Nir Eyal

Hey, I’m Nir.

I've devoted my career to studying the intersection of business, behavior, and the brain. 

I’m the bestselling author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products and Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. 

My next book BEYOND BELIEF (coming March 2026; available for pre-order) explores the science behind how we form, hold, and change our beliefs.

For most of my career, I worked in the video gaming and advertising industries, where I saw firsthand how powerful psychology can be in shaping behavior. Sometimes for good, sometimes not. That tension is what drives my writing today.

Through my books, keynotes, newsletter, and consulting, I help:

-Companies build habit-forming products that improve lives
-Professionals and teams reclaim focus in an age of endless distraction
-Ambitious individuals understand the invisible forces shaping their thoughts, actions, and beliefs

I’ve taught behavioral design at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. I’ve sold two technology companies since 2003. My writing has been featured in The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Time, and Psychology Today.

If you want to break through limits to achieve extraordinary results:

👉 Join 150K+ smart readers at NirAndFar.com

Author "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life"

You sit down at your desk to work on an important project, but a notification on your phone interrupts your morning. Later, as you’re about to get back to work, a colleague taps you on the shoulder to chat. At home, screens get in the way of quality time with your family. Another day goes by, and once again, your most important personal and professional goals are put on hold.

What would be possible if you followed through on your best intentions? What could you accomplish if you could stay focused and overcome distractions? What if you had the power to become “indistractable?”

International bestselling author, former Stanford lecturer, and behavioral design expert, Nir Eyal, wrote Silicon Valley’s handbook for making technology habit-forming. Five years after publishing Hooked, Eyal reveals distraction’s Achilles’ heel in his groundbreaking new book.

In Indistractable, Eyal reveals the hidden psychology driving us to distraction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices: Abstinence is impractical and often makes us want more.

Eyal lays bare the secret of finally doing what you say you will do with a four-step, research-backed model. Indistractable reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of us.

Inside, Eyal overturns conventional wisdom and reveals:

-Why distraction at work is a symptom of a dysfunctional company culture—and how to fix it
-What really drives human behavior and why “time management is pain management”
-Why your relationships (and your sex life) depend on you becoming indistractable
-How to raise indistractable children in an increasingly distracting world

Empowering and optimistic, Indistractable provides practical, novel techniques to control your time and attention—helping you live the life you really want.

Optimism isn't something you're born with. 
It's a trainable skill.
Here's how: 

The Best Possible Self exercise takes 10 minutes. 
It's been tested in dozens of studies. 
Swipe to learn how it works. 

Try it today. 
Set a timer. 
Write about your best possible future in three areas: personal, relational, professional.
Your future self will thank you. 
(And statistically, you'll have more time with that future self.)

📚 Source: https://lnkd.in/eaaXY5en

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My new book BEYOND BELIEF is available for pre-order 📚 | Former Stanford lecturer helping you make sense of the science | Bestselling author of Hooked & Indistractable (​>1M sold)

The best self exercise

1,200 times. That's how many times the average knowledge worker switches between tasks and apps each day. 

(According to Harvard Business Review)

And every single switch costs you.

UC Irvine research shows it takes 23 minutes to fully regain focus after an interruption. 

And that's not counting the actual time spent on the distraction. That's just your brain trying to remember where you left off.

Do the math: A few "quick" interruptions per hour, and suddenly you've lost half your day just trying to refocus.

We confuse motion with traction. Busyness with effectiveness. 

Opening tabs feels productive. Responding to urgent but not important emails feels productive. 

But, often, it’s just distraction in disguise.

In the age of information and AI, focus is the real competitive advantage. 

Not who knows the most. But who knows what to ignore.

The future belongs to those who can think clearly in a noisy, distracted world.

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📖 References: 

HBR study: https://lnkd.in/em7PRGMR 

UC Irvine study: https://lnkd.in/ea7cJ82w

Harsh truth: Your need for control is making you less effective. 
Here's what I mean: 

I used to obsess over things outside my control. 
Other people's reactions.
Unpredictable outcomes. 
Things that already happened.
It was exhausting.

Then I learned about LOCUS OF CONTROL - a concept from psychology that changed how I manage stress.

Here's the idea:

Your peace of mind doesn't come from controlling everything around you.
It comes from mastering what's 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 in your control:
• Your attention
• Your reactions
• Your effort
• Your beliefs

Research shows that people with an INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL (those who focus on what they can influence) experience lower stress, higher resilience, and better performance.

Here's how to apply it:

Next time you feel overwhelmed, ask yourself:

"What's in my control right now?"

Then do ONE small thing:
• Close a distracting tab
• Take three deep breaths
• Write down your next step

You'll notice your nervous system calms down almost immediately.

P.S. I dive deeper into how shifting your locus of control unlocks agency and resilience in my new book Beyond Belief. If this resonates, you'll find the full framework there. 

To pre-order the book, visit https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

Favorite question lately:
What would feel like a “miracle” if I let myself notice it today?

Einstein once said there are two ways to live your life:
as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is.

What I love about this idea is how quietly it challenges the way we move through the world.
Most of us don’t lose our sense of wonder intentionally.
It just gets crowded out. By routine, stress, repetition, familiarity.

