Indistractable

 If you were to look around at the people who are really succeeding in life, I think that you would find that they all have the ability to focus for a sustained period of time on one particular skill-set or course of action. Yes we can get into debates about what success really means... However I will pose several examples to reference how I think about it. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book Outliers that 10,000 hours was needed in order to become world class at any particular skill. In order to do that you need to be able to put in the time. 

• Brene Brown - vulnerability, courage, authenticity, shame, and the things that get in the way of connection
• Timothy Hollingsworth - chef and winner of The Final Table Netflix series
• Stefani Germanotta - singer and actress selling over 150 million albums and known as Lady Gaga

Each of these have poured countless hours into their chosen area of talent and have made choices to continually pursue cultivating greater skill-sets.

So what gets in the way of sustained focus? Distraction!

For myself, one distraction that I've struggled with is EVERYTHING... It's a challenge to narrow down to just one thing. But I'll say that usually I find myself getting pulled into using my phone far more than engaging with real life. In order to combat this, I employed one of the techniques that Nir Eyal talks about in his book Indistractable. By utilising the Do It Now RPG habit app, I find myself building the good habits that I've been putting off for months and years. 

Why does it work?

Because their is a laid out reward path that if I do the tasks, it will accumulate reward points and allow me to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Nir calls this an effort pact. 

For more information about how to become Indistractable, read this summary.