Indistractable updated e.., p.23
Indistractable, Updated Edition, page 23
“25 percent of that time is consumed reading emails . . .” Michael Mankins, “Why the French Email Law Won’t Restore Work-Life Balance,” Harvard Business Review, January 6, 2017, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230610011431/https://hbr.org/2017/01/why-the-french-email-law-wont-restore-work-life-balance.
“Similarly, email’s uncertainty keeps us checking and pecking.” Sam McLeod, “Skinner—Operant Conditioning,” Simply Psychology, January 21, 2018, www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html.
“Instead of banging out a reply . . .” “Delay or Schedule Sending Email Messages,” Microsoft Office Support, https://support.office.com/en-us/article/delay-orschedule-sending-email-messages-026af69f-c287-490a-a72f-6c65793744ba.
“. . . and tools like Mixmax . . .” https://mixmax.com/.
“I use SaneBox, a simple program that runs in the background . . .” www.sanebox.com/..
“There’s mounting evidence that processing your email in batches . . .” Kostadin Kushlev and Elizabeth W. Dunn, “Checking Email Less Frequently Reduces Stress,” Computers in Human Behavior 43 (February 1, 2015): 220–28, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.11.005.
CHAPTER 16: HACK BACK GROUP CHAT
“The average knowledge worker checks communication tools such as email and group chat every six minutes . . .” Jory MacKay, “Communication Overload: Our Research Shows Most Workers Can’t Go 6 Minutes Without Checking Email or IM,” RescueTime Blog, accessed December 18, 2024, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230610095345/https://rescuetime.wpengine.com/communication-multitasking-switches/.
“In 2021, workers sent an average of thirty to forty messages . . .” Lexie McCulloch, “Slack and Other Messaging Apps Are Stealing Your Focus. Here’s How to Reclaim Focus Time in the Workplace,” Time is Ltd., January 27, 2022, www.timeisltd.com/post/cut-yourself-some-slack-less-is-more-with-workplace-messaging.
“Jason Fried says group chat is ‘like being in an all-day meeting . . .’” Jason Fried, “Is Group Chat Making You Sweat?” Signal v. Noise, March 7, 2016, https://m.signalvnoise.com/is-group-chat-making-you-sweat.
“Even though the real-time nature of group chat is exactly what makes it unique . . .” Fried, “Is Group Chat Making You Sweat?”
CHAPTER 17: HACK BACK MEETINGS
“Meetings today are full of people barely paying attention . . .” The Year Without Pants: Wordpress.com and the Future of Work (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2013), 42.
“Stopping attendance at unnecessary meetings could save organizations $25,000 per employee . . .” Steven Rogelberg and Otter.ai, “The Cost of Unnecessary Meeting Attendance,” 2022, https://20067454.fs1.hubspotusercontentna1.net/hubfs/20067454/Report_The%20Cost%20of%20Unnecessary%20Meeting%20Attendance.pdf.
“The consulting firm Bain & Company found the cost to one organization . . .” Michael Mankins et al., “Your Scarcest Resource,” Harvard Business Review, May 2014, https://hbr.org/2014/05/your-scarcest-resource.
“It’s no wonder Harvard Business Review said, ‘Time is an organization’s scarcest . . .’” Mankins et al., “Your Scarcest Resource.”
“At Amazon, each meeting begins with attendees reading a ‘narratively structured’ six-page memo . . .” “Jeff Bezos Explains Why Amazon Bans PowerPoints in Meetings,” Benzinga, accessed February 11, 2025, https://msn.com/en-us/money/news/jeff-bezos-explains-why-amazon-bans-powerpoints-in-meetings/vi-AA1tlTFL?ocid=socialshare.
“In 2023, the e-commerce company canceled all recurring meetings . . .” Kaz Nejatian, “Shopify Exec: This Is What Happened When We Canceled All Meetings,” Fast Company, May 16, 2023, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230516090059/https://www.fastcompany.com/90888605/shopify-exec-this-is-what-happened-when-we-canceled-all-meetings.
“Big brainstorming groups are significantly less productive than individuals . . .” Brian Mullen et al., “Productivity Loss in Brainstorming Groups: A Meta-Analytic Integration,” Basic and Applied Social Psychology 12, no. 1: 3–23, https://doi:10.1207/s15324834basp1201_1.
