[Music]
we go to a meeting with our colleagues
and we see that half the people around
the table are distracted by the devices
and are not really fully present with us
we sit down at our desks to work on a
big project and yet find ourselves
checking email or scrolling a slack
channel or doing something else rather
than the thing we planned to do with our
time what is going on here and is it
really technology that is to blame or is
there something deeper going on
companies like Kahoot get kids hooked to
in classroom learning fit bawd gets
people hooked to exercising in the gym
bite foods gets people hooked to
healthier food options but of course
there's also a flipside that when we
design products to be engaging sometimes
some products with some people are
overused and can become distracting and
what I learned is that distraction it
turns out is not a new problem that in
fact Plato talked about the problem of
distraction 2,500 years ago he called it
ecclesia this tendency that we all have
to do things against our better interest
and it's a fascinating question I think
why is it that despite knowing what to
do we don't do the things we know we
should we know we should exercise we
don't we know we should eat better we
don't we know we should work on that big
project and we procrastinate why don't
we do the things we know we should and
so in order to understand this
fundamental question I think we have to
start by understanding what do we mean
when we use this term distraction the
best way to understand what distraction
is is to understand what distraction is
not the opposite of distraction is not
focus the opposite of distraction turns
out to be traction if you look at the
entomology of the word traction and
distraction both come from the same
Latin root trehala which means to pull
and you both you'll notice that both
words end in the same six letters they
both end in AC tion action so traction
is any action that pulls us towards what
we want to do things that we do
with intent now the opposite of traction
is distraction anything we do that pulls
us away from what we plan to do things
that we do without intent now this is
important for a few reasons one I think
it frees us from this ridiculous moral
hierarchy that what I do with my time is
fine but with what you do with your time
that's frivolous so you spending time on
Facebook or candy crush no that's a
waste of time but me watching football
for three hours that's okay why if
they're done with intent if these are
things that are consistent with your
values that you plan to do with your
time they're both perfectly fine
pastimes the other thing that's
important about this dichotomy is that
we can realize that anything can become
a distraction for example in my case I
would sit down at my desk and I would
promise myself that now I'm going to get
to work now I'm going to do that thing
that I procrastinating on I'm going to
finally do what it is I said I'm going
to do right after I check email right
after I scroll that slack channel and
something that felt were key it felt
like something I needed to do anyway for
my for my work right we all have to
check email this is part of our jobs
however if it's not what you plan to do
with your time if it's something that
you are not doing with intent it is just
as much of a distraction so the next
question is why are we prompted to
either do actions that take us towards
traction or distraction well there are
two things that prompt us to take these
actions the first are what we call the
external triggers external triggers are
things in our environment that prompt us
to either traction or distraction so if
an external trigger like a ping a ding a
ring a notification even a colleague
prompts you to do something you plan to
do with your time it's leading you
towards traction however if one of these
notifications takes you off track
prompts you to do something you didn't
plan to do as it was the case when I was
with my daughter when my phone buzzed
and I was on my device as opposed to
being present with her it led me towards
distraction however as much as we blame
these external triggers it turns out the
most common source of distraction are
not the things outside of us but rather
the fact that distraction tends to start
from within us these are what we call
the
internal triggers internal triggers are
these uncomfortable emotional states
that we seek to escape from and so if
we're going to answer plato's question
of why do we do things against our
better interests we have to start a
layer deeper we have to start with the
question of why do we do anything and
everything most people if you ask them
why do people do what they do what's the
fundamental nature of human motivation
they'll give you some version of carrots
and sticks this is called Freud's
pleasure principle that everything we do
is about the pursuit of pleasure and the
avoidance of pain but neurologically
speaking that is not true that in fact
what we now know is that everything that
we do we do for one reason and that is
to escape from discomfort we know this
to be true physiologically if you think
about it if you go outside and it's cold
you put on a coat and if it's hot once
you walk back inside you take it off if
you're hungry you feel hunger pangs you
eat and when you're stuffed you've eaten
too much that doesn't feel good you stop
eating so these are physiological
sensations that prompt us towards action
the same rule applies to psychological
discomfort so let me ask you what
website or app do people check when
they're feeling lonely where do we go
Facebook let me say tinder also true
different kind of loneliness but also
true and what about when we're feeling
bored where do we go when we're feeling
bored we check YouTube we look at reddit
we look at stock prices sports scores
Pinterest all of these products and
services cater to this uncomfortable
emotional itch this feeling that we
don't want to experience therefore if we
conclude that all behavior is prompted
by desire to escape discomfort that
means that time management is pain
management that the latest life hacks
and gurus techniques don't work unless
we fundamentally understand this fact
that time management is pain management
if we do not deal with the reason why we
are looking for escape why we are
getting distracted in the first place
why we want to take our mind off of this
emotional discomfort we will never
escape
traction
[Applause]
[Music]