11 ms·

Take a step back and think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. When your mind was the sharpest it has ever been and you were kn

by gt565k 11y ago

Take a step back and think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. When your mind was the sharpest it has ever been and you were knocking shit out left and right. Maybe that was in high school or college, or during your first few years in your career. Ask yourself: What was different back then? What was your daily routine? What did you eat? Did you play sports or stay active? A lot of people suffer from low dopamine levels. You've essentially trained your brain to crave short term reward vs long term reward, which affects your attention span and ability to focus on anything that doesn't provide instant gratification. http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/04/02/low-dopamine-levels-symptoms-adverse-reactions/ http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/04/02/low-dopamine-levels-... Get enough sleep, exercise every day, clean up your diet, stop fapping, don't drink for a while, detox from caffeine, try meditation. You want a radical lifestyle change to rewire your brain and fix any chemical imbalances and/or dietary issues you might have. Attack from all angles! Your life will change in a matter of weeks if not days.

sillysaurus3 11y ago
Think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. Maybe that was in high school or college, or during your first few years in your career. Ask yourself: What was different back then? I was younger.
- tajen 11y ago
  I was beloved. By my parents.
  - robotresearcher 11y ago
    Don't give up. Get out and meet people. Friends are easier to find than romance and love from friends is quiet and unflashy and good and powerful. If I misunderstood your situation from your six word post, forgive me.
    - udkl 11y ago
      I agree a 100% with you. Find & surround yourself with people who you admire & who are go-getters. When I wanted to push myself to exercise more frequently, I surrounded myself with people on snapchat, FB, periscope, twitter etc who put out photos and texts which kept me motivated (sub-consciously). I consider it a special kind of sub-conscious visualization and it works well for me. The key is to find people who you admire. In your case, go and watch Brian Tracy video and talks. Listen to or read about people who are go-getters (Forbes/Altucher etc) Find other productivity podcasts and listen to them when coding. Just exposing yourself to these will bring out changes in you. We are what we choose to focus on.
    - tajen 11y ago
      Apart from exposing a pesonal situation, I was also answering the parent's "I was younger". Yes it is possible to find friends, a partner, maybe even love, but it takes much time and effort, and until I build that, adult life is still solitary.
- WalterSear 11y ago
  I knew less about how the system actually works.
t3ra 11y ago
"stop fapping"... I wonder why you mention that? :p where can I read about that
- markyc 11y ago
  http://reddit.com/r/nofap http://reddit.com/r/nofap (start with sidebar info)
- swah 11y ago
  You have to breath into your balls!
iandanforth 11y ago
These are correct. I would like to add that your life may be boring and unimportant. You're brain (my brain as well) is correctly calibrated on a evolutionary timescale and so most of life's tasks are just not important enough to care about. It's only when fear of serious consequences ramps past as certain threshold that we act. You probably have plenty of food and shelter. (If that's not the case stop reading and seek professional help, if basic needs stop being motivating you're sick) So what to do? Get a new job, for a while it will feel important. Accept that you may need to change jobs regularly. Get a job that matters. Life and death matters. Go be an EMT. Live somewhere where basic needs are not a given. Help make that place better. Try an SSRI or meth derivative, if for no other reason to kill the idea that a pill can solve your problems. (Tried both, not worth it.) I've also heard starting judo or other violent contact hobby helps, no idea why. Edit: corrected initialism
- jsmthrowaway 11y ago
  Please don't become an EMT because you are depressed and feel that your work doesn't matter. This will likely exacerbate the problem given the nature of the work and is bad advice. That's like wanting to be President to get the nuclear launch codes; it's the wrong reason to want it and is not the kind of thing you really want anyway. You know how when you try acid you need to be in a good frame of mind? Choosing the discipline that involves being present for and tirelessly, mostly-unsuccessfully fighting against routine death is similar. I've learned to keep shop talk to a minimum with those in my family who drive ambulances despite their tales putting my complaints about work into perspective. That's not a livelihood to approach lightly. Not trying to talk anybody out of it because I respect first responders immensely; just want it for the right reason, to help who you can, not to 'fix' yourself. (I can't see that working and people wash out of that work all the time.)
- redka 11y ago
  If all of these things only work for a while or not a all then perhaps there is nothing that will match the expectations of importance. Maybe one could figure out the reason for those expectations.
jarjoura 11y ago
haha why did you mention that whole "no fapping" thing? All I can picture now is some 20 year old guy feeling guilty he jerked off 4 times in a day and feels like his life is out of control.
- anpill 11y ago
  I don't think the idea has anything to do with guilt. From what I've read about the anti-fap movement, there are two camps (that do overlap). The first camp is made of those that think masturbation is morally wrong (for religious reasons or simply because it leads to easy objectification of others) and those that realize that limiting something with such strong urges can do wonders for your focus and self control (I think because masturbation is such a short-term feeling of gratification). Since OP is asking "how can I focus?" instead of "how can I not go to hell?" the response was more in line with the latter mentality.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >or simply because it leads to easy objectification of others The tired puritan idea of "objectification" must be given the Old Yeller treatment. What people call "objectification" is basically focusing on a specific quality (an isolated aspect) of another person -- only 99% of the time, they mean specifically focusing on their sexual qualities. You're then supposing to be treating them as "means to an end" (objects to satisfy your desire" e.g.), as opposed to full people, with other interests, traits, etc. This is pure old puritan mindset re-invented for the 21st century. There's nothing wrong about focusing on the sexual appeal of someone, as long as it's OK for the given context. If you want to hire someone, you don't check their physical beauty. If you're looking for a sex partner, or fapping, it's bloody OK to consider their looks. The message of the whole bloody "sex revolution" was that it's ok to have sex, including casual sex. It might not be how one wants to spend their life, or the most fulfilling thing to always have (same as eating stakes or ice cream all the time), but it's nothing to be ashamed of either. Not all sexual relationships should turn into marriages or long term "meaningful" relationships. And it's OK. Looking at a man/woman/gay/lesbian whatever purely on a sexual basis it's perfectly fine -- at least as long as you don't do that on every context and under every situation and social encounter. Besides it's never 100% "just body" (tits and ass etc), as the naive thing, since myriads of conscious and subconscious hits from the person's personality inform how sexual/sensual they look to us too (even when picking someone up in the bar). IQ, good manners, clothes, career, etc are all isolated aspects of a person too, but people wouldn't blink on judging people on those alone neither would they consider it "objectification" (which is as much as , since those don't trigger the puritan "sex is somehow evil" sentiment as easily.
agumonkey 11y ago
The 21 days rule is a nice trick. Usually by the time 3rd week's finished you realigned enough stuff stably to sustain. anecdote: in college I would work in any context, the hubris and desire was strong enough to make me forget about everything else. Nowadays I'm very much context sensitive. Being in a library is godsend. A dedicated work spot (could be anything) is also required. Basically, don't parallelize, linearize, but in a focused manner.
jdpigeon 11y ago
This 'low dopamine' hypothesis just doesn't sound like it can be true to me. However, I've heard a psychopharmacologist use those exact words. I don't know what to think :/
amelius 11y ago
Perhaps his work is not rewarding as it was, say, 5 years ago. I can certainly relate that myself. When I was a kid, making new stuff (e.g. computer programs) and showing them to my family and friends was rewarding, and addictive in a certain way. But, of course, at a certain point hobby becomes work, and things are less exciting. Perhaps time to find more interesting work and/or hobby? Another explanation could be the anxiety that is involved in doing anything new. You have this great idea, but you are not sure if it will succeed once you start implementing it. So the mind figures it is better to just dream on a little (and imagine that what you want to do will work), rather than have anxious feelings while entering the code. The latter explanation, if true, makes me wonder if anti-anxiety drugs could help with procrastination.
ViolentCheese 11y ago
Wow, I was about to stop reading at the beginning of the third line only to realize that I was about to commit the same type of behavior. Thank you, this is very good advice.
udkl 11y ago
One take-home from gt565k's comment is to treat this simply as a psychological issue. If you approach it this way, it just becomes a matter of re-programming your 'liquidware'.

