How To Master Your Attention In Times of Distraction | Nir Eyal

Hi all, I’m back from a break and a lot of traveling to meet our ADPList Community! So today’s episode is extra, extra special for you.

Our exclusive conversation with Nir Eyal, Best-Selling Author of Hooked and Indistractable. Previously, he taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Design School, and sold two technology companies since 2003.

Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World | A conversation with Nir Eyal

Nir Eyal is the author of two bestselling books, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. His books have resonated with readers worldwide, selling over 1 million copies in over 30 languages.

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. In this episode, we discuss

• #1 World’s Cause of Death.

• Distraction vs Traction (and why it matters).

• Most Dangerous Distractions you don’t even notice.

• Why you should NOT use To-Do Lists.

• Power of Time-Boxing Calendar

• Setting Right Intentions

• Rise of AI in our lives

• Longevity/Bio-hacking: Reality of this (must-watch!)

• When do you over-optimize yourself?

• The Hardcore Mindset of David Goggins.

• What is the Meaning of Life for Nir Eyal?

• Advice to Young People.

Some key takeaways

• Why focus is a real asset in today’s world? Everything is on the other side of controlling your attention and your time—this is truly how we choose our lives. Only the top 1% in every industry will eventually learn and grow this habit. If you want to be the best, watch this.

• The goal is not to finish what you set out but to be in the present. The goal is not to finish anything; it's to work on whatever you want to do for as long as you said you would without distraction. This trains your mental discipline to be able to be focused in any environment.

• Don’t reply to emails first thing in the morning. 👀 You should continue watching to hear more about this; it’s very, very interesting.

• STOP using To-Do Lists; use Time-Box Calendar instead. This methodology researched by Nir Eyal will keep you focused on a daily basis down into the minutes; it’s very, very effective. I’ve already been on it since a year ago, and remains to be the best yet.

Watch this full exclusive interview here.

In this episode, we cover:

0:00 - Introduction

1:11 - #1 Cause of Death

3:47 - Distraction

6:27 - Dangerous Distractions

7:44 - Focus vs Regret

10:23 - Myth vs Method

12:42 - "To-Do List" Is Harmful

15:07 - "Time-Box Calendar"

18:03 - Intentions

19:50 - Focus Strategy

24:05 - Artificial Intelligence

30:19 - AI Opportunity

36:00 - Bio-hacking vs Overdoing

40:19 - Optimization: Real vs Scam

45:42 - David Goggins

49:50 - Meaning of Life

54:55 - Advice to Young People

Sponsor ADPList’s Newsletter: https://www.passionfroot.me/felix

Free resources included:

1. Online book, Indistractable: http://geni.us/indistractable

2. Indistractable bonus content is here: http://www.nirandfar.com/indistractable/

3. Indistractable summary article: https://www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/

4. Timeboxing article: https://www.nirandfar.com/timeboxing/

5. Values article: https://www.nirandfar.com/common-values/

6. Nir’s free habit tracker tool: https://www.nirandfar.com/habit-tracker/

7. Nir’s free schedule maker tool: https://www.nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/

8. List of Nir’s top articles: https://www.nirandfar.com/best-articles/

9. ADPList’s YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/adplist

Where to find Nir Eyal:

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nireyal/

• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nirandfar

• Twitter - https://twitter.com/nireyal

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nirandfar/

• Instagram - http://instagram.com/neyal99

Where to find Felix:

1. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixleezd/

2. X: https://x.com/felixleezd

Reach your goals faster with the guidance of the world’s top leaders:

1. Chris Do: Reveals Truth on Good Design, Money, Psychedelic, Storytelling and Legacy. Watch on YouTube.

2. Julie Zhuo: Early Facebook Days, Leaving Meta & Building Data-Informed Products. Watch on YouTube.

3. Don Norman: 21st Century Design, Controversy, AI, Hard Problems, and Legacy. Watch on YouTube.

4. Jakob Nielsen feat. Sarah Gibbons: State of UX, Generalist, AI and Leadership. Watch on YouTube.

5. Kunal Shah: How to Make Career Luck, Secret to Happiness. Watch on YouTube.

If you find this post valuable, check out our top posts:

• What six years at FAANG taught me about designer growth

• A guide to becoming a senior product designer

• This is the 1 skill designers will need

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Thank you for reading ADPList’s Newsletter. I hope you found it valuable. Forward to a friend if you did or share on social to get others thinking.

I'll keep creating great stuff if you keep watching, listening, or reading. I read every reply if you care to reply :). You might get an answer back.

Until next week.

Felix Lee