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In the modern era the single most important skill is to manage distractions. There are so many things, this site included, that can prevent you from accomplishi

In the modern era the single most important skill is to manage distractions. There are so many things, this site included, that can prevent you from accomplishing your goals via distraction. Obviously a little distraction and fun is good. But these days it easier than ever to waste an entire day or two watching Netflix and staring at your phone.

barney54 6y ago
I want to emphasize this one. When I'm on deadline, I am amazing at avoiding distractions and as a result, I'm super productive. When the deadline is far out, I yield to distractions. Avoiding distractions is a key way for me to be production.
gala8y 6y ago
> But these days it easier than ever to waste an entire day or two watching Netflix and staring at your phone. It is also worth looking at all these distractions (which turn to addictions sometimes - addictions playing the same role) as means to avoiding emotions which arise when we look at real problems and start to solve them. Somehow our emotions pull us back into this lake of low level, auto-pilot functioning where status quo is maintained and nothing new happens. Emotions trick us here.
- aaxxaab 6y ago
  For anyone interested, Indistractable by Nir Eyal is a good read on this topic. The premise is that distraction is a mechanism that the mind uses to deal with discomfort. He talks about solving the the root cause (emotions) rather than just trying to solve a proximate cause (technology).
m0zg 6y ago
> entire day or two watching Netflix and staring at your phone More like years, nowadays. Some people (most?) never recover at all, because it's cheaper and more addictive than smoking. Apple's detailed time tracking was a revelation. We discovered that my wife (who is currently out of a job due to COVID) was speding 8+ hours every day on her iPhone and iPad alone, and I myself was spending entirely too much time on my mobile devices as well. I managed to cut down to about 1.5 hours a day. She's still struggling with it. And it's hard. I have to leave my phone upstairs so I don't relapse.
- ejolto 6y ago
  What do you do with all your extra spare time? Are you learning some skill or are you relaxing in some other way not related to technology?
  - m0zg 6y ago
    There's plenty to do: I can have hobbies again. I have finished a lot of old projects in the past 6 months, some of which sat in my garage for almost a decade. It's really satisfying. I'm practicing on the guitar again, too. That alone will soak up all the spare time you might have.
    - ejolto 6y ago
      That's cool to hear, and motivational. I'd like to learn how to play the guitar and how to draw. Getting started is challenging though, especially with the distractions from phones.
      - m0zg 6y ago
        Exactly. Every time going gets hard there's a temptation to just fire up the browser or youtube. You have to make a conscious effort to _not_ do this. You have to also be _bored_ to do anything of value. It's very easy to be entertained nowadays. Similarly to cake, entertainment is good only in moderation, though.

barney54 6y ago

I want to emphasize this one. When I'm on deadline, I am amazing at avoiding distractions and as a result, I'm super productive. When the deadline is far out, I yield to distractions. Avoiding distractions is a key way for me to be production.

gala8y 6y ago

> But these days it easier than ever to waste an entire day or two watching Netflix and staring at your phone. It is also worth looking at all these distractions (which turn to addictions sometimes - addictions playing the same role) as means to avoiding emotions which arise when we look at real problems and start to solve them. Somehow our emotions pull us back into this lake of low level, auto-pilot functioning where status quo is maintained and nothing new happens. Emotions trick us here.

aaxxaab 6y ago
For anyone interested, Indistractable by Nir Eyal is a good read on this topic. The premise is that distraction is a mechanism that the mind uses to deal with discomfort. He talks about solving the the root cause (emotions) rather than just trying to solve a proximate cause (technology).

m0zg 6y ago

> entire day or two watching Netflix and staring at your phone More like years, nowadays. Some people (most?) never recover at all, because it's cheaper and more addictive than smoking. Apple's detailed time tracking was a revelation. We discovered that my wife (who is currently out of a job due to COVID) was speding 8+ hours every day on her iPhone and iPad alone, and I myself was spending entirely too much time on my mobile devices as well. I managed to cut down to about 1.5 hours a day. She's still struggling with it. And it's hard. I have to leave my phone upstairs so I don't relapse.

ejolto 6y ago
What do you do with all your extra spare time? Are you learning some skill or are you relaxing in some other way not related to technology?
- m0zg 6y ago
  There's plenty to do: I can have hobbies again. I have finished a lot of old projects in the past 6 months, some of which sat in my garage for almost a decade. It's really satisfying. I'm practicing on the guitar again, too. That alone will soak up all the spare time you might have.
  - ejolto 6y ago
    That's cool to hear, and motivational. I'd like to learn how to play the guitar and how to draw. Getting started is challenging though, especially with the distractions from phones.
    - m0zg 6y ago
      Exactly. Every time going gets hard there's a temptation to just fire up the browser or youtube. You have to make a conscious effort to _not_ do this. You have to also be _bored_ to do anything of value. It's very easy to be entertained nowadays. Similarly to cake, entertainment is good only in moderation, though.