Becoming Focused and Indistractable: My Review (2023)

(This review contains affiliate links which means we earn a commission if you sign up⁠ — at no extra cost to you. However, it’s an honest review about my personal experience with Becoming Focused and Indistractable by Nir Eyal)

Modern life bombards us with distractions almost guaranteed to sidetrack you.

In a world overflowing with information that pulls you in every direction, Becoming Focused and Indistractable by Nir Eyal promises to give you superhuman productivity, focus, and clarity.

But does it really work?

After taking this Mindvalley course, I have the answer.

Keep on reading to find out my honest review of Becoming Focused and Indistractable — including everything you need to know before you buy this program.

My review process

Hi, I’m the founder of The Expert Editor, Brendan Brown.

Earlier this year I decided to take Becoming Focused and Indistractable by Mindvalley.

I wanted to share my honest opinions about it to help anyone who is also considering taking the program.

My two biggest reasons for choosing this course were:

• As a professional editor and business owner, concentration is really important for me. Without it, I lose time and money.
• I’ve taken a number of other Mindvalley courses that have helped me with my work and life (for example, Super Brain, Super Reading, and Lifebook Online). After experiencing some great results, I was excited to jump into this one too.

I’m going to keep the review as easy to follow as possible by giving everything you need to know, as concisely as possible.

I’ll cover the most important details like cost of the program, my own results, all the pros and cons, and a few alternatives you might want to try.

Why you can trust this review

When you Google anything these days, it’s really difficult to know what’s for real or not.

Let’s face it, especially when it comes to reviews we’re usually right to be suspicious because it seems like everyone is trying to sell you something.

So I want to reassure you by saying that I have taken Becoming Focused and Indistractable in full, and I’ll be telling it straight all the way through this review.

That means while I’ll let you know what I liked about it, I certainly won’t sugarcoat the things that I didn’t like as well.

Let’s dive right in.

What is Becoming Focused and Indistractable?

Becoming Focused and Indistractable is a 4-hour online Mindvalley training, split over 27 days and taught by Nir Eyal — an expert in the field of habit formation.

Habits never seem the sexiest of topics, but we are all driven by them. They are essentially our cognitive autopilot.

Habits are great when they serve us well, but I think we can all agree that those “bad habits” are notoriously difficult to shake.

You could say that knowing what we need to do, but still not doing it has become a habit for most of us.

It’s the whole “I can’t be assed” effect which makes us break promises to ourselves time and time again.

“I’m going to go for a run today”, “I’m going to learn a new language this year”, “I’m going to update my CV so I can find a better job”.

So many good intentions, but so many distractions too.

And many of us find that despite our resolve, we procrastinate, make excuses, and mindlessly swipe through our phones instead.

This program retrains the brain with leading-edge neuroscience and psychology so you can finally find your focus.

And with that new laser focus — you can level up your capacity for greater work, performance, and productivity.

Who teaches it?

The program teacher is Nir Eyal and this is his first collaboration with Mindvalley.

I had actually already heard of him before taking the course because of his bestselling book Becoming Focused and Indistractable. (Which a friend had recommended, although I never got around to reading it — what can I say, too many distractions).

Like many of the teachers you find on Mindvalley, he’s a leading  expert in his field.

His work has featured in publications like Time, The Harvard Business Review, Inc, Psychology Today, etc.

He’s also been involved in a lot of pioneering research in human behavior, which is backed by peer-reviewed studies in countless academic journals.

Safe to say this guy knows his stuff.

What is Mindvalley?

Before we go any further I’m going to quickly touch on what Mindvalley is, in case the platform is new to you.

As I said earlier, I’ve done quite a few of their programs over the years.

When it comes to personal development courses, they are one of the most popular platforms out there.

To give you an idea of their scale, their website says they have 10 million students worldwide.

You’ll find self-improvement programs (which they call “quests”) on a really wide range of topics, including mind, body, soul, entrepreneurship, career, relationships, parenting, and more.

I wouldn’t say the teachers are all famous faces, like you get with MasterClass. But they are well-known experts in their area.

Like energy guru Jeffrey Allen, Wildit instructor Eric Edmeades and money guru Ken Honda.

How much does it cost?

I’m going to talk about costs early on, as I know that when I’m thinking of buying anything it’s one of the biggest factors.

