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Best knot teacher
Animated Knots, animatedknots.com All knots are knotty and hard to visualize the first time. This free website is the best knot teacher yet. It beats any of the beginner books I’ve seen, as well as all the other knot websites. The key here is the stepped animations synchronized with instructions, which you can run at any speed. Replay them till you get them right. Animated Knots is the next best thing to having old Pete next to ya. Once you get the basic ones down, try some of the harder ones. There are 75 cool knots animated in total. – KK
Next step beyond the basic knots
Morrow Guide to Knots, $18 Knots are such fundamental tools, and matching the right job with the right knot is so often essential, the important next step from the Klutz Book is the equally lucid and fairly comprehensive Morrow Guide to Knots. Last week my wife Ryan gave a glad cry at the clarity in the book when she wanted to see a couple ways to tie a clove hitch, and learned that it’s easy to put a slip in a clove hitch for quick release. – Stewart Brand
Knot substitute
Nite Ize Figure 9 Carabiner, $7 The Figure 9 carabiner lets you quickly fasten – and quickly loosen or adjust – a small-diameter rope to a fixed point without a knot deploying a clever combination of friction and angles. To those of us with knot-dyslexia, this is a real boon. The only requirement: your fixed attachment point must feature either a place to clip the carabiner (i.e. a metal loop in a pick-up truck bed or a thin, sturdy tree branch), or something around which your line can be looped. That could mean securing a Tarp tent to a tree, improvising a handle around a bundle of cables, or securing a travel clothesline between window-grate and curtain-rod.
All you need to do is pull the rope through in the right sequence and finish with the rope’s loose end tugged into the notched “V” section to keep the rope attached and taut. There are actually multiple sequences and ways to work the geometry. Three methods are diagrammed in the instructions that come with the carabiner.
Thus far, I have used the devices only with standard-issue parachute cord, but they’re sized to work with a range of small-diameter ropes. Though the tying system looks suspiciously wimpy, I’ve found it is as robust as promised. I ordered the Figure 9s to replace the mesh netting that came with the roof-rack basket on my car. Not only do these make a decent replacement (i.e. riding around with a kayak strapped to my car this summer), but tying one more knot under the car is something I’m glad to skip. Note: the device is anodized aluminum and weighs a bit more than I expected (slight downside to ultra-light hikers); still, “Not for climbing” is printed on the packaging, repeated in the instructions, and emblazoned on each carabiner. I think they mean it. – Timothy Lord
Quick, easy tie-down
Rope Ratchet, $20 (¼-inch, w/rope) roperatchet.com I wanted to rig a single line of rope across the ceiling of my garage for a storage solution, but was concerned about getting the line tight enough to keep from sagging. Rather than tie up a come-along winch – which requires a lot more hook up room and has a tendency to release quite hard – I saw the Rope Ratchet and decided to give it a try; I’m glad I did. The contraption is basically a rope that’s fed into and around a ratcheting wheel and bracket that holds the line and prevents backspin; you can release the line with a lever. It’s quite simple, but I haven’t seen anything quite like it. I’m using one to hold up a 70-lbs. tackle bag 6 feet off the floor of my garage and another holding about 80 lbs. of plastic lures on a rope stretched across hooks against the ceiling of my garage. I’m using the ¼-inch Rope Ratchet that’s rated for a working load of 150 lbs., but there are different sizes for different needs: the 1/8-inch will hold 75 lbs. up, while the ½-inch will hold 500 lbs. After a number of months, mine are holding strong with no sign of failure. – Doug Mainor
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A cool tool can be any book, gadget, software, video, map, hardware, material, or website that is tried and true. All reviews on this site are written by readers who have actually used the tool and others like it. Items can be either old or new as long as they are wonderful. We post things we like and ignore the rest. Suggestions for tools much better than what is recommended here are always wanted.
From the author of Hooked, Indistractable reveals that the real enemy of focus isn’t technology — it’s our inability to deal with discomfort. Nir Eyal offers a research-backed four-step model for becoming “indistractable” and reclaiming control over your attention and your life.
Core Principles
Distraction Is an Escape from Discomfort
Most people blame their phones for their distraction, but the root cause is internal. The drive to relieve discomfort is the root cause of all our behavior — including distraction. Boredom, loneliness, fatigue, uncertainty, and anxiety are the internal triggers that push us toward escape. Until you understand why you’re reaching for the distraction, you’ll keep finding new ones.
Traction vs. Distraction
Both words end in “action” — one pulls you toward your goals, the other pulls you away. Traction is any action that moves you toward what you really want. Distraction is any action that moves you away from it. The difference isn’t the activity itself but whether it aligns with your values and intentions. Scrolling social media can be traction if it’s what you planned to do; working on a project can be distraction if you’re using it to avoid something more important.
Master Internal Triggers
Being indistractable means learning to cope with discomfort rather than escaping it. When you feel the urge to distract yourself, pause and identify the internal trigger: What are you feeling? What discomfort are you trying to escape? Simply naming the sensation and surfing the urge — allowing it to crest and pass — builds your ability to stay focused when it matters.
Make Time for Traction
You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what it’s distracting you from. Being indistractable requires turning your values into time — literally scheduling what matters on your calendar. If you don’t plan your day, someone else will. The goal isn’t to finish everything you planned but to do what you said you would do when you said you would do it.
Try It Now
The next time you feel the urge to check your phone or switch tabs, pause. Ask yourself: “What discomfort am I trying to escape right now?” Name the feeling before deciding what to do.
Look at tomorrow’s calendar. Is there time blocked for your most important priorities, or just meetings and obligations? Schedule at least one block of “traction time.”
Identify one external trigger you can eliminate today — a notification, an app on your home screen, or an open browser tab that constantly tempts you.
Notice when you use busyness as distraction. Ask: “Am I doing this because it matters, or because it feels productive while avoiding something harder?”
Try the ten-minute rule: When tempted by distraction, tell yourself you can give in — in ten minutes. Often the urge will pass.
Quote
“Being indistractable means striving to do what you say you will do.”
