Alejandro Arce — home Thinking in Public
No. 58 · Life

The world is one big distraction

Line illustration: a figure walking a straight line across the frame while shiny baubles and stars float all around.

The world is one big set of distractions. Even this post. All of it. We all want your attention — in fact, you should call distractions your biggest enemy.

The pull

One rep, as it happens

  • You open the phone to check one thing
  • Twenty minutes later you have a take on a feud you'll never be part of
  • You can't remember what you opened it for
That's the rep. It comes around all day, and the pull is better designed than it's ever been.
The way out

The practice

  • Notice the pull
  • Name what pulled you
  • Come back. Again. And again.
Like a rep at the gym — you train focus, one rep at a time.

The split — the pull on one side, the rep on the other

Manage your distractions or they'll manage you.

I wrote about deleting the internet a few weeks back. That was one rep. Distractions is the whole gym.

Focus is becoming a practice you train, the same way people train at the gym — something you build, one rep at a time. Notice the pull. Name it. Come back.

The people who can hold their attention are going to win the next decade. Everyone else will be very entertained while they stay in place.

Distraction is the enemy. Focus is the practice.

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