To buy lifetime digital access to Becoming Focused and Indistractable is $399 when paid in full.

You can also do a payment plan of three installments at $149 — so that works out at a final cost of $447.

(Sometimes Becoming Focused and Indistractable is on sale – click this link for the current cheapest price).

There is another option though, which would be much better value for you if you were interested in taking any other Mindvalley courses.

For $499 you can get a Mindvalley Annual Membership.

This gives you access to pretty much their entire library of “quests” — including Becoming Focused and Indistractable.

There are around 50 or so courses to choose from, and you can do more than one at once, which is nice if you like some variety in your learning.

Further on in this review, I’ll recommend a few other programs you might be interested in if you are specifically looking to create better habits and become more productive.

I’d certainly suggest having a browse and seeing if the Mindvalley Membership, for just $100 more, is a better investment for you.

Check out the Mindvalley Membership information page here.

Can I get a refund?

Before diving into my results and what you should expect from this course, another useful thing to note is the refund policy.

All of Mindvalley’s quests do come with a refund. You get a 15-day money back guarantee from the date you purchase.

That applies to both the Mindvalley Membership and the same if you opt for a single program.

Although it’s not the longest of refund periods, it will take you over halfway through this 27-day course. So, plenty of time to figure out (risk-free) whether it’s for you or not.

What’s it really like taking Becoming Focused and Indistractable?

When Nil Eyal read out the following quote in one of the first weeks sessions I felt personally called out:

“My life is one long escape from myself” — Samual Johnson.

I’m guessing almost everyone doing the course probably felt this way too.

And that’s a good way to sum up the overall feel of taking this program.

It holds up a mirror to call out the BS that holds us back, explains why we are compelled towards distraction and gets to work to change it.

There’s a four-part formula for this which you cover in the first weeks:

• Dealing with internal triggers for distraction (aka the little voice in your head that forms psychological patterns)
• Creating time for what is most important to you (Eyal calls this “traction” as it’s what moves us forward in life)
• Dealing with external triggers for distraction (you’ll get some really good hacks for all those pesky distractions like pings on your phone and endless streams of emails)
• Using pacts with yourself to stop distraction (you’re going to be so surprised how far your willpower really does stretch by making just a couple of simple tweaks so you can quite easily hold yourself accountable)

The lessons all build on one another to give you more and more tools to tackle distractions as you go along.

Once you’ve got the formula, the latter weeks of the course will then help you apply it to important areas of your life:

• Work
• Children
• Relationships.

There are also a couple of nice bonuses that come along with the program.

The first is a workbook that summarises what you’re learning and also gives you some additional exercises and techniques.

The second is 7 guided meditations, which I really liked because they’re designed to bring you into a state of focus and productivity in minutes. This was super useful for those moments when I needed a quick boost.

During this course, you learn to think of distraction in a totally different way.

Rather than being something external that is done to you, you start to see how it’s actually an action that you choose.

When you realize this you then have the full power to change it.

Because as Eyal reminds us “We are only powerless if we think we are.”

My results from taking the course

It’s going to give you some important context to explain the type of guy I am.

I wouldn’t say I had the absolute worst concentration before taking this course, but I hugely suffered from inconsistency. And I could never figure out why.

Some days I could get my head down and get things done without too much fuss.

But other days it felt like pulling teeth and I’d waste hours messing around on anything but the task at hand.

Maybe that’s not uncommon?

But with a fairly hectic work and social life, time is not only money, it’s also quality of life.

Getting better control over my wandering mind was my biggest aim in starting this program.

The first thing I came away with from Becoming Focused and Indistractable was a practical framework to make changes (instead of scratching my head over how I could try to get rid of distractions).

By the time I’d finished the course I noticed I was getting through my work faster.

I didn’t feel like I’d become smarter or more competent. It was more like the blocks that stood in my way before and led me to procrastinate had significantly reduced.

I didn’t sit down at my laptop and stare out of the window for 15 minutes, instead I happily typed away and the time kind of flew by.

Another result that I’d never given much thought to was the improvements to my wellbeing that I’d see.

During particularly busy times, overwhelm would often set in, and with it a whole lot of stress and guilt too.

The real reward of reducing procrastination and overwhelm wasn’t just about getting more things done, one of the best things was the feeling of greater peace I had.

