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Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#21

Post by tupac_speedrap »

Maybe you need to find something that you really enjoy? It feels like you are just hoarding information at the minute, if you enjoy learning something and find the technology useful then you will find it much easier to stick with it.

This is based on a tiny amount of information from you though so take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#22

Post by jasfi »

Prioritize and track your time. Write goals for each month, then break down each goal into what needs to be done. At some point you have to give most of your attention to a single project. I know this can be difficult, I have the same problem.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#23

Post by FWKevents »

-- Limit your time on social media to 20 minutes or less a day (LinkedIn/Facebook/Discord use that's related to work is an exception.) No studies exist yet to support this hypothesis, but it's my observation that longtime exposure to social media impedes overall focus.

-- Limit your TV watching to one or two hours on the weekends, per week

-- Limit video game use to one or two hours per week

-- Find an activity you like to do "offline" that you can do regularly such as walking, yoga, biking, etc, and do that more often. It will clear your mind and bring you back to center

-- Wake up early and try to accomplish something significant before 8am

-- Be kind to yourself when you lose focus and gently redirect your mind back to your tasks. If you get off track for hours or an entire day, wake up early the next morning and put your best foot forward without dwelling on the day before.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#27

Post by nrjames »

It's ok to have a ton of ideas and to let most of them go before you finish the work. The important part is that you document the idea so that you at least have the opportunity to return to it in the future. By this, I mean using pen and paper in some type of journal/notebook that you can browse through either when you are at the computer or away from it. You can get some great spiral bound drawing notebook at the grocery store for $5 or less. When you fill one up with ideas, label it with the date range and/or ideas and stick it on the shelf. In my experience, it's a lot easier to rediscover ideas when they're documented on paper than when they're typed in a text file somewhere.

Re: Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

#28

Post by corobo »

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #25

> Ask HN: How do I develop focus? Ask your shrink for a Vyvanse/Elvanse prescription.

Edit: apologies, the way this is worded it looks like I’m recommending adhd meds - I’m recommending the doctor if this applies, not the drugs! See replies for more info :)

Ritalin for me but yeah turned out it was ADHD in my case

@op not diagnosing at all but if you find yourself not focused despite reward etc, worth looking into as a possibility.

For example I’ve got basically unlimited freelance work available at easily 5x my day job salary right now and I could definitely do with the cash.. can’t for the life of me find the motivation to do it. Check with a Dr if it’s that sort of thing! Anything occurring “despite consequences” should be double checked with a pro in my opinion

Something to note I’ve been told and have found myself that sometimes motivation comes after initial action. If there’s anything in there that can hold your attention or would be super easy to do, start on that. Try to keep a roll going from there until your engines fire up

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