Embrace your limits to sap distraction

When you focus on something you deem important, you’re forced to face your limits, an experience that feels especially uncomfortable precisely because the task at hand is one you value so much…

Killing time on the internet often doesn’t feel especially fun, these days. But it doesn’t need to feel fun. In order to dull the pain of finitude, it just needs to make you feel unconstrained…

The overarching point is that what we think of as “distractions” aren’t the ultimate cause of our being distracted. They’re just the places we go to seek relief from the discomfort of confronting limitations…

The most effective way to sap distraction of its power is just to stop expecting things to be otherwise–to accept that this unpleasantness is simply what it feels like to finite humans to commit themselves to the kinds of demanding and valuable tasks that force us to confront our limited control over how our lives unfold.