03 Oct How to be less distracted & more focused for happiness
Happiness is largely about focus.
Most of us know what makes us happy.
But most of us too easily allow ourselves to be distracted from happiness by less important or seemingly urgent “things”.
The good news is you can learn to focus better and to stay focused for longer; and as a result, you can enjoy more happiness…
via TED Ideas by Nir Eyal
From comic books and radio programs to TV shows and Atari games, the world has always been full of things that distract us. Today most of us blame our phones or, more specifically, social media, Words with Friends, or Netflix as the reason we can’t get anything done.
Yet these aren’t the real culprit, according to technology expert Nir Eyal. Instead, our distraction is usually driven by our desire to escape discomfort, including boredom, fear and anxiety. When you binge on The Office rather than doing your taxes, watching Michael, Pam and Dwight is your (understandable) way of avoiding an activity you find tedious. The secret to staying focused at times like these is not to abstain from The Office — you’ll just find another distraction — but to change your perspective on the task itself. Below, Eyal explains how.
Ian Bogost studies fun for a living. A professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Bogost has written 10 books, including quirky titles like How to Talk About Videogames, The Geek’s Chihuahua, and, most recently, Play Anything. In the latter book, Bogost makes several bold claims that challenge how we think about fun and play. “Fun,” he writes, “turns out to be fun even if it doesn’t involve much (or any) enjoyment.”
Huh? Doesn’t fun have to feel good?
Not necessarily, Bogost says. By relinquishing our notions about what fun should feel like, we open ourselves up to seeing our daily activities in a new way. Play can be part of any difficult task, he believes, and though play doesn’t necessarily have to be pleasurable, it can free us from discomfort — which, let’s not forget, is the central ingredient driving distraction…
…keep reading the full & original article HERE