Optimal Living Daily - Personal Development and Self-Improvement 3754: How To Disarm Internal Triggers and Improve Focus by Nir Eyal of NirAndFar on Self-Mastery
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Sep 28, 2025 Nir Eyal shares powerful techniques for managing internal triggers that lead to distractions. He emphasizes noticing discomfort before succumbing to distractions, such as anxiety or restlessness. Practical tips include writing down triggers to enhance awareness and describing urges in third-person to diminish reactivity. Eyal introduces the 'leaves on a stream' technique for observing thoughts without acting on them and highlights the importance of pausing with the 10-minute rule to resist impulsive actions. These strategies aim to foster self-mastery and meaningful focus.
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You Can Control Responses Not Thoughts
- Feelings and thoughts will appear whether or not you act on them.
- You can control how you respond to those internal triggers instead of the triggers themselves.
Identify And Log Internal Triggers
- Do search for the discomfort that comes before the distraction and name it.
- Do note the time, activity, and emotion when the internal trigger appears so you can spot patterns.
Observe Sensations With Curiosity
- Try describing the urge as an observer using neutral language like "I'm feeling that tension in my chest right now."
- Stay with the sensation and notice how it crests and subsides before acting.