I wasn’t getting pulled in every direction anymore or beating myself up about my to-do list.

This was a huge added bonus on top of the increased productivity I’d originally gone into the course looking for and definitely came away with.

Who is it for?

• People who want to make the most of their days and feel like they aren’t doing that right now.
• People juggling busy lives, or with goals they want to achieve and know that being focused is key to their success.
• People who are sick and tired of procrastination and overwhelm getting in their way and derailing good intentions.
• People who end up feeling guilty or beating themselves up when they get distracted or don’t feel productive enough.
• People who feel like they are pulled in 1001 different directions, but feel powerless to stop it from happening.
• People who enjoy learning the science behind things. My brain likes explanations and is wired that way, so I found understanding the mechanics behind my behaviour really fascinating.

Who is it not for?

I actually feel like this course is a really sound all rounder for anyone who wants to eliminate distractions in their life to create better focus.

But it might not be a good fit for:

• People who are exclusively looking for a few quick-fix hacks to improve productivity, but aren’t prepared to do the deeper introspective work it takes to really shift bad habits.

• People who can’t commit 20 to 30 minutes a day to watch the video content and then do the brief exercises afterward. It isn’t a lot of work, but you’re not going to get the results without some commitment.

​​Are there any alternatives to Becoming Focused and Indistractable?

If you are liking the sound of Becoming Focused and Insistractable, then there are a few other Mindvalley programs worth checking out too:

• Superbrain and Super Reading are two courses by renowned brain trainer, Jim Kwik. You can review my Superbrain review here and my Super Reading review here.
• The Habit Ferocity is a 35-day peak performance program designed to unleash your creativity, passion, and motivation and eliminate the blocks and lazy habits that stand in your way.
• Hero. Genius. Legend. focuses on the key habits, techniques, and skills to become a so-called super performer in life.

The pro’s and con’s

Pros:

• Nir Eyal’s presentation style is strong. He kept me engaged and interested during all the video content. It meant I genuinely enjoyed going through the material.

• The daily lessons between 5-20 minutes, spread over several weeks, makes this course really easy to slot into your life. This micro-style learning is a general feature of Mindvalley programs and is based on the scientifically most effective way to learn — in short bursts.

• I really liked learning the science behind behaviours, which helped make me feel more in the driving seat to change them. It wasn’t just me being lazy, it was human nature, it has scientific labels and it’s fixable.

• The course goes deeper than removing distractions and focuses on understanding the “root causes” to help you overcome them. You understand the pain that leads you to that behaviour in the first place so you can eliminate it. A lot of this course aims to shift your mindset before tackling your actions.

• The course isn’t just about distractions at work, it talks about other important areas of life like relationships. This was a real eye opener as I hadn’t even noticed how distracted I could be — for example, checking my phone during meal times.

Cons:

• Towards the end of the course, there are several sessions on parenting indistractable children. Objectively I can see how it is interesting, but I don’t have kids, so I’ll be honest I zoned out a bit. But this is a very personal con. If you do have children or work with them, I’m sure this would appear on your pro’s list.

• This isn’t a con, it’s more a heads up. You need to be prepared to do the internal work. This course isn’t just about giving you practical hacks to avoid getting distracted (although you are given those too). It will ask you to really dig around into your discomfort and the deeper causes of your behaviour. So you’ll be asked to do some self-evaluation and maybe even soul searching.

• At $399, the price tag of this program is hardly pocket change, so it’s a financial commitment for sure.

Becoming Focused and Indistractable: Is it worth it?

Look at it this way, if you spent a few hundred dollars and it made you thousands more — you’d probably think of that as a good investment, right?

That’s the bottom line conclusion that I came to about the Becoming Focused and Indistractable program.

I’d say that the initial monetary output I had to stump up has already paid for itself.

Why? Because in my line of work, time saved is money earned. So yes, for me it’s definitely been worth it.

Even if you aren’t self-employed like I am, I’m still convinced that improved productivity, focus, and clarity are going to help your earning potential — both now and in the future.

Of course, it doesn’t all come down to cold hard cash.

This course also helps people ditch the distractions to make all kinds of positive life changes and direct their energy where it’s most needed — perhaps you can’t even put a price on that.