Ask the Author: Nir Eyal
Answered Questions (26)
Nir Eyal
I write to answer questions I want to know the answers to. When I can't find good answers in other books on the topic, I'll spend years getting to the bottom of the problem to my satisfaction.
My advice to non-fiction authors just getting started is to follow your curiosity. If the topic is interesting to you, it will likely be interesting to others. However, if you're not writing to "scratch your own itch," the reader will detect that and your book with be a boring read.
My advice to non-fiction authors just getting started is to follow your curiosity. If the topic is interesting to you, it will likely be interesting to others. However, if you're not writing to "scratch your own itch," the reader will detect that and your book with be a boring read.
Nir Eyal
As the subtitle makes clear, Hooked is about "How to build HABIT-forming products." A common misperception, which I address in the book, is that the book is for creating addictions. IT IS NOT! Addictions and habits are not the same things.
Addictions, by definition, are always harmful. Habits, on the other hand, can be good or bad.
Hooked was written to help companies design products to build healthy habits (as I describe in the section of Hooked on ethics) While Indistractable is about how to break bad habits.
I figured who better to reveal the Achilles' Heel of distraction and how to get the best our of tech, than someone who understands these products from the inside.
Addictions, by definition, are always harmful. Habits, on the other hand, can be good or bad.
Hooked was written to help companies design products to build healthy habits (as I describe in the section of Hooked on ethics) While Indistractable is about how to break bad habits.
I figured who better to reveal the Achilles' Heel of distraction and how to get the best our of tech, than someone who understands these products from the inside.
Nir Eyal
Here are a few books I recommend reading...
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
The War of Art: Break Through Your Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
Dream Teams
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Man's Search for Meaning
Lost Connections
Hackers & Painters
Moby Dick
Factfulness
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
The War of Art: Break Through Your Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
Dream Teams
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Man's Search for Meaning
Lost Connections
Hackers & Painters
Moby Dick
Factfulness
Nir Eyal
Right! But you could structure it any way you want.
Nir Eyal
I offer a four-step way of dealing with distractions that draws on this work: 1) Look for the discomfort that precedes the distraction. Are you anxious? Restless? Bored? 2) Write down the trigger. Even if you give in to the distraction, write down what the trigger was. (You can find a distraction tracker in the book that helps with this.) 3) Explore your sensations. Become curious: why did I do that? What makes me crave the Facebook feed right now? 4) Beware of liminal moments--transitions from one activity to the next. I often use the ten-minute rule to deal with this: I tell myself that I can give in to the distraction, but not for another ten minutes. It allows you to do what behavioral psychologists call “surfing the urge”—noticing what’s happening and then avoiding it for just long enough that you can avoid the craving.
By following those four steps, you can begin to avoid the impulsivity that leads you to distraction--and you can figure out why it is you’re getting distracted in the first place.
By following those four steps, you can begin to avoid the impulsivity that leads you to distraction--and you can figure out why it is you’re getting distracted in the first place.
Nir Eyal
It's not so much the length of the pact but the length of behavior we're trying to avoid that we don't want to be too long.
I've had a price pact with myself to exercise for over three years now and it works great, but that's because each session in the gym is only 30 to 60 minutes.
Similarly, price pacts have been shown to help people avoid smoking because a smoke just lasts a few minutes and the triggers can be avoided. But price pacts wouldn't work for the constant urge of nail bitting because it's impossible to get rid of one's fingers.
Remember, price pact are what we do only AFTER we've done the other three steps in the Indistractable model.
I've had a price pact with myself to exercise for over three years now and it works great, but that's because each session in the gym is only 30 to 60 minutes.
Similarly, price pacts have been shown to help people avoid smoking because a smoke just lasts a few minutes and the triggers can be avoided. But price pacts wouldn't work for the constant urge of nail bitting because it's impossible to get rid of one's fingers.
Remember, price pact are what we do only AFTER we've done the other three steps in the Indistractable model.
Nir Eyal
I have a few ideas bouncing around but nothing firm. Any suggestions? Would love to hear if there are topics you'd like me to tackle next.
Nir Eyal
I so appreciate your kind words and your question. Let me explain a bit more about “ego depletion.” This is a pervasive pop-psychology myth that got into the cultural bloodstream, and it basically goes like this: “We have a finite amount of willpower, and when you reach the end of it, you’re depleted and done.”
It turns out, that is likely not true. Our willpower isn’t finite; it’s more like an emotion, waxing and waning in response to what’s happening to us and how we feel and think. Just as we wouldn’t say we “ran out” of feeling happy or sad, we shouldn’t say we “ran out” of willpower.
It’s not that we don’t get tired from doing a task, it’s that we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to lose control by saying our willpower is depleted. So taking a break is fine if you’re tired and that’s what you planned to do, but don’t let that be the excuse for indulging in distraction.
It turns out, that is likely not true. Our willpower isn’t finite; it’s more like an emotion, waxing and waning in response to what’s happening to us and how we feel and think. Just as we wouldn’t say we “ran out” of feeling happy or sad, we shouldn’t say we “ran out” of willpower.
It’s not that we don’t get tired from doing a task, it’s that we shouldn’t use that as an excuse to lose control by saying our willpower is depleted. So taking a break is fine if you’re tired and that’s what you planned to do, but don’t let that be the excuse for indulging in distraction.
Nir Eyal
Firstly I’m a fan of Cal’s work and he’s a friend of mine. I think he’s done remarkable work, and it shows in how quickly the phrase “deep work” as become a part of our cultural lexicon. I am first in line when he writes something new, and he was generous enough to provide an endorsement for my most recent book.
