October 16, 2019

Becoming Indistractable with Nir Eyal

58 minutes

This episode is brought to you by Your Clockwise Week—a personalized weekly structure built around your actual life, not an ideal one. If your week feels full but not fitting, you can learn more at mikevardy.com/yourclockwiseweek.

On this episode, I’m joined by Nir Eyal, the author of what I consider to be the best productivity book I’ve read in a long time, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

Without question I feel that Nir’s book Indistractable is the best book on the topic of productivity that I’ve read in a long time. We dig into the book throughout our lengthy discussion, discuss the concept of willpower (and my misinterpretation of how he feels about it), and so much more. There’s plenty to unpack in this episode and I’m pleased to be able to bring it to you.

Talking Points

Why I feel that Indistractable is one of the best productivity books out there

Nir shares why the book covers for both Hooked and Indistractable are yellow

The distinction between traction, time management, and becoming indistractable

What is pseudowork?

Nir Starts to reveal the four strategies that you’ll need to become indistractable

This is what time management actually is

We talk about willpower – and this is where I misinterpret Nir’s belief on the subject

As a follow up to our willpower back-and-forth, Nir says that this is what we DO have available to us

I share my external triggers with Nir and that leads to a discussion of the idea of identity

Nir spends time discussing the other types of “pacts” you can put in place on your indistractable journey

Nir gets personal as he discusses the power of “effort packs”

I share my own examples of “effort packs”

Nir talks about “progressive extremism” and its role in becoming indistractable

Nir talks about to do lists

Here’s what Nir says what you shouldn’t – and should – put on your calendar

We chat about misinformation around the use of tech

This is Nir’s definition of productivity… and his advice to live up to that definition

Quote

“The body gets what the body needs.”

Helpful Links

Good Life Project | Nir Eyal

Ryan Holiday’s Recommended Reading

The Productivityist Podcast: Willpower Doesn’t Work with Benjamin Hardy

Schedule Maker

The 106 Year Old Problem

Indistractable.com

Nir and Far [Podcast]

The Productivityist Podcast Pick of the Week: Remote Work Friends

This episode is longer than usual but it’s worth every second. Nir’s perspective on productivity is attuned to my own in many ways. Hearing him agree with me on the concept of theming your time and using the calendar as a directory for your day and a to do list for the details of your day made… well, my day. I hope that this discussion we had made your day too.

Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice.

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If this episode resonated, I’m exploring ideas like these more deeply in my upcoming book, Productiveness. You can follow along as it takes shape at mikevardy.com/productiveness.

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By Mike Vardy

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