Nir EyalSpeaker on Behavioral Science, NYT Bestselling Author, Former Stanford Lecturer

Distraction is much less about WHAT you're doing, and much more about WHY you're doing it #shorts

Name: Distraction is much less about WHAT you're doing, and much more about WHY you're doing it #shorts
Uploaded: 2025-05-21T15:31:09+00:00
Duration: 42 s
Channel: Nir Eyal
Description: Nir Eyal says distraction isn't about the activity itself, but your reason for doing it. Work, gaming, or streaming become traction when they align with…

21 May 2025 · 1 min

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Nir Eyal says distraction isn't about the activity itself, but your reason for doing it. Work, gaming, or streaming become traction when they align with your values and schedule, and distraction when they derail your plans or serve someone else's agenda.

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Distraction, by definition, is any action that pulls you away from what you plan to do. And the opposite of distraction is traction. Traction is any action that pulls you towards what you said you were going to do. Things that move you towards your values, towards becoming the kind of person you want to become. Those are acts of traction. If you want to work all day, if you want to play video games all day, if you want to watch Netflix all day, do it. It's your life, and there's nothing wrong with any of it as long as it's done on your schedule and according to your values, not somebody else's. Certainly not some media companies. So anything you plan to do in advance is traction. Conversely, anything that is not what you plan to do in advance is distraction. And.