That said, I do think we take slightly different approaches. Perhaps the biggest area is in the use of technology and social media. I cop to this: I enjoy social networks. I use Facebook; I use Twitter; I use Instagram. But what I tried to present in Indistractable is a way to live with technology without having it overwhelm you, distract you, or take over your life. I think Cal is less sanguine on social media and some technology, and I don’t fault him for that. But I wanted to give readers a way to enjoy those things without having them be a source of distraction.
That said, I do think we take slightly different approaches. Perhaps the biggest area is in the use of technology and social media. I cop to this: I enjoy social networks. I use Facebook; I use Twitter; I use Instagram. But what I tried to present in Indistractable is a way to live with technology without having it overwhelm you, distract you, or take over your life. I think Cal is less sanguine on social media and some technology, and I don’t fault him for that. But I wanted to give readers a way to enjoy those things without having them be a source of distraction.
Nir Eyal
My overriding tip for writing any book: set time aside every day to work on it. I speak here from (painful) personal experience. With my first book, I wrote it when I could. And while I got it done, it wasn’t an easy process. With my second book, I tried that same strategy—and ended up spending years not getting the work done. Then, I took a number of steps to solve the issue, including setting aside time (two hours) every day to actually write. Especially for people who do other work in addition to writing, I find that it’s so important to set aside real, distraction-free time to do it.
Nir Eyal
I time-box my schedule, which is something I write about extensively in Indistractable so I always know the difference between "traction" and "distraction" in my day. I find routines are more helpful in many ways than habits. (There's a difference, see: https://www.nirandfar.com/habits/)
Basically, I have each hour of the day set for something. It doesn’t always have to be strictly productive--I time-box social media time, for example--but it does mean I have a sense of where my time goes every day so I know if I'm distracted. It's important to turn my values into time by making time for traction in my day.
Basically, I have each hour of the day set for something. It doesn’t always have to be strictly productive--I time-box social media time, for example--but it does mean I have a sense of where my time goes every day so I know if I'm distracted. It's important to turn my values into time by making time for traction in my day.
Nir Eyal
As a Star Wars fan, I appreciate the reference. Though I admit, I’ve always fancied myself more of a Han Solo than a reverse Darth Vader. Something to aspire to, I suppose?
Here’s the truth: I wrote Indistractable because I wanted the solutions in the book for myself. I didn’t write Hooked with the idea that it would be a playbook for servicing distractions--I wrote it, in part, because I thought there was something behavioral psychology could teach everyone about how to make products and services more engaging. I still stand by the work in that book. But I admit: Indistractable is also a guide for “hacking back”—for figuring out how to deal with the cacophony of interruptions in our days. Since I had a solid understanding of some of the psychological methods behind those interruptions as an industry insider, I felt I had a leg up writing Indistractable. But let me admit: that didn’t make my process of “hacking back” any easier! I had to work hard over these last few years to put in place much of what I describe in Indistractable.
Does that mean I moved from the Dark Side to the Light Side? I don’t think things are so black and white. We don’t live in a Star Wars movie. But Han Solo still rules.
Here’s the truth: I wrote Indistractable because I wanted the solutions in the book for myself. I didn’t write Hooked with the idea that it would be a playbook for servicing distractions--I wrote it, in part, because I thought there was something behavioral psychology could teach everyone about how to make products and services more engaging. I still stand by the work in that book. But I admit: Indistractable is also a guide for “hacking back”—for figuring out how to deal with the cacophony of interruptions in our days. Since I had a solid understanding of some of the psychological methods behind those interruptions as an industry insider, I felt I had a leg up writing Indistractable. But let me admit: that didn’t make my process of “hacking back” any easier! I had to work hard over these last few years to put in place much of what I describe in Indistractable.
Does that mean I moved from the Dark Side to the Light Side? I don’t think things are so black and white. We don’t live in a Star Wars movie. But Han Solo still rules.
Nir Eyal
Many people believe "focus" and "distraction" are the opposite of one another. But really the opposite of "distraction" is not "focus", it's "traction." My view is simple: we can’t call something a distraction unless we know what it is distracting us from. In other words, a distraction can be anything that pulls you away from what you planned to do with intent--even if what you meant to focus on was watching television or scrolling social media. Not everything is a distraction--or as I’ve said in the book, the time you plan to waste is not wasted time.
Nir Eyal
I’d offer that there’s one routine (rather than a habit) that matters more than many others: the ability to control the attention of your mind. Obviously, I’ve given that practice a name: becoming indistractable. But for me, it was developing this keystone skill that helped me fix all the others--my work routine, my health, my relationships. It was only when I went on a five-year journey to figure out why I was so distracted that I could come back around and repair the other habits in my life. Focus on that one and the rest take care of themselves.
Nir Eyal
With his last breath, his words uttered regret. "If I had only," he whispered to no one but himself.
Nir Eyal
I'd like to travel to the "good old days" some tech critics describe as a response to how crazy the world seems these days. Throughout history, the world has always seemed unhinged to those living in it. There were never any "good old days," at least not for society as a whole. It's a "fictional world" some people unconsciously create by romanticizing a past without appreciating how of historical hindsight warps one's perspective.
Nir Eyal
I'm reading George Packer's "Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century"
Nir Eyal
I'd like to read "Not Fade Away." I've heard good things about the book.
Nir Eyal
A few that come to mind are: Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow, Persuasive Technology (Fogg), Addiction by Design, Redirect (Wilson), and Influence
Nir Eyal
Like many people, I'm fascinated with human behavior. For most of my career I’ve worked in the video gaming and advertising industries where I learned, applied, and at times rejected, the techniques used to motivate and manipulate users. I write to help companies create behaviors that benefit their users, while educating people on how to build healthful habits in their own lives.
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