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Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#161

Post by kngspook »

Houshalter wrote: post #143
kazagistar wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No way to disable things is a dealbreaker for me. It should be possible (if slightly annoying) to disable restrictions, but it should only ever be temporarily disabled.

A chrome extension I use called stay focus has an option to require typing a long document exactly in order to disable it. Unfortunately it's trivial for even a mildly technical person to figure out how to get around it, so it's become useless for self control.

> it's trivial for even a mildly technical person to figure out how to get around it

Copy & paste?

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#162

Post by rankam »

"800 articles I have yet to read...Currently my instapaper account has some 800 articles I have yet to read. Kindle has about 10 books I want to read...pinboard account has about 100 unread article"

The following is just my opinion and I don't mean to be antagonistic. However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested in those 100 unread pinboard articles, you would have read them - you seem to like the idea of knowing about the topics of the articles more than actually understanding the underlying concepts contained in the articles.

Stop trying to "be smart". If you're interested in an article - read it. Right now - try to understand it. If you read it and don't get it, find a writeup on the same topic written by a different person and read that. Continue this until you finally "get it". If you can't take 5-30 minutes out of your day to read something, you're likely not that interested in the topic. Your entire post screams that you don't know what you want to know nor how to manage your time. If you're serious about learning, start learning - and that means not adding another thing to any list until you have crossed off everything of your existing list. Instead of adding things to lists, make an effort to try to check things off of your list that already exists.

At the end of the day, life is all about choices - you can choose to continue to add things to your "to-do" list OR you can choose to start completing the existing tasks on your list.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#163

Post by ehsanu1 »

kngspook wrote: post #161
Houshalter wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A chrome extension I use called stay focus has an option to require typing a long document exactly in order to disable it. Unfortunately it's trivial for even a mildly technical person to figure out how to get around it, so it's become useless for self control.

> it's trivial for even a mildly technical person to figure out how to get around it Copy & paste?

No, it counts keystrokes too, so that doesn't work. I haven't tried to get past it myself, but really all I'd do to sidestep it is go to incognito, or use one of my other browsers.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#164

Post by simonswords82 »

useful wrote: post #153

I rock climb because when you are in fight or flight, you don't think about anything but that next hold. It lets me reset and turn off everything else for a short time. Participating in endurance sports gives me time to think to myself and prioritize/concentrate what I want to do during the rest of the day. A list of daily goals helps when I'm really overloaded. I also don't watch TV and I've removed most infinite sc…

I skydive for this exact same reason. During freefall I get up to 1 minute of being 100% tuned out from the world and it's a bliss I've yet to find elsewhere.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#165

Post by ramgorur »

simple, believe in these facts --

fact 1. sturgeon's law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law), [strugeon's law is actually recursive]

fact 2. You can't enjoy all the interesting things in the universe in a given time instance, so if you feel you are missing something let it go.

fact 3. there is no difference between facebook and public toilet.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#166

Post by plikan13 »

sharkweek wrote: post #113
austenallred wrote: post #24

For a long time I felt (and now feel) the same as you. I just wanted to share an experience that, while completely anecdotal, is perhaps atypical, and has been one of the defining experiences of my life. I got the Internet as a birthday present on my 8th birthday, and pretty much disappeared from normal society for the next few years. The Internet was (and is) fascinating - I could learn anything, interact with peopl…

This sounds very common to me and countless other friends who work in tech/online - I half wonder if I am not meant to work in front of a computer the rest of my life. I sometimes think it would be more beneficial to pursue something more blue collar like becoming an electrician or something similar. Sure, access to a smart phone these days still provides plenty of access to distractions, but what if my job wasn't so…

If you want to try this, don't wait too long. Being an electrician is a though job physically. If you're past 35 and you're used to sitting in front of a screen for a living, your body will have difficulties readjusting to the strain.

Source: I did this myself about 5 years ago, following a complete burnout on being a C++ developer. Worked as an electrician for about 18 months.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#167

Post by leviathan »

rankam wrote: post #162

"800 articles I have yet to read...Currently my instapaper account has some 800 articles I have yet to read. Kindle has about 10 books I want to read...pinboard account has about 100 unread article" The following is just my opinion and I don't mean to be antagonistic. However, IMHO, your issue is that you think that being aware of topics is equivalent to truly understanding those topics. If you were really interested…

I don't understand how you can do a full on attack on the OP without knowing him or his situation.

You seem to think that a person has nothing else during his day than read every piece of news that comes their way. It might be a good idea to consider the fact that some people are extremely busy (with work or other tasks) but still want to stay informed. Those people would probably come across a piece of news or article that looks interesting, bookmark it to read later (because, you know, they have work now) and never get around to actually reading it because of work load.

If you can stop whatever you're doing and follow up every article that seems interesting to you, you might not be doing important work, or your time is very flexible to allow such a thing. It probably isn't a good idea to generalize that this can apply to everyone.

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#168

Post by _swa8 »

pragone wrote: post #135

Writer it all down. Read GTD, getting the required software, and stick to it. Most important step for you would be a complete brain dump.

I'll point out that there is no required software for GTD. You can implement the system for yourself with just paper and pen, or a text file and an editor. (I use a few text files and an editor.)

Re: Ask HN: How can I remedy scatter brain and information overload?

#169

Post by _swa8 »

wkmeade2 wrote: post #72

GTD. GTD = David Allen's book GETTING THINGS DONE which has been mentioned below already. I've lived the splatter-gun-to-focus process that GTD can create, if you stick with GTD. I blog about GTD on and off. Here is my before/after with pictures: http://restartgtd.com/gtd-journey-after/ and, here is my 5 year GTD time lapse of refactored desks and trusted systems: http://restartgtd.com/gtd-time-lapse/

http://gtdfh.branchable.com/ is my write-up of how I use GTD, in case it helps.
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