ecuathai's review against another edition

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4.0

Awareness

I started the book to help with coaching advice for my staff who work on overly demanding projects. But instead found it especially influential in my personal life especially in midst of a Pandemic when all we want is to be distracted. Some of his suggestions I already implement but seeing from his perspective was interesting. What I found most helpful was helping our children learn to manage their own impulses in a tech driven world.

here_goes_books's review against another edition

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3.0

A decent look at how to be less distracted in life by paying close attention to what you hold dear. Time is a limited, unrecoverable resource; so are you spending it going after something you really want?

This read like a Buddhist discussion on how all suffering is created by you. Time management is pain management after all. Distraction is simply our way of not dealing with something that is difficult or unpleasant. And to be less distracted; you need to understand what you are trying to avoid.

Do that with a healthy dose of Type A scheduling and discipline annnnndddd you too can live an indistractable life.

astridquesther's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

melissavma's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.5

butleralyssa17's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

evajayne's review against another edition

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I read the first few chapters of this book as a distraction from work.

The shocking takeaway: I didn't want to do work.

The root problem is not tech or other things that distract us - the problem is us. "Distraction starts from within."

But where does our discomfort come from? Why are we perpetually restless and unsatisfied? We live in the safest, healthiest, most well-educated, most democratic time in human history, and yet some part of the human psyche causes us to constantly look for an escape from things stirring inside us. As the eighteen-century poet Samuel Johnson said, "My life is one long escape from myself."

This book is fine & has some helpful tips, but it will not help address the underlying discomfort that drives us to distraction in the first place. To help with that, I would suggest books like The Garden Within by Dr. Anita Phillips or The Emotionally Healthy Leader by Peter Scazzero.

Or, you know, therapy.

swiggitypika's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

2.0

benderrodriguez's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

3.25

Some good advice, but nothing special. I took the advice to remove shortcuts from my phone and that has helped reduce some impulsive screen time. However, the chapters were very short, yet the author still figured we needed a summary at the end of each one. Without which, the book would have been too short I guess. The audiobook narration also suffers from what many American self help books suffer from, exaggerated presentation and unnatural infections. 

tmbrundage's review against another edition

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informative slow-paced

3.0

jess_tries2read's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted fast-paced

2.5

It's okay. There are some good productivity tips here. 

I just don't like the format of these books. They're meant to be instructive, but there's little to no interaction with it. They should have work books in the back. There's a website for tips and templates, but it's not accessible to people who get a copy from the library, so some of the books' promised content is locked at a separate site locked behind a paywall. It's a little scummy. Knocking off half a star for that.