“Attendees check email or fiddle around on their phones during meetings . . .” Catherine D. Middlebrooks et al., “Selectively Distracted: Divided Attention and Memory for Important Information,” Psychological Science 28, no. 8 (August 2017): 1103–15, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617702502; Larry Rosen and Alexandra Samuel, “Conquering Digital Distraction,” Harvard Business Review, June 1, 2015, https://hbr.org/2015/06/conquering-digital-distraction.
“This idea may seem silly, but one study (among many) found that handwriting with pen and paper leads to higher brain activity . . .” Keita Umejima et al., “Paper Notebooks vs. Mobile Devices: Brain Activation Differences During Memory Retrieval,” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 15, (2021): 634158, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2021.634158.
“Compared to audio-only meetings, videoconferencing leads to ‘richer interactions.’” Vanessa Y. Oviedo and Jean E. Fox Tree, “Meeting by Text or Video-Chat: Effects on Confidence and Performance,” Computers in Human Behavior Reports 3 (2021): 100054, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100054.
“In a Zoom survey, 67 percent of professionals said having video on during meetings allows them to . . .” “When Turning Video on Benefits You, Your Teams, and Your Business,” Zoom (2021), accessed December 19, 2024, www.zoom.com/en/products/virtual-meetings/resources/video-engagement-guide/.
“However, other studies show that spending even fifty minutes in a videoconference . . .” René Riedl et al., “Videoconference Fatigue from a Neurophysiological Perspective: Experimental Evidence Based on Electroencephalography (EEG) and Electrocardiography (ECG),” Scientific Reports 13, no. 1 (October 26, 2023): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45374-y.
“In a December 2020 survey, 46.2 percent of respondents reported feeling overwhelmed, tired, or drained . . .” Nanyang Technological University, “Increased Use of Videoconferencing Apps During COVID-19 Pandemic Led to More Fatigue Among Workers, Study Finds,” ScienceDaily, July 15, 2022, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220715105742.htm.
“There are four reasons for videoconference fatigue, according to a 2021 study by Jeremy Bailenson . . .” Jeremy N. Bailenson, “Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue,” Technology, Mind, and Behavior 2, no. 1 (February 3, 2021), https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000030.
“Watching ourselves speak is unnatural . . . Bailenson said . . .” Vignesh Ramachandran, “Stanford Researchers Identify Four Causes for ‘Zoom Fatigue’ and Their Simple Fixes,” Stanford Report, February 23, 2021, https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/02/four-causes-zoom-fatigue-solutions.
CHAPTER 18: HACK BACK YOUR SMARTPHONE
“The good news is, being dependent is not the same thing as being addicted.” “Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide (Third Edition),” National Institute on Drug Abuse, January 17, 2018, www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-drug-addiction-treatment-research-based-guide-third-edition.
“Stubblebine recommends sorting your apps into three categories . . .” Tony Stubblebine, “How to Configure Your Cell Phone for Productivity and Focus,” Better Humans, August 24, 2017, https://betterhumans.coach.me/how-to-configureyour-cell-phone-for-productivity-and-focus-1e8bd8fc9e8d.
“In 2013, Apple announced that its servers had sent 7.4 trillion push notifications.” Pierce, “Turn Off Your Push Notifications. All of Them.”
“According to Adam Marchick, CEO of mobile marketing company Kahuna . . .” Adam Marchick in conversation with author, January 2016.
“However, when someone calls twice within three minutes . . .” “How to Use Do Not Disturb While Driving,” Apple Support, accessed December 5, 2017, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208090.
CHAPTER 19: HACK BACK YOUR DESKTOP
“A study by researchers at Princeton University found . . .” Stephanie McMains and Sabine Kastner, “Interactions of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Mechanisms in Human Visual Cortex,” Journal of Neuroscience 31, no. 2 (January 12, 2011): 587–97, https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3766-10.2011.
“The same effect applies to digital environments, according to a study . . .” Marketta Niemelä and Pertti Saariluoma, “Layout Attributes and Recall,” Behaviour & Information Technology 22, no. 5 (September 1, 2003): 353–63, https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929031000156924.
“According to Sophie Leroy at the University of Minnesota, moving from one thing . . .” Sophie Leroy, “Why Is It So Hard to Do My Work? The Challenge of Attention Residue When Switching Between Work Tasks,” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 109, no. 2 (July 1, 2009): 168–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2009.04.002.
CHAPTER 20: HACK BACK ONLINE ARTICLES
“I started by installing an app called Instapaper on my phone . . .” https://instapaper.com/.
