5 ms·

So, honest question, is it just a super power to stay on task?

gmane 3y ago
I think a better way to think of this is breaking habits. While some people do an innate struggle staying on task, there's also a large portion of people who have built the habit of task switching and just need a tool to help them break that habit.
jebarker 3y ago
For me, procrastinating by looking at websites is usually a sign that something else is wrong, e.g. I don't really see the purpose of the task I'm supposed to be doing. When I'm excited by a task I find I don't procrastinate. Unfortunately it's not always possible to choose just the exciting tasks for my plate!
- hughesjj 3y ago
  drinks in manual auditing, mapping, and labeling of semantically meaningful string values for project planning and/or data analysis
- firewolf34 3y ago
  precisely. And for me I am at my most vulnerable when I am context-switching for this reason. One of the most important keys to keep in mind is: always have a clear, delineated next action. Such that no thought is even necessary to know what you need to do. And plan the next step out /before/ you need to perform it, not in the moment of.
bee_rider 3y ago
I think so—there are multiple trillion dollar companies out there whose business model is to take your focus. If you can out compete a trillion dollar company, that’s pretty good, right?
fragmede 3y ago
In today's world: yes. The flip side of some types of ADHD is hyperfocus, where you can simply lose hours doing something and forget to eat sleep or drink, you're so focused on a thing.
g4zj 3y ago
I've wondered this as well. For all my faults, I can quite easily focus on a single task for an extended period of time. In fact, if I've got a project that I'm actually interested in, it'll consume weeks or even months of my time, to the point where I have to make an extra effort to break my focus on spend time doing other things (like going outside).

I think a better way to think of this is breaking habits. While some people do an innate struggle staying on task, there's also a large portion of people who have built the habit of task switching and just need a tool to help them break that habit.

jebarker 3y ago

For me, procrastinating by looking at websites is usually a sign that something else is wrong, e.g. I don't really see the purpose of the task I'm supposed to be doing. When I'm excited by a task I find I don't procrastinate. Unfortunately it's not always possible to choose just the exciting tasks for my plate!

hughesjj 3y ago
drinks in manual auditing, mapping, and labeling of semantically meaningful string values for project planning and/or data analysis
firewolf34 3y ago
precisely. And for me I am at my most vulnerable when I am context-switching for this reason. One of the most important keys to keep in mind is: always have a clear, delineated next action. Such that no thought is even necessary to know what you need to do. And plan the next step out /before/ you need to perform it, not in the moment of.

bee_rider 3y ago

I think so—there are multiple trillion dollar companies out there whose business model is to take your focus. If you can out compete a trillion dollar company, that’s pretty good, right?

fragmede 3y ago

In today's world: yes. The flip side of some types of ADHD is hyperfocus, where you can simply lose hours doing something and forget to eat sleep or drink, you're so focused on a thing.

g4zj 3y ago

I've wondered this as well. For all my faults, I can quite easily focus on a single task for an extended period of time. In fact, if I've got a project that I'm actually interested in, it'll consume weeks or even months of my time, to the point where I have to make an extra effort to break my focus on spend time doing other things (like going outside).