The most effective strategy for managing distractions in our environment is to manage our inner world.

Distractions trigger behaviors that draw us away from acting in harmony with our true values.

They do that by hijacking our motivation to avoid discomfort.

Boredom, fear of missing out, risk of embarrassment — these uncomfortable states are triggered by external distractions.

We are tempted to find relief in a quick fix.

However, that relief doesn’t last and leaves us worse off than before.

The discomfort returns even stronger along with guilt and elevated stress.

But we are not left helpless, like leaves blowing in the wind.

Simply by being aware of this process and acting in harmony with what is most important to us, we can dial down…