Ask HN: How do I develop focus?

Andy Hunt has written an amazing book called Pragmatic Thinking and Learning where he specifically wrote a chapter (Chapter 8: Manage Focus) on developing and and managing focus. I would highly recommend that you buy the book and read it.

HN for me is also a form of social media, especially if you find yourself checking it all the time.

> - Consider getting a prescription for Concerta or Adderall if other ways of finding focus don’t work.

No, consider talking to a mental health professional for a proper evaluation if you think mental health issues are underlying part of your problem.

Don’t go in seeking a specific diagnosis or specific medications. This is literally called “drug-seeking behavior” and reputable doctors will flag you for it.

Accept that stimulants aren’t magical motivation or self-discipline in pill form. I’m seeing too many non-ADHD young people seek prescriptions and then burn themselves out, develop a dependency on a drug they didn’t need, and find themselves in worse condition when they realize that the energizing effects of stimulants don’t last forever.

Beware of anyone who tries to convince you that stimulants will automatically solve all of your problems. Plenty of people seek stimulant prescriptions and then more intensely focus on their distractions because their underlying problem was something else. You do not want to acquire a stimulant tolerance and dependence if you don’t have to.

And be extremely wary of anyone who claims 75% of a group has ADHD (referring to parent commenter following up below) when the actual incidence in adults is in the single digit percentage points.

This is like someone asking why they’re not getting stronger in the gym and commenters rushing to insist they need testosterone replacement therapy. There’s no free lunch.

You don't need focus; you need to understand what your goal is. If you're dropping projects that look "unfinished" because, in reality, you've gotten what you want from them, that is fine. It only looks sloppy from the outside.

If you're dropping projects before you get what you want from them, introspect on why. What's happening that leads you away? Address that.

I recommend reading Barbara Sher's "Refuse to Choose"; it provides some useful tools for people who like to do 70 different things, including how to have lots of ideas without having to act on every one immediately.