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Improving focus without drugs

post #1 of 55
9/14/10 at 2:43am
Thread Starter 
Friends and family members,

I am soliciting advice from all posters large and small regarding improving focus. From talking to peers under the age of 30, it seems a lot of my generation has issues focusing and not procrastinating. Now I can't say for sure that this affliction doesn't affect the older bros out there, but it has always been my suspicion that television, video games, smart phones, and most of all the internet have led to shortening attention spans and the inability to focus for long periods of time.

I've taken several attention tests and I do not have ADD. When I need to focus (with a deadline looming) it is easy to do so. I zero in, 100%. This is pretty familiar to everyone, I'm sure. But when there is no deadline, I tend to lose hours of time on the internet or just generally messing around. I have 5 hours worth of tasks I want to accomplish in a day, and before I know it it's 9pm and I haven't touched them. The more challenging the task is, the more daunted I feel and unwilling to begin it. And if I do begin it, I take a break to get away from it quickly.

This may seem like a question of motivation or scheduling. Fair enough - that is a major part of it. But I wanted to ask if any of you have experienced the same thing and managed to improve the matter through any practical non-pharmaceutical means.

Possible examples that I have pondered over but haven't tested out myself yet:
- Meditation
- Finding a distraction-free space with no internet access to work at (difficult as all of my work is on my laptop).
- Blocking StyleForum from my browser (have done this previously this year, but just ended up visiting other sites instead)
- Some kind of self-reward or self-penalization system that provides self-created incentives to get things done
- ???

Thanks, broshis.
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post #2 of 55
9/14/10 at 2:47am
I've tried meditation. It's an interesting indicator of how noisy your mind has gotten, because the first time I tried it, it was fucking HARD. But I think if you stuck with it, even 10 minutes a day, it seems like it's a skill you can develop and apply to other aspects of your life.
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post #3 of 55
9/14/10 at 2:58am
Interesting to see what some replies will be.

I have the same problem - when the work piles up I get stuck into it and get it all done before the deadline, but I usually end up feeling like shit in the end.

I think I have sort of let the self control thing at work go, as my mind knows I can get the work done under extreme pressure, but yeah, its obviously something I could do without.
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post #4 of 55
9/14/10 at 3:24am
Dextroamphetamine. "Medication." It would probably work in your situation.
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post #5 of 55
9/14/10 at 3:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by cancel.sing View Post
I've tried meditation. It's an interesting indicator of how noisy your mind has gotten, because the first time I tried it, it was fucking HARD. But I think if you stuck with it, even 10 minutes a day, it seems like it's a skill you can develop and apply to other aspects of your life.

Yeah, the times I've meditated I've found it helped me clear mental clutter away. But I've never been persistent enough with it. I wonder if anyone has seen their ability to focus at work improve as a result of long-term meditation.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ektaylor View Post
Dextroamphetamine. "Medication." It would probably work in your situation.

Thanks, but I do not have ADHD and am not interested in pharmaceutical solutions. Might help others though.
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post #6 of 55
9/14/10 at 3:54am
I think this isn't a focus issue so much as a procrastination issue. This affects everyone. Everyone. I've never met a single person who doesn't procrastinate. Getting past the procrastination isn't really a focus issue. As you've already admitted, when you get into your work you knock it out of the park. Its just getting into your work that you have a problem with. Seems pretty focused to me. As to using ADD drugs when you don't really have ADD its mostly worthless. They tend to have a paradoxical effect on "normal" people. When you have ADD the stimulants actually ramp up the portion of your brain that's not "focused", thus leveling you out. When you don't have ADD it just speeds you up. They're essentially legalized versions of speed.
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post #7 of 55
9/14/10 at 4:05am
It helps to have a system. A bunch of us at work have adopted GTD.
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post #8 of 55
9/14/10 at 4:16am
I find it difficult to focus on anything I don't find interesting. Sorry, but doing work for other people just doesn't peek my interest. The only way too overcome this... is to challenge yourself. I used to cut ALL distractions and haul ass trying to finish my assignments in half the time. I'd be proud of myself after seeing how far I could push my mind and body just to get shit done fast. I knew for my hard work I would get rewarded with more free time, so I was motivated to focus and finish fast most of the time.
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post #9 of 55
9/14/10 at 4:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bbaquiran View Post
It helps to have a system. A bunch of us at work have adopted GTD.
Really? Do you use all the GTD programs and applications and whatnot?
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post #10 of 55
9/14/10 at 4:46am
god i have this problem. my view on the world is like cloudy, i'm like a zombie. I walk around looking at my cell phone WHILE I WALK, text, update facebook, twitter, foursquare, etc..., I really hate it but i need the visual stimulation. i think this electronic medium really messes. the only thing I've done that has helped is getting unplugged from the net and everything....usually happens when i go out of town on vacation, especially out of the country when i don't have a cell phone. i did an experiment where I vowed not to surf the web at work, only email...my supervisors noticed a large jump in my productivity and I was more proactive. regularly excercising, especially hard cardio has helped immensly with focus. not going home helps too, as does listening to talk radio instead of TV for some reason.
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post #11 of 55
9/14/10 at 4:49am
drinking regularly helps for some reason. whenever I want to do something at home that I am putting off, I drink some wine or scotch....When I'm inebriated, I don't like vegging out for some reason. that's not a good solution though. eating really healthy seems to help too.
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post #12 of 55
9/14/10 at 5:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xericx View Post

regularly excercising, especially hard cardio has helped immensly with focus.


+1. It really might actually be this simple. It's easy to underestimate its benefits until you get out of shape.
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post #13 of 55
9/14/10 at 5:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rambo View Post
Really? Do you use all the GTD programs and applications and whatnot?
Depends on the individual. Currently I use the ToDo feature on my phone (an old Treo) for managing lists. Some of my co-workers use pen+paper, or Gmail's Tasks feature. I don't think anyone has bought any software specifically for GTD, but a couple of us have bought Brother label printers for our file folders.
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post #14 of 55
9/14/10 at 6:51am
If you have a job that is impossible to do without using your imagination, and you can't change that, think about vacation. Work pays for vacations. If you don't like vacations or aren't allowed much leisure time by your employer, then you really are in trouble.

I got a job in Denmark. That was my solution. There are no more fun-loving, vacation-taking, lazy people anywhere in the world than in DK. Yes, the French are lazier, but they don't get high marks for being happy or having fun.
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post #15 of 55
9/14/10 at 7:13am
Metro how often do you read? As in paper books... I don't think it has been mentioned yet but reading books is quite a bit like meditation. It forces you to focus on one thing and eliminate distractions. I find reading books at least 20 minutes a day helps me with focus throughout the entire day. It also allows you to learn valuable information...2 for 1
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