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Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

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Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#171

Post by jqm »

copperx wrote: post #106

This post hits too close to home. I suffered through this and was the worst during my Masters. I wrote my masters thesis in about two sleepless days. It was the worst period in my life. I was alarmed, so I went to a psychiatrist and diagnosed me as ADHD, and the stimulants worked wonderfully until I started feeling the long term effects : chronic dry mouth leading me to losing one teeth, insufferable tiredness when n…

https://www.youtube.com/user/jodywhiteley/videos?flow=grid&v...

These video series have really helped waking hours as well. Sleep quality has been much better and I feel a lot more in touch with who I am. A lot more focused during the day.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#172

Post by rwallace »

Now that I think about it, there was an article a while ago by someone who hired someone to sit beside him and prompt him whenever he drifted off track, to make him get back to work. I would expect that to work, and apparently it did, very well. Maybe that should go on the list of things to try.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#173

Post by ViolentCheese »

gt565k wrote: post #12

Take a step back and think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. When your mind was the sharpest it has ever been and you were knocking shit out left and right. Maybe that was in high school or college, or during your first few years in your career. Ask yourself: What was different back then? What was your daily routine? What did you eat? Did you play sports or stay active? A lot of peo…

Wow, I was about to stop reading at the beginning of the third line only to realize that I was about to commit the same type of behavior.

Thank you, this is very good advice.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#174

Post by udkl »

robotresearcher wrote: post #165
tajen wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was beloved. By my parents.

Don't give up. Get out and meet people. Friends are easier to find than romance and love from friends is quiet and unflashy and good and powerful. If I misunderstood your situation from your six word post, forgive me.

I agree a 100% with you.

Find & surround yourself with people who you admire & who are go-getters.

When I wanted to push myself to exercise more frequently, I surrounded myself with people on snapchat, FB, periscope, twitter etc who put out photos and texts which kept me motivated (sub-consciously).

I consider it a special kind of sub-conscious visualization and it works well for me. The key is to find people who you admire.

In your case, go and watch Brian Tracy video and talks. Listen to or read about people who are go-getters (Forbes/Altucher etc) Find other productivity podcasts and listen to them when coding.

Just exposing yourself to these will bring out changes in you.

We are what we choose to focus on.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#175

Post by udkl »

runnig wrote: post #118

I started writing a table: start_time, end_time, activity, project 08:00, 08:30, emails, 08:00, 08:35, facebook, procrastination 08:35: 09:00, work, project1 09:00: 09:30, hackernews, procrastination It helped me tremendously to reduce the amount of wasted time. The key is to be absolutely, brutally honest in this table.

Tip : You can use RescueTime to make it easier.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#176

Post by udkl »

gt565k wrote: post #12

Take a step back and think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. When your mind was the sharpest it has ever been and you were knocking shit out left and right. Maybe that was in high school or college, or during your first few years in your career. Ask yourself: What was different back then? What was your daily routine? What did you eat? Did you play sports or stay active? A lot of peo…

One take-home from gt565k's comment is to treat this simply as a psychological issue.

If you approach it this way, it just becomes a matter of re-programming your 'liquidware'.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#178

Post by ChuckMcM »

nefitty wrote: post #99
ChuckMcM wrote: post #86

I find I can get into this mode when I don't believe I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing. I know that sounds weird but a couple of times when I was in a job where the "goal" of the company or the group wasn't in line with what I was trying to do in my own life I would find all sorts of excuses to work on other things. My therapist said that I was self sabotaging my work because my subconscious wanted out but my…

My format for this is a daily checklist to begin my work. I also left space to gather tasks to do and check those off as I go. I log these "quests" on sticky notes as I continue working throughout the day. How do you do this? Edit: I see your answer to a commenter below. I'm picturing journal pages with big headers for each project and accompanying subtasks in a list beneath them...

I use an engineering notebook and I've got a system of colored "flags" that has sort of evolved over they years. When I work on a project I journal it into the notebook, I add a 'prev' link with the page number where I last journaled it, when I create a new entry I go back one and add a 'forward' link to the page number where I came back. In the index I add a reference to the 'start' of the project. Very simple doubly linked list in ink. I used colored post-it flags (like those 'sign here' ones) on pages that I have some sort of follow up on. So red for action items, yellow for invention ideas, blue for waiting for something to happen (someone else's action item), etc. When I journal my current state I try to get as much as possible down of my current mental state. That way when I come back to it I'll be able to spin up quickly with the bread crumbs left behind.

I've also done some of this with Evernote, and I'm playing around with OneNote on my Surface book and the stylus, I find it is the writing it down that is important to me.

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#179

Post by BJanecke »

These are hallmark signs of major depression; depression that is so intense, it impairs your basic function. Some other questions you might want to ask yourself are.

* Am I getting too little/too much sleep. * Have I lost interest in things I used to enjoy. * Am I talking less than I usually do. * Do I find the need to be around people but when I am around them I just want to get away.

If any of this sounds familiar to you I implore you find professional help, depression should be treated the same as any major Illness and is life threatening if left unchecked.

You are not alone, you are not the only person who has ever felt this way, there is a definite way out, humans are smart we have learned how to deal with these things :)

Re: Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later

#180

Post by holografix »

It could be depression. Nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed by. Talk to a professional, seek information from a good source online. Don't wait any longer bro, call in sick, go to a library or café if the situation at home is not pleasant. Tell the world: "sit and wait, I have something I need to take care of and it's more important." and get some help.
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