But the opposite is also possible.
You can look at the same day, the same task, the same moment, and choose to see it differently.
To remember that many of the things you take for granted today were once things you hoped you’d have.

The more you notice, the more there is to notice.
The more you appreciate, the more there is to appreciate.

So, my question for you today: 

What would feel like a miracle if you let yourself slow down long enough to notice?

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I love Emerson's story.  
At 30, he walked away from the life everyone expected of him and chose the one he actually wanted.

Most of us never have the courage to do that. 

In the early 1830s, Emerson was a young Unitarian minister in Boston.

It was a respected role, one his family had held for generations, and it offered him a clear, stable path for the future.

But privately, he was unravelling.

His wife had died after a long illness, and her loss forced him to confront a truth he had been avoiding: 

The rituals he was performing no longer matched what he believed. 

The ceremony of Communion, in particular, felt empty to him: an act people repeated without truly feeling connected to it.

That growing misalignment eventually pushed him to do something almost unthinkable for a man in his position: he resigned from the ministry, with no concrete plan for what came next.

After stepping away, he traveled to Europe.

He wandered. He read. He met thinkers like Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Carlyle.

And slowly, through that meandering path, he began forming the ideas that would define his life’s work: ideas about self-reliance, intuition, non-conformity, and the courage to trust your own mind.

None of that would have happened if he had stayed where he was “supposed” to stay.

To me, this is a story about those quiet moments when you realize the path you’re on no longer feels like the right one for you.

Most of us feel that moment at some point. But few of us act on it. Emerson did. And that’s how he became Emerson.

What part of your life no longer feels like yours to keep following?

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I have some exciting news: 
My new book BEYOND BELIEF is available for pre-order!

I've spent the past five years writing it, and honestly, it's the book that changed my life the most.

It started with a question I couldn't shake: 

How can two people have the same goal and yet get completely different results?

I kept thinking the answer was discipline. Or intelligence. Or even just dumb luck. 

But the more I dug into the research, the more everything pointed back to something invisible.

BELIEF…

And I don't mean the "manifest your dreams" kind of belief. Or the "just hustle harder" kind, either. I mean belief as an actual, practical tool. Something you can build, test, and update based on what actually works.

Through my research, I learned that belief have the power to change three things: 
→ What you see (attention)
→ What you feel (anticipation) 
→ What you do (agency) 

This means that if you change your beliefs, and you literally change what opportunities you see, how your body responds to stress, and whether you keep going or give up.

The science behind this is wild. 

I found stories of people who had surgery without anesthesia using only their minds. 

Entrepreneurs who built empires by training themselves to spot possibilities others walked right past. 

And research showing how the beliefs you hold about aging can predict how long you'll live better than your cholesterol levels.

I can't wait to share it with you.

You can pre-order the book here: https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

Beyond Belief Announcement Nov

Two people can look at the same moment and see completely different worlds.
Here's why: 

Well, quite simply because of what they BELIEVE. 

As this quote perfectly captures, our beliefs don’t just sit in the background. 
They filter everything.

When I’m convinced something won’t work:
Every challenge feels final.
Setback feels personal.
Every obstacle becomes a reason to quit. 

But when I believe there’s a way forward: 
Problems look solvable.
Setbacks feel temporary.
The same situation opens in a completely different way. 

So... what are you choosing to believe and see today?

📚 If you’re curious about how beliefs shape what we notice, what we attempt, and who we become, my new book BEYOND BELIEF explores this in depth.

To pre-order, visit: https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

Most people don’t fail from lack of talent.
They fail because of limiting beliefs.

Beliefs feel like facts. 
But often they’re just lies your brain repeats to keep you “safe.”

The result:  
You play small. 
You procrastinate. 
Or you quit too soon.

And research backs this up:
→ When you believe you can’t, performance drops (the dark side of self-fulfilling prophecies).
→ People with strong 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘤𝘺 (belief in their own ability) persevere longer, bounce back faster, and choose challenge over comfort.
→ Even short self-affirmation practices can lower cortisol and improve outcomes under stress.

Here’s how to start rewiring limiting beliefs today 👇
 1️⃣ Spot the belief holding you back.
 2️⃣ Reframe it into a growth statement.
 3️⃣ Repeat until your brain treats it as default.

Every breakthrough starts with one belief challenged.

Swipe to learn about the 7 common limiting beliefs and what to replace them with. 

👉 Which of these limiting beliefs have you caught yourself saying?

📚If this resonated with you, check out my upcoming book BEYOND BELIEF which is now available for pre-order!

Visit: https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

7 common limiting beliefs

Procrastinating ≠ Laziness 
Most people delay important work for reasons they don't even realize. 

Most advice tells you to "just start" or "manage your time better."

But that misses what's actually happening in your brain. Years of procrastination research show that deeper psychological factors are lurking behind. 

Swipe to learn about the 3 hidden reasons high-performers procrastinate and hold themselves back. 

Which reason hit closest to home for you?

P.S. In my upcoming book Beyond Belief, I dedicate an entire section to reclaiming your agency and breaking free from the "someday" trap. 

