New Year's Resolution: Defeating Distraction

I just finished reading “18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done” by Peter Bregman. Why I was attracted to this book was the keyword: distraction.  Now that I work all day by myself I can find 101 different things to do other than what I should be doing, distraction.

I really never thought much about distraction before reading this book.  It’s a funny thing, something that is such a prevalent part of your life, looking you straight in the face — and you don’t even know it’s there.

In this book you’ll learn how to translate your focus into an 18-minute daily plan, ensuring that the things that matter get done, structuring your day so it’s productive, satisfying, and a measurable step toward fulfilling that focus for the year.  OR, you’ll learn how to master distraction—sometimes by using it, sometimes by avoiding it.

Bregman is a smart man and he has an amazing consulting business while being a great father and husband. This book will help you make smart, thoughtful decisions about what’s worth doing and what’s not in a way that makes sense just for you.

He has a wonderful philosophy, which you don’t really find out about until the very end of the book. The nuts and bolts of the book are in the description of the 18 minute daily routine, but that is something that he slowly leads up to.  The great thing about the book is that it is written in vignette format. Each chapter is very short, focused and pointed to the next chapter. That’s why there are 46 chapters,  but I want to tell you that it’s not as daunting as it sounds.  It reads so fast that you won’t believe it.

As Bregman says, “Who among us does not move through life with the hidden sense, maybe even quiet desperation, that we are destined for more? That underneath our ordinary exterior lies an extraordinary soul? That given the right opportunity, the right stage, the right audience, we would shine as the stars we truly are?”


If you'd like a copy of my reading notes, send me an email: robert.e.griffin@gmail.com.