“Generally speaking, we commit more errors when juggling many tasks . . .” Claudia Wallis, “GenM: The Multitasking Generation,” Time, March 27, 2006, http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174696,00.html.
“Scientists call this ‘cross-modal attention,’ and it allows . . .” B. Rapp and S. K. Hendel, “Principles of Cross-Modal Competition: Evidence from Deficits of Attention,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 10, no. 1 (2003): 210–19.
“A recent study found walking, even if done slowly . . .” May Wong, “Stanford Study Finds Walking Improves Creativity,” Stanford Report, April 24, 2014, https://news.stanford.edu/2014/04/24/walking-vs-sitting-042414/.
“In her study, Milkman gave participants an iPod . . .” Katherine L. Milkman, Julia A. Minson, and Kevin G. M. Volpp, “Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling,” Management Science 60, no. 2 (February 2014): 283–99, https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2013.1784.
“Participants who had access to the audiobooks only at the gym . . .” Brett Tomlinson, “Behave!,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, October 26, 2016, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230406073421/https://paw.princeton.edu/article/behave-katherine-milkman-04-studies-why-we-do-what-we-do-and-how-change-it.
CHAPTER 21: HACK BACK FEEDS
“A free web browser extension called News Feed Eradicator for Facebook . . .” T. C. Sottek, “Kill the Facebook News Feed,” The Verge, May 23, 2014, www.theverge.com/2014/5/23/5744518/kill-the-facebook-news-feed.
“Instead of scrolling the feed, we see tasks that we planned to do . . .” Freia Lobo, “This Chrome Extension Makes Your Facebook Addiction Productive,” Mashable, January 10, 2017, http://mashable.com/2017/01/10/todobook-chromeextension/.[URL inactive]
“While I could install a browser extension called Newsfeed Burner . . .” https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/newsfeed-burner/gdjcjcbjnaelafcijbnceapahcgkpjkl.
“Here’s how it works: During my scheduled social media time . . .” https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/open-multiple-websites/chebdlgebkhbmkeanhkgfojjaofeihgm.
“As you watch a video, YouTube’s algorithm hums away at predicting . . .” Nir Eyal, Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products (New York: Portfolio, 2014).
“Specifically, I like the free browser extension called DF Tube . . .” https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/df-tube-distraction-free/mjdepdfccjgcndkmemponafgioodelna?hl=en.
CHAPTER 22: THE POWER OF PRECOMMITMENTS
“He uses a heavy, obsolete Dell laptop from which he has scoured any trace . . .” Lev Grossman, “Jonathan Franzen: Great American Novelist,” Time, August 12, 2010, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230922205345/https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2010185-1,00.html.
“Famed director Quentin Tarantino never uses a computer to write his screenplays . . .” Iain Blair, “Tarantino Says Horror Movies Are Fun,” Reuters, April 5, 2007, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20220523021241/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tarantino/tarantino-says-horror-movies-are-fun-idUSN2638212720070405.
“Pulitzer Prize–winning author Jhumpa Lahiri writes her books . . .” Harper’s Bazaar UK, “Booker Prize Nominated Jhumpa Lahiri on India, Being a Mother and Being Inspired by the Ocean,” Harper’s Bazaar, October 4, 2013, www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/staying-in/news/a20300/booker-prize-nominated-jhumpa-lahiri-on-india-being-a-mother-and-being-inspired-by-the-ocean.
“To do so, we must learn a powerful technique called a ‘precommitment’ . . .” Zeb Kurth-Nelson and A. David Redish, “Don’t Let Me Do That!—Models of Precommitment,” Frontiers in Neuroscience 6, no. 138 (2012), https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2012.00138.
“In Homer’s Odyssey, Ulysses resists the Sirens’ song . . .” Adolf Furtwängler, Odysseus and the Sirens, n.d., drawing based on detail from an Attic red-figured stamnos from ca. 480–470 BC, height 35.3 cm (13¾2), British Museum, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Furtwaengler1924009.jpg.
“A ‘Ulysses pact’ is defined as ‘a freely made decision that is designed . . .’” Wikipedia, s.v. “Ulysses pact,” accessed February 11, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ulysses_pact&oldid=764886941.
CHAPTER 23: PREVENT DISTRACTION WITH EFFORT PACTS
“Krippendorf and Tseng’s concept was so compelling that it scored a deal . . .” www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Safe-Locking-Container-Height/dp/B00JGFQTD2.
