Nir Eyal talks about the differences between you and A-players

Episode 111: What A-Players Do That You Don't by Nir Eyal of Nir And Far on Getting Things Done & Achieving Your Goals)

Nir Eyal writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. The M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology.”
Nir founded two tech companies since 2003 and has taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He is the author of the bestselling book, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.
In addition to blogging at NirAndFar.com, Nir’s writing has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, TechCrunch, and Psychology Today.
Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include: Eventbrite, Product Hunt, Pantry, Marco Polo, Presence Learning, 7 Cups, Pana, Symphony Commerce, Worklife (acquired by Cisco) and Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn).
Nir attended The Stanford Graduate School of Business and Emory University.

The original post is located here: https://www.nirandfar.com/what-players-do-that-you-dont/

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What would you do if you could have back all of your unproductive hours? With today’s guest, you might get a good idea about how to achieve that. Nir Eyal is an educator and the best-selling author of, Hooked, and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.

For most of his career, he’s worked in the video gaming and advertising industries where he learned and applied the techniques used to help companies create behaviors that benefit their users while educating people on how to build healthful habits in their own lives.

I’m looking forward to having you jump in with us and learning from the man who wrote the program himself, how to reclaim your productivity and become Indistractable. 

Things you will learn in this episode:

[00:01 - 06:33] Opening Segment 

• Sponsored ad
• I introduce today’s guest Nir Eyal
• Teacher, consultant, and writer 
• Intersection of psychology, technology, and business
• Co-founder of 2 tech companies 
• Two-best selling books
• Critically acclaimed writer 
• Be sure to check out Guestio and start booking influential guests today 
• Nir gives some background on himself 
• The field of behavioural design 
• How we can control our attention 
• Grew up clinically obese 
• Learning to gain control of food 

[06:34 - 14:09] The Opposite of Distraction; Gaining Control of Discomfort

• Nir talks about how his battle with food taught him about distraction 
• Motivation to learn and gain control 
• Distraction vs. traction 
• Who to blame for distraction 
• Most distraction begins from within 
• The issue of emotion regulation; dealing with discomfort
• This is something in your control
• What you can and cannot control 
• Dealing with the discomfort 
• The fads behind mindfulness 
• Tactic vs. strategy 
• The strategies you can learn from the book
• Distraction and traction; external and internal 
• Master the triggers first 

[14:10 - 26:57] How to Become Indistractable 

• Nir shares how he became who he is today 
• Going back to school
• Becoming a blogger 
• Networking to become an educator 
• Writing his first book 
• Why Nir went back to school 
• The goal to go after Silicon Valley
• Selling things made out of bits rather than atoms
• A word from our sponsor [18:15]
• What’s on the horizon for Nir
• Helping the world become Indistractable 
• The parallels of overeating and technology
• It’s time to stop blaming the products 
• Responsibility vs. Blame
• These things are not your fault, they are your responsibility 
• You are way more powerful than you think 
• Our level of connection and disconnection today 
• Making time for traction 
• Turning value into Time
• Knowing what you’re distracted from 
• The real problem with loneliness 
• Book time for real connection 

[26:58 - 35:16] Closing Segment

• Who you know, or What you know?
• Depends on the area of professional advancement 
• One can lead to the other 
• A relationship that changed your life? 
• Meeting his wife
• Nir talks about his investment portfolio 
• Nir’s ‘Office Hours’ 
• ThE RaNDoM RoUnD
• How to reach out to Nir 
• Links below
• Final words 

Tweetable Quotes: 

“The opposite of Distraction is not Focus; the opposite of Distraction is Traction. Traction is any action that moves you towards what you want to do.” - Nir Eyal

“You are way more powerful than you think… we control these technologies rather than them controlling us.” - Nir Eyal

“You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what you got distracted FROM.” - Nir Eyal

Resources Mentioned: 

• Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life 
• Hooked

You can connect with Nir on LinkedIn and Twitter. Check out his website https://www.nirandfar.com to learn even more about the blog. 

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Ever wondered why some products have viral adoption and succeed immensely.

Nir Eyal, the best-selling author, and entrepreneur talks about this and other topics in this Behind the Scenes episode of the #KalaariPodcast

1. How to incorporate consumer psychology into product building
2. How to capture the monopoly of the mind
3. Breaking bad habits and building 'indistractable' teams
4. Balancing reactive and reflective work

#Productivity #Management

When it comes to #startups, there is no fast track to #success. Almost all startup teams go through a variety of crises and challenges Behind The Scenes. Having been a part of many startup journeys over the last decade at Kalaari, we believe that there are valuable lessons to be gained from the journeys of others. These episodes from Kalaari come from our continued commitment to empower and encourage #entrepreneurship.

If you have any suggestions, please reach out to us, podcasts@kalaari.com. We would love to hear from you.

For more podcasts, visit our website- https://www.kalaari.com/podcast

Become the most productive person you know as you learn how to tackle distractions, from emails and social media to chatty colleagues, and figure out how you can become indistractable.

