Forget to-do lists. Here are 4 tips on how to stop procrastinating
Information overload. From music and games to social media and endless hours of entertainment, easy access to technology has meant that humans are perpetually distracted.
"The cost of living in a world with so much abundance, the price of progress, is that we have to learn how to deal with all this information," according to Nir Eyal, best-selling author of "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life."
"The skill of the century is being able to harness your attention," Eyal, an expert in behavioral design, told CNBC Make It. "It doesn't matter that you have the world's information at your fingertips ... if you can't sit down and focus on it long enough to actually turn that information to wisdom, then it might as well be garbage."
Technology can be useful to humanity, but it can also be a distraction and lead to procrastination.
In a world where technology is advancing at a breakneck pace, here are 4 principles to follow in order to become "indistractable," according to Eyal.
When people feel bored, they check Instagram. When they're uncertain, they check Google. The action of being distracted is often preceded by a feeling of discomfort, or an "internal trigger," says Eyal.
To stay focused, people should first identify the feeling that precedes the distraction and create a plan of action for the next time that feeling comes knocking.
People tend to blame their devices for distracting them from the task at hand, but studies show that humans are checking their phones due to a "ping, ding or ring" for only 10% of the time, said Eyal. The other 90% of the time, they are checking their devices due to an internal feeling — or to avoid pain or discomfort.
Ultimately, devices are tools that carry no moral