If you're tired of waiting for the perfect moment, the book gives you the frameworks to take action. 

📚 To pre-order, visit https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

3 reasons why you procrastinate

The fear of boredom is costing you more than you think.
Here's why: 

We've trained ourselves to immediately reach for distraction the moment there's a gap in our day. 
Waiting in line? Phone. 
Commuting? Podcast. 
Eating alone? Scroll.

But here's what we forget: 
Your brain does its best work when you're not actively working.

When you're folding laundry, staring out a window, or standing in line at the grocery store. 
That's when your mind makes unexpected connections. 
When it solves the problem you've been stuck on all week. 
When the idea you've been chasing finally clicks.

So, try this: The next time you're tempted to fill a boring moment, resist. 
Sit with the discomfort. 
Let your mind do what it does naturally when given the space.

You might be surprised what shows up.

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Why you should practice being bored

"Someday" might be the most dangerous word in the English language.
Here's why: 

It sounds like hope. But it's actually avoidance.

Your brain loves "someday" because it gives you the psychological comfort of intending to do something without the discomfort of actually doing it.

You get to feel like a person who values growth (without risking failure).

Ask yourself: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺?

Not someday. Today.
Not the whole business plan. One conversation with a potential customer. 
Not the entire book. One paragraph. 
Not the perfect health routine. One pushup.

What's your "someday"?

P.S. In my upcoming book Beyond Belief, I dedicate an entire section to reclaiming your agency and breaking free from the "someday" trap. 

If you're tired of waiting for the perfect moment, the book gives you the frameworks to take action. 

To pre-order, visit https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

20 sentences to say when the voice in your head shouts, “I can’t.” 

Which sentence speaks to you most?

My upcoming book, Beyond Belief, is all about the science-backed way to break through limiting beliefs and achieve extraordinary results. 

To pre-order and unlock exclusive gifts, visit: https://lnkd.in/eQYUV9Bb

This idea changed my life: 
Cosmic Insignificance Therapy 
Here's the idea: 

Zoom out to see your life in cosmic perspective.

Realize that the universe doesn’t really care about you. 

And that might be the best news you’ve heard today.

Swipe to learn more!

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Cosmic insignificance therapy

If you're struggling to identify your strengths, here are 5 questions to fix that:

(1) What doesn't feel like work to you? (What feels effortless to you but difficult to others often reveals your deepest strengths.)

(2) What energizes you? Look at your calendar from the past 2 weeks. For each meeting, task, and project, did it energize you or drain you?

(3) What could you imagine working on for 5+ years, even without seeing much success? Where would you persist through setbacks?

(4) Ask 3 people: "When do I seem most energized and in my element? What do you see me doing when I'm at my best?"

(5)  What unusual combinations of skills do I have? (It's easier to become world-class at the intersection of 2-3 unusual skills than to become the best at any single skill.)

Answering these 5 questions is important because research on career planning reveals we're often blind to our own strengths. 

What we're good at feels easy and natural, while our weaknesses create headaches that demand attention. So negativity bias keeps us focused on where we fall short. 

We also compare ourselves incorrectly, measuring against experts with 10,000+ hours instead of comparing our rate of improvement to others with similar experience.

And we limit ourselves prematurely, ruling out entire paths based on current abilities rather than asking: "Which strengths are worth building?"

What are your answers to these 5 questions? 
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Strengths identification

Here's how it all happened:
(and how it's going)
Thanks for being here!

Hello! 

“I’m too old.” “I’m not creative.”
We all have beliefs like these. The top 1% just deal with them differently:

Some beliefs work FOR you (liberating beliefs): 
→ Adding motivation
→ Helping you spot opportunities
→ Building resilience when things get hard

Other beliefs make YOU work for THEM (limiting beliefs): 
→ Draining your energy, 
→ Creating Sunday night dread about Monday morning
→ Making you say "I can't" when you actually can

We all have limiting beliefs. 

But top performers know how to treat beliefs like tools they deliberate choose, not truths they’re stuck with. 

This means they’re able to transform limiting beliefs into liberating ones. 

And that process starts with asking a simple question which I came across when researching my new book Beyond Belief: 

"Is this belief serving me, or am I serving it?"

What belief are you serving that's no longer serving you?

If this resonated with you, check out my upcoming book Beyond Belief which is now available for pre-order! 

Visit: https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

One of the most damaging things: calling yourself "lazy"/“distracted"/unfocused”.

“Identity Behavior Theory” shows that our behaviors and outcomes are heavily influenced by the identities we adopt. 

Example: research published in top journals shows that people were significantly more likely to vote when asked, “Are you a voter?” rather than “Will you vote?”

A subtle shift from verb (VOTE) to noun (VOTER) changed real-world behavior.

This is why one of the most damaging things you can do is label yourself as “lazy,” “distracted,” or “unfocused.” 

Identity becomes destiny.

Choose labels that empower rather than limit you.

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My new book BEYOND BELIEF is available for pre-order! 
Here's why I wrote it ⬇️

I’m super excited for you all to read it! 

You can pre-order the book here: https://lnkd.in/e98xbRmT

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