Nick Hutchison reviews Nir Eyal's Indistractable, which traces distraction to unmet needs like work dissatisfaction or psychological hunger. The book uses habit-stacking (listening to audiobooks only at the gym) and explains how apps exploit dopamine cravings through variability, similar to physical hunger.
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Hello, Book Thinkers family! Today's book tip is going to come from Indistractable by Nir Eyal. I really enjoyed this book for a lot of different reasons. I'm at a phase of my life where I'm trying to optimize everything. I want to get the most out of every single moment for the next 10 years. Sort of that do what others won't today so you can do what others can't tomorrow or for the rest of your life sort of mantra. And I still find myself getting very distracted. Other people would tell you that I'm disciplined, and I think that I am compared to the normal person, but I still want to get the most out of every second. So the subtitle of this book is How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. As I said going into this, I still get very distracted. I deleted Facebook after reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and I took a couple other actions to limit my ability to get distracted. But then TikTok came out, and I started producing TikTok content. But then all of a sudden after that, I got hooked on the actual platform. So I'd find myself scrolling through videos and stuff like that. I thought, I need an antidote. So I jumped into this book, which was gifted to me a little while back, and I loved it. Nir, uh, he actually narrated the Audible book, and I found it a pretty cool listen. There was a lot of really practical advice, starting with things like, okay, what is the root cause of your distraction. If you're spending long nights at the office, is that really because you're distracted by your work, or is it because you don't like your home environment? If you find yourself getting into social media for 3 hours in the middle of a workday, is that really because you like the social media, or is it because you're not fulfilled with your work and you think that you want to avoid all of the unstable pieces, or you don't want to go find a new job, whatever the case may be? So getting to the root cause so that you can actually identify the issue that's causing the distraction was something that I really want to reflect on over the next couple weeks as I just finished this book today. Something else that I really liked is that if there are specific activities that you don't love doing, like the gym for me, I used to love going to the gym. Now I don't love it as much as I used to. If you stack that on top of something that you do love doing, like audiobooks— I love listening to the audiobooks— and making a rule that you can only listen to audiobooks while you're at the gym, you'll become less distracted from those things that you want to focus on and that are very important to you, and you'll start to execute with more efficiency. So I really like that in the book as well. And then the last thing that I'll mention in this video was that there was a metaphor towards the end of the book that I thought was really interesting. Nir said that when you deprive your body of food It's hungry. When you don't get the right nutrition in your body and the right nutrients, you feel hunger. And that's your body's way of saying, hey, you need to fulfill me more. And the same kind of thing can happen with distraction in your brain. Oftentimes kids get addicted to video games because they're not out there playing and fulfilling their brains. They have sort of a mental nutrient that's not being fulfilled and video game mechanics basically make it impossible for you not to get addicted. You're achieving things, that sense of accomplishment releases dopamine in your brain, you're absolutely loving what's happening, and then you get into that cycle, that cycle, that cycle. So if you're bored, you'll default to something like video games that are a distraction, or social media that is a distraction, and it'll make your brain happy. Like, for instance, social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok Variability increases dopamine levels. So if you don't know what to expect when you open up the app, and you don't know what to expect as you continue to scroll, your brain will release dopamine and it becomes addicting. And those distractions are wired that way for a reason. Now, that's again, a root cause issue. If you kind of take a step back and you realize that, then all of a sudden you can figure out how to fulfill your brain. What nutrients does your brain need? What nutrients does your body need? Using that metaphor. And I thought that was pretty interesting. So, Like I said, I'm going to do a little bit more reflection over the next couple weeks. Why do I find myself back into these social media loops or doing Instagram-related content that's not relevant to Book Thinkers when I want to get the most out of my day? Stop wasting your time, Nick. For anybody that's also suffering with some of these issues, check out this book. I thought it was really well written. I think it pairs and complements Digital Minimalism and Deep Work by Cal Newport really well. And in today's environment where we're hit with a million different stimulants, all day long, or stimuli, I don't know what that plural is, then a book like this can also differentiate you from other people. And when you sit down and talk to future employers or future business partners or even colleagues and friends, and you start talking about these principles that you learned in this book, it'll make you stand out and it'll differentiate you, like I said. So that's another good reason to read it. With that, my review is done. Go out there, read something, and I hope everybody has a fantastic day. Bye.