“Whenever I write on my laptop, for instance, I click on the SelfControl app . . .” https://selfcontrolapp.com/.
“Another app called Freedom is a bit more sophisticated . . .” https://freedom.to/.
“Forest, perhaps my favorite distraction-proofing app, is one I find myself using . . .” www.forestapp.cc/.
“[Apple’s iOS 12] allows users to schedule time constraints for certain apps . . .” “IOS 12 introduces new features to reduce interruptions and manage Screen Time,” Apple Newsroom, June 4, 2018, www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/06/ios-12-introduces-new-features-to-reduce-interruptions-and-manage-screen-time/.
CHAPTER 24: PREVENT DISTRACTION WITH PRICE PACTS
“A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine illustrated the power . . .” Scott D. Halpern et al., “Randomized Trial of Four Financial-Incentive Programs for Smoking Cessation,” New England Journal of Medicine 372, no. 22 (2015): 2108–17, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1414293.
CHAPTER 25: PREVENT DISTRACTION WITH IDENTITY PACTS
“Language plays a major role in this, because it shapes our expectations . . .” Alex Shashkevich, “The Power of Language: How Words Shape People, Culture,” Stanford Report, August 22, 2019, https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2019/08/the-power-of-language-how-words-shape-people-culture.
“Consider an experiment run by a group of Stanford University psychologists in 2011.” Christopher J. Bryan et al., “Motivating Voter Turnout by Invoking the Self,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, no. 31 (2011): 12653–56, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1103343108.
“The second group answered similar questions . . .” Adam Gorlick, “Stanford Researchers Find That a Simple Change in Phrasing Can Increase Voter Turnout,” Stanford Report, July 19, 2011, http://news.stanford.edu/news/2011/july/increasing-voter-turnout-071911.html.
“The results were ‘among the largest experimental effects ever observed on objectively measured . . .’” Bryan et al., “Motivating Voter Turnout.”
“A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research tested the words . . .” Vanessa M. Patrick and Henrik Hagtvedt, “‘I Don’t’ Versus ‘I Can’t’: When Empowered Refusal Motivates Goal-Directed Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research 39, no. 2 (2012): 371–81, https://doi.org/10.1086/663212.
“Addiction researchers know the negative consequences of identifying as harmful nouns . . .” “Words Matter—Terms to Use and Avoid When Talking About Addiction,” National Institute on Drug Abuse, November 29, 2021, https://nida.nih.gov/nidamed-medical-health-professionals/health-professions-education/words-matter-terms-to-use-avoid-when-talking-about-addiction.
“Their results consistently show that teaching others provides more motivation . . .” Leah Fessler, “Psychologists Have Surprising Advice for People Who Feel Unmotivated,” Quartz at Work, August 22, 2018, https://www.web.archive.org/web/20230529191336/https://qz.com/work/1363911/two-psychologists-have-a-surprising-theory-on-how-to-get-motivated.
“Studies show teaching others can be even more effective . . .” “Targeting Hypocrisy Promotes Safer Sex,” Stanford SPARQ, accessed September 28, 2018, https://sparq.stanford.edu/solutions/targeting-hypocrisy-promotes-safer-sex.
“As Eskreis-Winkler and Fishbach note in the MIT Sloan Management Review, when people confess . . .” Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach, “Need Motivation at Work? Try Giving Advice,” MIT Sloan Management Review (blog), August 13, 2018, https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/need-motivation-at-work-trygiving-advice/.
“New research reveals an intriguing discovery: simple rituals can boost our self-control . . .” Wei Fan et al., “The Effects of Ritual and Self-Control Resources Depletion on Deceptive Behavior: Evidence from Behavioral and ERPs Studies,” Psychophysiology 60, no. 4 (2023): e14210, https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14210.
“Author Cal Newport uses rituals to create a clear boundary between work and personal time.” Cal Newport, “Drastically Reduce Stress with a Work Shutdown Ritual,” Study Hacks (blog), June 8, 2009, https://calnewport.com/drastically-reduce-stress-with-a-work-shutdown-ritual/.
“Though conventional wisdom says our beliefs shape our behaviors . . .” Daryl J. Bem, “Self-Perception Theory,” in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. Leonard Berkowitz, vol. 6 (New York: Academic Press, 1972).
“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook . . .” The Principles of Psychology, vol. 2 (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1918), 370.
