Lifescale, How To Live A More Creative, Productive And Happy Life, reviewed

By @SimonCocking review of Lifescale, How To Live A More Creative, Productive And Happy Life by Brian Solis.

Lifescale is a journey of self-discovery and growth. It’s about getting back into balance and remastering our destinies. Author Brian Solis knows first-hand. He struggled with distraction and all of its ill-effects. To get his life back, he developed a set of techniques, exercises, and thought experiments designed to tame the chaos, and positively and productively navigate our day-to-day lives. Instead of falling victim to the never-ending cycle of newsfeeds, Likes, addictive apps, and boredom scrolling (aka the endless scroll), we can learn to manage our time and inspire our own lives in a way that will bring meaning back—without sacrificing the benefits that our devices bring us.

In Lifescale, Brian has done the legwork to pull together scientific findings and practical tools into one book. Readers—especially those who are distracted—will connect with the humor, pathos, and inspiration inside.

We like Brian Solis’s previous work, he has produced some smart and intelligent ideas on how to use social media well. Which made the topic of this book something that we were very curious to read. Had he been swallowed by the very beast that he had fed and helped to grow in the first place? In many ways the answer to this question is yes. To a large extent he, at his own admission, had become a victim of his own success. So much so that this book replaced a previous, failed attempt to write a book on another topic, which was constantly derailed by the inherent stickiness and compelling nature of the tricky, demanding mistress that social media is. Eventually, after a year of not managing to write the book he was supposed to be writing, he abandoned the project and instead tackled the subject matter of this book.

In many ways we are better for this, as it is a honest, interesting and engaging deep dive into the new crazy world that we live in, where we constantly battle not to be victims to our devices demand for our attention. Naturally the first step is to even recognise that we have a problem, and that there is an attention war being waged with ourselves. The constant checking of our status updates, the face down walking lanes in China to manage those users who can not tear themselves away from their devices even while out and about walking in the city. Solis’s book is visually snappy in a good way, grabbing attention and presenting information and ideas in an engaging way, constantly asking the reader to assess what they are doing, why they are doing it, and if it is actually the best thing for us to be doing.

We strongly recommend you read this book, consider your behaviour patterns and assess if they are in your best interests OR those of the FANG companies looking to have you remain on their platforms for as long as possible. As the founder of Netflix, Reid Hastings said, our biggest competitor is sleep, in the new world of attention economy wars it is time to fight back to ensure the best quality of life possible for ourselves. Reading a book like this is a smart use of your time…

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