by gt565k 11y ago

sillysaurus3 11y ago

Think about the environment you were in when you were the most productive. Maybe that was in high school or college, or during your first few years in your career. Ask yourself: What was different back then? I was younger.

tajen 11y ago
I was beloved. By my parents.
- robotresearcher 11y ago
  Don't give up. Get out and meet people. Friends are easier to find than romance and love from friends is quiet and unflashy and good and powerful. If I misunderstood your situation from your six word post, forgive me.
  - udkl 11y ago
    I agree a 100% with you. Find & surround yourself with people who you admire & who are go-getters. When I wanted to push myself to exercise more frequently, I surrounded myself with people on snapchat, FB, periscope, twitter etc who put out photos and texts which kept me motivated (sub-consciously). I consider it a special kind of sub-conscious visualization and it works well for me. The key is to find people who you admire. In your case, go and watch Brian Tracy video and talks. Listen to or read about people who are go-getters (Forbes/Altucher etc) Find other productivity podcasts and listen to them when coding. Just exposing yourself to these will bring out changes in you. We are what we choose to focus on.
  - tajen 11y ago
    Apart from exposing a pesonal situation, I was also answering the parent's "I was younger". Yes it is possible to find friends, a partner, maybe even love, but it takes much time and effort, and until I build that, adult life is still solitary.
WalterSear 11y ago
I knew less about how the system actually works.

t3ra 11y ago

"stop fapping"... I wonder why you mention that? :p where can I read about that

markyc 11y ago
http://reddit.com/r/nofap http://reddit.com/r/nofap (start with sidebar info)
swah 11y ago
You have to breath into your balls!

