Undistracted summary

Life is full of uncertainty. How could it be any other way?

We enter the world helpless and the people who we rely on for everything – our parents and guardians – are pretty much amateurs. There’s no owner’s guide to raising happy, focused, successful kids, after all. Like the folks who raised them, they have to make it up as they go along.

Sometimes, they get it right; often, they don’t. We’re the products of that mishmash of triumphs and failures. The good and the bad. And then, around the age of 18, it’s suddenly up to us to weave those contrasting threads together and craft the tapestry of a life worth living.

That, too, is an ad hoc process. It’s improvised. Made up on the go. No wonder there’s usually more ambiguity than clarity, more confusion than certainty, in our lives. Thing is, though, getting those ad hoc, improvised decisions wrong can leave us miserable and broken. The stakes, in other words, are high.

It’s no surprise that we’re plagued by uncertainty and fear knowing what we do about those stakes. We anxiously watch what others are doing and wonder if we should follow in their footsteps. We worry that we’re not popular, or attractive, or rich enough to be happy. We question our choices. Our ambitions. Our partners. The advice of our parents and teachers. Oftentimes, we get downright angry and resentful.

Add all that together and you have the perfect recipe for distraction – a life that’s lacking a sense of true north. That’s unguided and feels purposeless. That’s full of stress and short on joy.

But the fact that life really is confusing – there’s no getting around that, unfortunately – doesn’t mean you’re helpless. Hiking through unfamiliar terrain is hard, especially when it’s full of terrifying ravines and tangled forests. It’s a lot harder, though, if you don’t have a map and a compass. Or, even better, a smartphone with GPS.

The real question, then, is about tools.

What’s going to help you navigate this big scary world? What’s going to help you plot your journey toward goals that really matter and ignore all the distractions around you?

Finding answers to those questions is what Undistracted is all about. So let’s dig in!