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How I regained concentration and focus

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Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#51

Post by BLKNSLVR »

giantg2 wrote: post #9

My distraction is from all the family stuff I have to deal with. My lack of concentration is because I lack motivation - I don't see any reason to try hard at work since it's all politics and BS.

Hi friend!

My family stuff is what keeps me going though. My work is a basket case at the moment, 12-month contract ends in 4 weeks, and it's almost a full time job applying for jobs.

I've had three managers in my not-quite 12 months, none that I've worked with very closely, one that thinks I'm no good because I unwittingly stepped on the toes of a couple of institutionalized colleagues by "doing my job", who complained to this guy who'd been my boss a total of less than a week at the time.

"Just do what you're told" was his advice. So, what you're saying is coast until the contract is over? Done and done.

Makes it hard to get a good recent reference though, lucky the market is thirsting for warm bodies.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#52

Post by frostwarrior »

giantg2 wrote: post #28
tenebrisalietum wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Work for money.

What money? There's no way to get a raise at my company without a promotion and they won't promote me. I have no motivation to work hard if it won't be rewarded. I do the minimum to get paid my shitty salary.

If your current job can't motivate you, work on a side project or look for another job.

And don't be the weakest link in the (faulty) chain. It's leaves a better impression by notifying external inefficiency and quitting because lack of change, rather than being fired because your motivation and productiveness withered in silence.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#53

Post by rr888 »

hvs wrote: post #10

As someone with serious concentration issues (unless I'm hyperfocused, I may have undiagnosed ADHD) I found the biggest help for me was cutting out caffeine.

Me too, mild sedative helps, like after a beer I can finally concentrate. Makes RTO a problem. :)

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#54

Post by BLKNSLVR »

bumby wrote: post #48
tenebrisalietum wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Work for money.

While I think it's healthy to not tie your identity and well-being to your job, I think it might be a bad habit to view everything through the lens of a financial transaction. We've all probably worked with people who will only lift a finger if it benefits them. Create an organization of people with this mindset and much of the necessary but un-glorious work never gets done. I suppose you could say people can play th…

> I think it might be a bad habit to view everything through the lens of a financial transaction

Unless you want to get promoted into management...

Hire new people to do the inglourious work.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#55

Post by frostwarrior »

giantg2 wrote: post #43
TameAntelope wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who said anything about your current company?

I don't have the skills to switch to a different company, tech jobs are limited in my area, I don't perform well remotely, and my wife won't consider relocating. My current shitty job is the best job I can get.

> I don't have the skills to switch to a different company

Go and learn. Skills are not set in stone.

> I don't perform well remotely, and my wife won't consider relocating

I understand that. I don't know you, but maybe a nicer setup with more (not too direct) sunlight can make it better?

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#56

Post by toyg »

hvs wrote: post #41
barking_biscuit wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hmm... caffeine actually helps for ADHD as it's a stimulant. I can only take my meds on weekdays and I've pretty much had life long addiction to either coke, pepsi or red-bull. When I started taking effective medication I basically stopped drinking caffeinated drinks. Just don't need it. I can't take my meds on the weekends, and virtually always I go get something with caffeine in it to help.

As I said, I may have ADHD as I have a lot of the classic symptoms, but I have a daughter with diagnosed ADHD and I do not have nearly as significant symptoms as she does. All I know is cutting caffeine improved my general concentration and significantly decreased my anxiety as a bonus.

As a person completely unqualified to diagnose anything but with similar problems, I suspect the real root of your issue might just be the anxiety. If you could address the roots of that, caffeine would probably become irrelevant.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#57

Post by b215826 »

nunodonato wrote: post #45
nonrandomstring wrote: post #37

Switching to text only [1] browsing changed my relationship to information and vastly improved my focus while using computers. I highly recommend it. [1] Text mostly (90+%). Those few occasions I want to see images as part of a web page it's possible to turn that on.

do you use any particular browser or extension? or do you mean stuff like gopher/gemini?

On Firefox, setting permissions.default.image in about:config to 2 blocks all images.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Permissions.default.image

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#58

Post by planarhobbit »

Scarblac wrote: post #6

I see that Rolf Dobelli has a book on avoiding news now. But he made his point crystal clear in an article he wrote in 2010 already, and put as a freely downloadable PDF on his website. I can't find it there now, but here's a link to that PDF on some other site: https://www.gwern.net/docs/culture/2010-dobelli.pdf

One would think he would also avoid the great majority of books out there too, as they’re just as trashy and toxic as news are.

Re: How I regained concentration and focus

#60

Post by woweoe »

tenebrisalietum wrote: post #14
giantg2 wrote: post #9

My distraction is from all the family stuff I have to deal with. My lack of concentration is because I lack motivation - I don't see any reason to try hard at work since it's all politics and BS.

Work for money.

Many cultures even in the West look down on that kind of attitude.
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