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My personal read on this is that, if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I say this because everyone I have met in

by lutusp 14y ago

My personal read on this is that, if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I say this because everyone I have met in my life -- including myself -- who had excellent focus, also had a transcendent passion for what he was focused on. Based on your description, you simply aren't interested in your studies or your work, and that is the real problem, not focus per se. Maybe you're having second thoughts about your life's direction or your school major. > It takes so much work to get into something. This isn't the voice of someone who is passionate about what he's doing. I think that's the problem. You're asking for advice about how to deal with your life as it is, but my advice is to consider making changes to your life, to your work, to your studies, in a direction consistent with your real interests.

Xcelerate 14y ago
> if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I'm afraid if that's really the case, then I'm not interested in anything at all. Which is certainly a much bigger issue than focusing. But I don't think that's the case because I really enjoy seeing the results of my work and I've always been able to interest myself in math/science before in my life, so as far as I can tell I'm still interested. (Heck, just look at how many comments I post on HN about my research.)
- read 14y ago
  What do you do instead of working on what are supposed to be working on when you find yourself not focusing?
- staunch 14y ago
  Interesting doesn't necessarily mean fun. Try doing something that's fun just to get yourself going. Fun could mean coding something in a new programming language or something. It could mean writing a game or doing something mischievous. Something that increases your productivity momentum. Once you've got yourself going it's easier to take on bigger challenges.
tomelders 14y ago
> My personal read on this is that, if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I don't agree. I personally have lots of trouble focusing, and the more into something I am, the harder it is for me to focus. It's as though my thoughts go into overdrive and I feel actual pleasure in processing all the different facets and scenarios related to a particular idea, so much so that it incapacitates me and if I stop thinking about it, I start to feel miserable. Take writing for example, I'd love to write for a living but whenever I have an idea that I absolutely must get down on paper, a few things happen. 1- Nothing else matters, so everything else suffers. 2- Writing is too slow. Before I've finished a paragraph, my head has moved onto another chapter and trying to get back to where I was is like trying to tell myself to stop doing the most fun thing in the world and clean my kitchen instead. (I hope that makes sense). 3- It begins to dawn on me that I'm not making any progress. I start to feel mildly depressed and all by energy and excitement begins to dwindle as I realise this time is going to be like every other time and I'm not going to finish "it". And then I go back to what I was working on before, all my energy and excitement in that project is renewed and then I repeat steps 1 to 3. There is a huge difference between this and working on something that doesn't interest me. As a programmer, I often have to work on things that don't interest me, that are slow and laborious and repetitive. But the strange thing is, I can do that stuff to completion. It bores me to tears, and I start to hate my job if I have to do too much of it, but my brain gets out of the way for a while and lets me finish what I'm doing. Until I have another awesome idea for something, and then I'm screwed. Luckily, I enjoy most of my work, and I get interesting problems to solve that, even though I've no burning desire to solve them, keep me interested and happy none the less. This has gotten very personal very quickly. Reading this back, it sounds like I have will-power, self-control problems more than focus issues. Well thanks HN, this has been very therapeutic.
- multi 14y ago
  My advice would be lay off the stimulants.

by lutusp 14y ago

Xcelerate 14y ago

> if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I'm afraid if that's really the case, then I'm not interested in anything at all. Which is certainly a much bigger issue than focusing. But I don't think that's the case because I really enjoy seeing the results of my work and I've always been able to interest myself in math/science before in my life, so as far as I can tell I'm still interested. (Heck, just look at how many comments I post on HN about my research.)

read 14y ago
What do you do instead of working on what are supposed to be working on when you find yourself not focusing?
staunch 14y ago
Interesting doesn't necessarily mean fun. Try doing something that's fun just to get yourself going. Fun could mean coding something in a new programming language or something. It could mean writing a game or doing something mischievous. Something that increases your productivity momentum. Once you've got yourself going it's easier to take on bigger challenges.

tomelders 14y ago

> My personal read on this is that, if you have difficulty focusing, you're not really interested in what you're doing. I don't agree. I personally have lots of trouble focusing, and the more into something I am, the harder it is for me to focus. It's as though my thoughts go into overdrive and I feel actual pleasure in processing all the different facets and scenarios related to a particular idea, so much so that it incapacitates me and if I stop thinking about it, I start to feel miserable. Take writing for example, I'd love to write for a living but whenever I have an idea that I absolutely must get down on paper, a few things happen. 1- Nothing else matters, so everything else suffers. 2- Writing is too slow. Before I've finished a paragraph, my head has moved onto another chapter and trying to get back to where I was is like trying to tell myself to stop doing the most fun thing in the world and clean my kitchen instead. (I hope that makes sense). 3- It begins to dawn on me that I'm not making any progress. I start to feel mildly depressed and all by energy and excitement begins to dwindle as I realise this time is going to be like every other time and I'm not going to finish "it". And then I go back to what I was working on before, all my energy and excitement in that project is renewed and then I repeat steps 1 to 3. There is a huge difference between this and working on something that doesn't interest me. As a programmer, I often have to work on things that don't interest me, that are slow and laborious and repetitive. But the strange thing is, I can do that stuff to completion. It bores me to tears, and I start to hate my job if I have to do too much of it, but my brain gets out of the way for a while and lets me finish what I'm doing. Until I have another awesome idea for something, and then I'm screwed. Luckily, I enjoy most of my work, and I get interesting problems to solve that, even though I've no burning desire to solve them, keep me interested and happy none the less. This has gotten very personal very quickly. Reading this back, it sounds like I have will-power, self-control problems more than focus issues. Well thanks HN, this has been very therapeutic.

multi 14y ago
My advice would be lay off the stimulants.