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How I regained concentration and focus

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Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#351

Post by coliveira »

atmosx wrote: post #230
leobg wrote: post #204

Isn’t it funny how much attention these anti-procrastination posts are getting on essentially a procrastination site? (Tongue in cheek! I love HN. I just know that I sometimes do abuse it as a procrastination device.)

It’s also funny how all these posts are so “western” in style: ‘Hey look at me, I did something a bit difficult for 3 days, now I am a guru!’ Not trying to knock the author but the time window is simply too small and this approach is simply too common online. Let’s see if the author can actually change lifestyle for more than 5 years and then we can discuss about “lessons learned”.

Exactly what I thought. He just changed to a new habit and wants to say that this "cured" his procrastination problems. I would suggest that it did nothing, at least for now. Maybe in a couple of years it may be different.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#352

Post by coliveira »

fleddr wrote: post #290
Barrin92 wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the self-help and productivity genre does have a uniquely American bent (more so than Western I'd say), these blog posts always read like some form of digital Protestantism, they do love their busywork. Immediately jumping to thinking you're procrastinating, rather than say contemplating when you're not churning out one book per year is an attitude you won't find everywhere.

I think this doesn't do the intentions of the author much justice. He clearly explained how his addictions destroyed his ability to focus on any task at all, no matter how much value you place on that task. Reading a book or watching a TV series uninterrupted are hardly ambitious or productive tasks, yet entire generations now can't focus on such "lengthy" task.

I say this is bogus, anyone can still read a book that is interesting. The problem is that most people are not exposed to interesting books anymore, since most books published in the last few years are undeserving of attention. I tell this for personal experience, when I find a book that grabs my attention I can spend several hours reading, but most books don't even deserve 15 min. My strategy is to spend more time researching things that I like and really want to read.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#353

Post by coliveira »

elenaferrantes wrote: post #231
v-erne wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Few years back brother of my spouse took his wife to Spain (thousends kilometrs from here) to drive around and see some sights. At some point they got a flat tire and while he was trying to fix it two nice gentlemans on motorbikes took everything they had by force (including phones). My spouse brother managed to borrow a phone frome some stranger that was driving by. And when he tried to call the only number they bot…

You can leave a voice mail. I don’t answer to unknown number anymore due to heavy phone spam. My thought is "if it’s really important they will leave a message".

That's the sensible answer. Nowadays it is crazy to answer the phone. If the message is useful to me then I respond.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#354

Post by amrocha »

lampshades wrote: post #172
vkk8 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a bit crude way to put it, but maybe you're right. At least for me, becoming a father changed my perspective on everything so much that it's almost like I'm not even the same species anymore as I was before having them. Sometimes people without children feel like they're not even proper adults even if they are older and/or more senior at work or whatever.

Spot on, I’m so different now than I was then I disregard anything anyone without kids says. > Sometimes people without children feel like they're not even proper adults I feel like they’re not real adults too.

I guess to convince yourself you didn't make a bad decision with long-term consequences you have to demonize anyone that disagrees with you

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#355

Post by koonsolo »

ineedasername wrote: post #328
koonsolo wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I much rather want to talk to the person who reads books written by experts, than to talk to the person who watches the news every day. I'm sorry but there just isn't any comparison. Have you ever read news about something you are an expert at? It's just laughable inaccurate. News is entertainment, not information. If you want information, read a book written by an expert at the field.

The world moves faster than experts write books. The US has an important election coming up in a few months. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum a person is on there are issues most will care about a great deal that will be extremely impacted by the outcomes of the elections. Issues that are way too recent to get coverage in books written by experts. Like it or not, engagement with civic society requir…

> Issues that are way too recent to get coverage in books written by experts.

Can you give an example?

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#356

Post by koonsolo »

q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #314
koonsolo wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I much rather want to talk to the person who reads books written by experts, than to talk to the person who watches the news every day. I'm sorry but there just isn't any comparison. Have you ever read news about something you are an expert at? It's just laughable inaccurate. News is entertainment, not information. If you want information, read a book written by an expert at the field.

> I much rather want to talk to the person who reads books written by experts, than to talk to the person who watches the news every day. I'm inclined to prefer the book-readers too, but the way this is phrased sets up a bit of a false dichotomy. Lots of stuff that's happening now and is of interest won't make it into books for a while. And there is something moderately interesting (and educational) about following a…

> Lots of stuff that's happening now and is of interest won't make it into books for a while.

Can you give an example?

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#357

Post by oreally »

kzrdude wrote: post #36

I don't think there is a silver bullet or a tick box solution. You have to want to stop. Change your behaviour.

This line implies that willpower can overcome all of the distractions. However, there are studies that show it's not the case.

Our brain is primordially designed to react to distractions - because it was a matter of survival or death. Media has adapted itself to harness this feature of our brains. To counter it, we have to take out much of the possible avenues to distractions out of our extrapersonal space or sight range (because we're visual creatures, out of sight = out of mind).

For more details, Andrew Huberman has a whole episode on focus and concentration that talks about this.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#358

Post by patrulek »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #153
ge96 wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My phone is always on mute (no vibrate either) Only alarms to wake up

Having a family and responsibilities made this infeasible for me. Most apps on my phone are denied notifications, but people can still text/call me.

Humans lived centuries without instant messaging. Probably nothing wrong happen if you miss a call.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#359

Post by eddie_catflap »

papito wrote: post #40

If you want to get your life back, read Stolen Focus. It has all these tips and tricks but it does a lot more - it explains why our focus is shot, and dissects the forces behind it. It's much more sinister than most people suspect. https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Focus-Attention-Think-Deeply/d... I was spending hours per day on Twitter, and then I learned that overusing social media rewires your brain, and you essentia…

This book grabbed my eye too, but then I saw Matthew Sweet on Twitter (@DrMatthewSweet) kept questioning the studies used and suggesting that Hari has cherry picked results to support his point. I've no idea if this was the case but some interesting stuff to look at I think.

A good summary thread is here : https://twitter.com/DrMatthewSweet/status/147912591089697587...

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#360

Post by MarcelOlsz »

ineedasername wrote: post #328
koonsolo wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I much rather want to talk to the person who reads books written by experts, than to talk to the person who watches the news every day. I'm sorry but there just isn't any comparison. Have you ever read news about something you are an expert at? It's just laughable inaccurate. News is entertainment, not information. If you want information, read a book written by an expert at the field.

The world moves faster than experts write books. The US has an important election coming up in a few months. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum a person is on there are issues most will care about a great deal that will be extremely impacted by the outcomes of the elections. Issues that are way too recent to get coverage in books written by experts. Like it or not, engagement with civic society requir…

None of it matters.

>The US has an important election coming up in a few months. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum a person is on there are issues most will care about a great deal that will be extremely impacted by the outcomes of the elections.

It's going to happen anyways whether you watch TV or not.

>You don't have to choose between infotainment news & a complete vacuum of knowledge about current affairs.

Yes you do.

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