How to be Indistractabile, It’s not what you think
Overview on from Indistractible book from behavioural design expert
There are a lot of books about Personal improvement & Social engineering. I’ve read many of them.
But the one that stood out the most is “Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life” by Nir Eyal.
Nir’s first book was “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products” which is on, how tech companies design addictive user behaviours. This is what our day-to-day apps do to us.
In the second book he flips the script, reversing those same tactics — and taking on how to take control back.
1. Distractions are engineered in our society
Modern apps, platforms, and systems are deliberately designed to hijack our attention. It’s your fault — it’s their business model & systemic issue.
2. Distraction is only a symptom, it’s driven by internal discomfort
We get distracted because we’re trying to escape internal discomfort — boredom, anxiety, emptiness, or fear. The real cause is emotional avoidance.
3. Distraction pulls you away from your values
Apps use these internal discomfort to pull away from our values, you need to replace them with intentional, purposeful actions to realign. Apps and habits use these discomfort to Disconnect you from your deeper intentions
4. Hack back distractions, make them harder to access
Remove or redesign notifications, environment cues, and tech setups , so, distractions are less accessible. Like blocking notifications, time blocking etc.
5. This Is About Reclaiming Identity.
You become What you repeatedly do. Your identity isn’t fixed — it’s formed by your actions.
Being Indistractable isn’t about willpower — it’s about living in alignment & integrity with who you choose to be.
If you are at all interested in how social engineering works — and how to defend yourself from it, I can’t recommend this book enough.