iandanforth 11y ago

These are correct. I would like to add that your life may be boring and unimportant. You're brain (my brain as well) is correctly calibrated on a evolutionary timescale and so most of life's tasks are just not important enough to care about. It's only when fear of serious consequences ramps past as certain threshold that we act. You probably have plenty of food and shelter. (If that's not the case stop reading and seek professional help, if basic needs stop being motivating you're sick) So what to do? Get a new job, for a while it will feel important. Accept that you may need to change jobs regularly. Get a job that matters. Life and death matters. Go be an EMT. Live somewhere where basic needs are not a given. Help make that place better. Try an SSRI or meth derivative, if for no other reason to kill the idea that a pill can solve your problems. (Tried both, not worth it.) I've also heard starting judo or other violent contact hobby helps, no idea why. Edit: corrected initialism

jsmthrowaway 11y ago
Please don't become an EMT because you are depressed and feel that your work doesn't matter. This will likely exacerbate the problem given the nature of the work and is bad advice. That's like wanting to be President to get the nuclear launch codes; it's the wrong reason to want it and is not the kind of thing you really want anyway. You know how when you try acid you need to be in a good frame of mind? Choosing the discipline that involves being present for and tirelessly, mostly-unsuccessfully fighting against routine death is similar. I've learned to keep shop talk to a minimum with those in my family who drive ambulances despite their tales putting my complaints about work into perspective. That's not a livelihood to approach lightly. Not trying to talk anybody out of it because I respect first responders immensely; just want it for the right reason, to help who you can, not to 'fix' yourself. (I can't see that working and people wash out of that work all the time.)
redka 11y ago
If all of these things only work for a while or not a all then perhaps there is nothing that will match the expectations of importance. Maybe one could figure out the reason for those expectations.

jarjoura 11y ago

haha why did you mention that whole "no fapping" thing? All I can picture now is some 20 year old guy feeling guilty he jerked off 4 times in a day and feels like his life is out of control.

anpill 11y ago
I don't think the idea has anything to do with guilt. From what I've read about the anti-fap movement, there are two camps (that do overlap). The first camp is made of those that think masturbation is morally wrong (for religious reasons or simply because it leads to easy objectification of others) and those that realize that limiting something with such strong urges can do wonders for your focus and self control (I think because masturbation is such a short-term feeling of gratification). Since OP is asking "how can I focus?" instead of "how can I not go to hell?" the response was more in line with the latter mentality.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >or simply because it leads to easy objectification of others The tired puritan idea of "objectification" must be given the Old Yeller treatment. What people call "objectification" is basically focusing on a specific quality (an isolated aspect) of another person -- only 99% of the time, they mean specifically focusing on their sexual qualities. You're then supposing to be treating them as "means to an end" (objects to satisfy your desire" e.g.), as opposed to full people, with other interests, traits, etc. This is pure old puritan mindset re-invented for the 21st century. There's nothing wrong about focusing on the sexual appeal of someone, as long as it's OK for the given context. If you want to hire someone, you don't check their physical beauty. If you're looking for a sex partner, or fapping, it's bloody OK to consider their looks. The message of the whole bloody "sex revolution" was that it's ok to have sex, including casual sex. It might not be how one wants to spend their life, or the most fulfilling thing to always have (same as eating stakes or ice cream all the time), but it's nothing to be ashamed of either. Not all sexual relationships should turn into marriages or long term "meaningful" relationships. And it's OK. Looking at a man/woman/gay/lesbian whatever purely on a sexual basis it's perfectly fine -- at least as long as you don't do that on every context and under every situation and social encounter. Besides it's never 100% "just body" (tits and ass etc), as the naive thing, since myriads of conscious and subconscious hits from the person's personality inform how sexual/sensual they look to us too (even when picking someone up in the bar). IQ, good manners, clothes, career, etc are all isolated aspects of a person too, but people wouldn't blink on judging people on those alone neither would they consider it "objectification" (which is as much as , since those don't trigger the puritan "sex is somehow evil" sentiment as easily.

agumonkey 11y ago

The 21 days rule is a nice trick. Usually by the time 3rd week's finished you realigned enough stuff stably to sustain. anecdote: in college I would work in any context, the hubris and desire was strong enough to make me forget about everything else. Nowadays I'm very much context sensitive. Being in a library is godsend. A dedicated work spot (could be anything) is also required. Basically, don't parallelize, linearize, but in a focused manner.

jdpigeon 11y ago

This 'low dopamine' hypothesis just doesn't sound like it can be true to me. However, I've heard a psychopharmacologist use those exact words. I don't know what to think :/

amelius 11y ago

Perhaps his work is not rewarding as it was, say, 5 years ago. I can certainly relate that myself. When I was a kid, making new stuff (e.g. computer programs) and showing them to my family and friends was rewarding, and addictive in a certain way. But, of course, at a certain point hobby becomes work, and things are less exciting. Perhaps time to find more interesting work and/or hobby? Another explanation could be the anxiety that is involved in doing anything new. You have this great idea, but you are not sure if it will succeed once you start implementing it. So the mind figures it is better to just dream on a little (and imagine that what you want to do will work), rather than have anxious feelings while entering the code. The latter explanation, if true, makes me wonder if anti-anxiety drugs could help with procrastination.

ViolentCheese 11y ago

Wow, I was about to stop reading at the beginning of the third line only to realize that I was about to commit the same type of behavior. Thank you, this is very good advice.

udkl 11y ago

One take-home from gt565k's comment is to treat this simply as a psychological issue. If you approach it this way, it just becomes a matter of re-programming your 'liquidware'.