How to focus on one things? I am so distracted, any tips would help

[manojkumarsmks]

I've been encountering a frustrating pattern whenever I attempt to engage in a focused activity, like reading a book. It seems that within just a few lines of reading, my mind starts buzzing with reminders of other tasks clamoring for attention – emails to send, ideas to jot down, and various errands to tackle. It's like a constant stream of distractions vying for my attention. In fact, even as I'm writing this message to you, I found myself pulled away mid-thought to have a conversation with my wife about something entirely unrelated. It's becoming increasingly perplexing because I can't pinpoint exactly why I'm feeling so easily distracted

Even with ToDo list or app, I have to remember to put into the list, I forget.

[primitivesuave]

I had the same problem. After years of long work hours and debilitating stress as the CTO of a health tech company, I abruptly quit my job and traveled/decompressed for a year - it didn’t solve the problem. I was even more distracted and felt like I had lost my edge.

Through a serendipitous situation, I discovered Vipassana meditation. The 10 days of silence - no phone, no eye contact, no books/distractions - along with the surprisingly simple technique, yielded incredible results for me. Some of the other people meditating with me for 10 days were also tech executives. The tremendous power of mindfulness is something for each individual to experience for themselves.

The 10 day course is free, entirely funded by past students. (Dhamma.org)

I personally recommend staying away from ADHD medications if you don’t have severe attention deficit issues (e.g. inability to have even short conversations).

[andrei_says_]

I had a similar experience. Twelve days in the jungle, no looking at my phone, no reading, minimal conversation. Laying in a hammock, looking at the trees and listening to the insects and birds. Fasted a few days to reduce the distraction of food, too.

My brain switched to contemplation mode - deep presence, without distraction.

This was an Aya retreat, with plant dieta and ceremonies four nights a week. These were an important aspect but the isolation and fasting were the main component I think.

[andrewfromx]

did you have any close calls of thinking about giving up before the 10 days were over?

[ClassyJacket]

My only suggestion is to resist any possible temptation to use addictive stimulants for this, (unless legitimately prescribed of course, but even then they do carry risk and maybe shouldn't be the first thing you try). May seem to work at first but not worth it in the long run by far.

[tetris11]

It's weird people say this. I genuinely manage my ADHD with caffeine, and have so for years. On the weekends I detox, and then monday it resets again.

[meiraleal]

you managed it with habits, not because of caffeine.

[user_agent]

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang - "The Distraction Addiction"

I found it to be immensely helpful at a certain point in my life when I had to deal with huge workloads, and I was not ready for that (too young, lack of character back then, etc.).

Regarding the part about how to organize oneself: I found the GTD model of managing projects and tasks, and practicig it over the years to be the solution I could recommend to anyone.

Remember, those things take time. Invoking changes in oneself is a matter of years, not days. But it's certainly worth it! I can't imagine leading my life the way I was doing it 15 years ago. That would not work well... Today is a different story. Let's just say it's much, much better. Good luck!

[FunnyGunther]

If you are on desktop, and the distractions come from twitter/x, linkedin or youtube, you can get rid of contents that intrigue you. Like for example:

If you are being disturbed by contents with a specific keyword let's say: Alex.

Just install the extension, add the keyword and no more contents with that word in title will be shown to you.

Get the chrome extension here: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/meri-marzi-my-choic...

Apart from that, following are effective ways I manage it:

1. Uninstall social apps from your mobile in increasing time splits: Days, Weeks and Months. I have not used Facebook from years, instagram from months and likewise. This create a lot of time for me to work on things I like.

2. The things that you like can sometimes be a real challenge. For same try different things everyday, even a 5 min effort in a new thing will keep you up.

3. Don't root for quick happiness in whatever you do, sometimes its fun to fail in trying many things.

[incomingpain]

>I've been encountering a frustrating pattern whenever I attempt to engage in a focused activity, like reading a book. It seems that within just a few lines of reading, my mind starts buzzing with reminders of other tasks clamoring for attention – emails to send, ideas to jot down, and various errands to tackle.

Have you ever watched any videos on adhd symptoms?

Everyone is different, but meditation is how you train yourself to increase your focus skill. but if you have adhd, you have to invert the rules of meditation.

The goal of meditation is to have your mind and body turn off. You are essentially doing literally nothing. But for an ADHD person to get there, you have to try to pay attention to a billion things at once and exhaust your brain into turning off.

[cut3]

Practicing focusing helps. Here is a simple calming exercise that is helpful in improving focus: https://openmindapp.org/meditations/insight__calm-down.html

[andrewfromx]

You got your pitch down perfect. Now just find a doctor and recite this verbatim and you’ll get ADHD meds

[larater]

I have this problem also and Pomodoro technique is a god send. 5 minutes in I am always ready to do something else but then refocus.

Productivity is how many pomodoros I have done on that task. Otherwise, I am just all over the place and nothing quite gets done.

[optimussupreme]

Your hardware experiencing issues, meds will help without much efforst from your side

[sujayk_33]

just go atomic, break everything down to smallest things

the moment you feel resistance, get up, move away, and come back in a while

it worked for me to do deep work.

[ChicagoMan]

When I get like that, I find it helpful to drink less coffee and switch to a low-carbohydrate diet (mostly veggies, meat, nuts, and dairy). Carbs give you quick and nervous energy, which it sounds like you may have too much of. Fats and proteins burn at a more even pace because the conversion of them into ATP is more complicated. It's hard to go cold turkey on carbs, though, especially the sweet ones, so I usually ease them down over a few days and rarely cut them out entirely. It’s hard to resist a donut from the box of them that arrives in the office a day or two per week. What can I say?

Daily exercise--especially when it's vigorous and in the morning--helps me too. My body wants to move, and when it doesn't, my brain seems to compensate by moving itself instead. As such, short walks midday and mid-afternoon also help. I use them like little shots of focus enablers. Second runs preceded by my noon coffee are even better.

I have also found it extremely helpful to completely abandon serious efforts at singular focus. Instead, over the past few years, I have lowered the bar and simply engage with (but don't "focus on") whatever I'm doing. To do that, I let behavior--not thoughts--lead the way. Worries about thoughts and motivations ruin my state of mind. When I avoid them, I became more relaxed, which in turn allows sufficient mental engagement to show up on its own when needed. In this relaxed state, the facts in front of me almost automatically trigger appropriate concentration inside of me. Almost... as in 75%. I do still need to be aware that the 75% has been triggered and that the 25% remains for me to do. But 25% is an easier lift than 100%.

In the same spirit, I’m generally skeptical of practices like meditation that seem to redirect attention away from our behavior and toward our heads. Objectifying our heads can, for sure, be useful. Minds can, in fact, careen like a ship in a storm, and it is helpful to have a few techniques (diet, exercise, deep breaths, stopwatches, meditation if you need it) to steady them. However, I have also found that worrying about my mind and trying too hard to fix it mostly worsens the situation. Look, minds wander. So what? We're human. Everybody is. Just use a few mind-settling techniques, work a modest amount of mind-wandering into your time budgets, and then roll with it. The ease of mind will pay off way more than punishing yourself for being born human.

I do assume you have already turned off notifications on your devices. Those things kill not only focus but sanity too.

[jamespetercook]

focusatwill.com and a set of headphones has helped me a lot.