• Chapter 1: Living the life you want requires not only doing the right things but also avoiding doing the wrong things.
• Chapter 2: Traction moves you toward what you really want while distraction moves you further away. Being indistractable means striving to do what you say you will do.
PART 1: MASTER INTERNAL TRIGGERS
• Chapter 3: Motivation is a desire to escape discomfort. Find the root causes of distraction rather than proximate ones.
• Chapter 4: Learn to deal with discomfort rather than attempting to escape it with distraction.
• Chapter 5: Stop trying to actively suppress urges—this only makes them stronger. Instead, observe and allow them to dissolve.
• Chapter 6: Reimagine the internal trigger. Look for the negative emotion preceding the distraction, write it down, and pay attention to the negative sensation with curiosity rather than contempt.
• Chapter 7: Reimagine the task. Turn it into play by paying “foolish, even absurd” attention to it. Deliberately look for novelty.
• Chapter 8: Reimagine your temperament. Self-talk matters. Your willpower runs out only if you believe it does. Avoid labeling yourself as “easily distracted” or having an “addictive personality.”
PART 2: MAKE TIME FOR TRACTION
• Chapter 9: Turn your values into time. Timebox your day by creating a schedule template.
• Chapter 10: Schedule time for yourself. Plan the inputs and the outcome will follow.
• Chapter 11: Schedule time for important relationships. Include household responsibilities as well as time for people you love. Put regular time on your schedule for friends.
• Chapter 12: Sync your schedule with stakeholders.
PART 3: HACK BACK EXTERNAL TRIGGERS
• Chapter 13: Of each external trigger, ask: “Is this trigger serving me, or am I serving it?” Does it lead to traction or distraction?
• Chapter 14: Defend your focus. Signal when you do not want to be interrupted.
• Chapter 15: To get fewer emails, send fewer emails. When you check email, tag each message with when it needs a reply and respond at a scheduled time.
• Chapter 16: When it comes to group chat, get in and out at scheduled times. Only involve who is necessary and don’t use it to think out loud.
• Chapter 17: Make it harder to call meetings. No agenda, no meeting. Meetings are for consensus building rather than problem solving. Leave devices outside the conference room except for one laptop.
• Chapter 18: Use distracting apps on your desktop rather than your phone. Organize apps and manage notifications. Turn on “Do Not Disturb.”
• Chapter 19: Turn off desktop notifications. Remove potential distractions from your workspace.
• Chapter 20: Save online articles in Pocket to read or listen to at a scheduled time. Use “multichannel multitasking.”
• Chapter 21: Use browser extensions that give you the benefits of social media without all the distractions. Links to other tools are at: NirAndFar.com/Indistractable.
PART 4: PREVENT DISTRACTION WITH PACTS
• Chapter 22: The antidote to impulsiveness is forethought. Plan ahead for when you’re likely to get distracted.
• Chapter 23: Use effort pacts to make unwanted behaviors more difficult.
• Chapter 24: Use a price pact to make getting distracted expensive.
• Chapter 25: Use identity pacts as a precommitment to a self-image. Call yourself “indistractable.”
PART 5: HOW TO MAKE YOUR WORKPLACE INDISTRACTABLE
• Chapter 26: An “always on” culture drives people crazy.
• Chapter 27: Tech overuse at work is a symptom of dysfunctional company culture. The root cause is a culture lacking “psychological safety.”
• Chapter 28: To create a culture that values doing focused work, start small and find ways to facilitate an open dialogue among colleagues about the problem.
PART 6: HOW TO RAISE INDISTRACTABLE CHILDREN (AND WHY WE ALL NEED PSYCHOLOGICAL NUTRIENTS)
• Chapter 29: Find the root causes of why children get distracted. Teach them the four-part indistractable model.
• Chapter 30: Make sure children’s psychological needs are met. All people need to feel a sense of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. If kids don’t get their needs met in the real world, they look to fulfill them online.
• Chapter 31: Teach children to timebox their schedule. Let them make time for activities they enjoy, including time online.
• Chapter 32: Work with your children to remove unhelpful external triggers. Make sure they know how to turn off distracting triggers, and don’t become a distracting external trigger yourself.
• Chapter 33: Help your kids make pacts and make sure they know managing distraction is their responsibility. Teach them that distraction is a solvable problem and that becoming indistractable is a lifelong skill.
PART 7: HOW TO HAVE INDISTRACTABLE RELATIONSHIPS
• Chapter 34: When someone uses a device in a social setting, ask, “I see you’re on your phone. Is everything OK?”
• Chapter 35: Remove devices from your bedroom and have the internet automatically turn off at a specific time.