How to Prevent Distraction and Finally Live the Life You Want

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What's keeping you from being your best, from starting that business or beginning that workout routine or spending more time with your family? Is it your obsession with technology, the fact that you can't pull yourself away from your phone and computer? Blame your devices if you want to, but the truth is that distraction is keeping you from achieving your dreams. So says bestselling writer Nir Eyal, the latest guest on Spartan CEO Joe De Sena's Spartan Up podcast.

"Most of us have so much freedom [and] we don't know what to do with it," says the author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. "We are dizzy with this anxiety of not knowing what to do, which means that we often turn to distraction."

Related: Legendary Baseball Executive Theo Epstein on How to Break a 108-Year Curse

Eyal's book promises to help you get unhooked from devices, and thus help you limit distractions in your life. But it's not just about technology. It's about strict time management, how you interact with others, and certain key philosophies.

(LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST BELOW)

The Opposite of Distraction Isn't Focus; It's Traction

In the podcast, Eyal explains why people are distracted all the time, and advises how to get out from under that trap and live your best life. What exactly is distraction? It's not as simple as watching the Mets game instead of paying your bills. For example, when you check your email, you're being productive, right? Not necessarily. If checking your email isn't what you planned to do at that time, it's just as much of a distraction as playing a video game or Googling Pearl Jam videos on YouTube from 1991.

It's OK to use social media and watch television. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, it's important and beneficial in many respects. But you need to plan a time to use social media, Eyal claims, as opposed to absentmindedly scrolling through Twitter when you're with your daughter or in a meeting.

The biggest distraction we face on a daily basis? Other people. As Eyal explains in the podcast and book, the distractions of others have actually had fatal consequences (in the most extreme cases, of course).

Eyal also addresses peoples' one true human desire, how successful executives maintain their focus, the truth about multitasking, the ideal working environment, why kids turn to video games, and much more.

CREDITS:

Producer: Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc.

Hosts: Joe De Sena, Tim Nye and guest host Kressa Peterson. Co-hosts Sefra Alexandra and “Dr.” Johnny Waite are off seeking adventures and stories of resilience this week.

Synopsis: Sefra Alexandra

Production Assistant: Andrea Hagarty

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