How often do you sit down to accomplish a task and, instead, find yourself logging onto Facebook, conversing with colleagues, or skimming online news? It’s a common occurrence for most of us, especially in this modern world of technology. However, Nir Eyal suggests that technology isn’t to blame for our constant distraction. In fact, our brains are hardwired for distraction, luckily, we can learn to control the triggers that we encounter every day. Nowadays, technology can even help us overcome these triggers with apps that block distracting sites and set time limits. And now, you can learn how to become the most productive person you know through Eyal’s actionable advice and tips to tackle daily distractions like emails and boredom.

***

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Ever missed out on an important moment because you were staring at your phone, distracted by TV, or just zoning out? Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable, felt the same way when he missed an important moment with his daughter because he was locked in on his phone.

This spurred Nir’s curiosity on why people get distracted, what they’re getting distracted by, and how people can turn their distractions into the opposite: traction. 

As a business owner, angel investor, Stanford lecturer, and father, Nir understands what it feels like to live a hectic life, but he also understands that most of the time, we ourselves are the ones making it hectic.

So what prompts us to take action? What prompts us to take inaction? How can we make ourselves do the things we need to do, with better results, and still have time for our children, relationships, hobbies, and even down time?

It’s all possible, and the key to a distraction-free life is even easier than you would think. 

In This Episode We Cover

• Why most people know their distractions, but not how to eliminate them 
• Why we need to “get out of our own way” to accomplish our goals
• How to find your “traction” and use it to get ahead
• The 4 steps to eliminate distraction 
• Understanding your values and using them to schedule your time
• How to “time box” your calendar and get your tasks done
• Leaving the victim mentality behind and empowering yourself to do what’s important
• The 3 “life domains” that we revolve around 
• Why you need to prioritize consistency over intensity 
• And So Much More!

Links from the Show

• BiggerPockets Podcast
• Indistractable book’s Website
• Nir’s schedule maker tool
• Article “Why schedules are better than to-do lists”
• Brandon’s Instagram
• David’s Instagram

Books Mentioned in this Show

• Hooked by Nir Eyal
• Indistractable by Nir Eyal

Connect with Nir:

• Nir's website

With addictive technologies and lowering attention spans, being able to avoid distraction is the skill of the century. Just imagine how much time you would save and how many things you could get done if you were completely 'indistractible'. Behavioural designer Nir Eyal joins us in this week's Unstoppable podcast to teach you how to form good habits and how to break bad ones - so that you can get your time back. Nir has taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Design and is the author of 'Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products' and 'Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life'

TIME STAMPS 00:00 - The power of habits 05:50 - Why Facebook is so addictive 11:11 - What’s required to form a habit? 13:30 - Why Facebook could disappear 15:38 - The 2 types of manipulation 19:34 - How to become ‘indistractible’ in 4 steps 27:40 - The 3 different types of packs 33:12 - The importance of community in developing a habit and the 3 types of variable rewards 34:50 - Why the skill of the century is to be ‘indistractable’

We are living through a crisis of distraction. Plans get sidetracked, friends are ignored, work never seems to get done. You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you're about to get back to work, you receive an email that you need to reply to. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold. What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused? What if you had the power to become ‘indistractable?’

My guest on today’s conversation is an international bestselling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal. Nir started his career by helping tech-companies develop products that are intentionally habit-forming. Now, Nir has written a new book, Indistractable: How To Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, which explains how to get the best of technology and reclaim your attention, without letting it get the best of you.

Nir believes that we all have the power to become indistractable and in today’s conversation he reveals how. He explains what really drives human behavior and why ‘time management is pain management’. Nir also shares actionable techniques that will help you design your time, realise your ambitions, and live the life you really want.

I hope you find this conversation empowering.

Show notes available at: https://drchatterjee.com/120

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Nir is an author of 2 best selling books, a lecturer at Stamford and an investor of some of the worlds leading tech companies.

As an investor Nir has supported some of the most successful businesses in tech including eventbrite, which I use for the take flight events, anchor, which again I use as my podcasting host - kahoot who have had huge success globally - and many others.

As a lecturer Nir teaches marketing at the Stamford business school. The same school he graduated with his Masters in Business Administration.

His two bestselling books ‘HOOKED - how to build habit forming products' and ‘INDISTRACTABLE - how to control your attention and choose your life' have had incredible success and you can find them on most bookshelves around the world.

Nir's Newest Book: NirAndFar.com/Indistractable

The schedule maker we discussed: https://nirandfar.com/schedule-maker/

Summary article: https://www.nirandfar.com/skill-of-the-future/

The distraction guide here: https://www.nirandfar.com/distractions/

Habits vs routines article here: https://www.nirandfar.com/habits/

Nir Eyal is an author, investor and behavioural scientist. Nir's first book, 'Hooked: how to build habit forming products' was a huge hit in the tech industry. Essentially it was a guide for companies to create emotional triggers around their products so that users would become 'hooked'.

When bestselling author, Nir Eyal, wrote Hooked a few years ago, it took Silicon Valley by storm. In it, Nir explains the principles that companies and leaders can use to ‘hook’ people on forming...

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