ADHD or Just Non-Productive?

FromUndaCheese

FromUndaCheese

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Jun 25, 2010
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For the past several months I have been having a very hard time keeping attention to one thing at a time. I've read so much about productivity and how single tasking (doing one thing at a time) can increase productivity by 300% or more. I seriously can't get myself to do it. I've tried everything. The bas part about being a hacker is that you can hack any type of productivity software (web blocker).

It especially shows when using the computer. I am constantly moving back and forth between different activities (email checking, porn, website browsing, Wickedfire, youTube, Digg, porn, texting, porn, IM'ing, etc). It is really hurting my performance, and I seriously can't stop. Trying to single task is torture to me.

Should I go to the doc to get checked for ADHD or am I just extremely non-productive?

Any of you guys on Meds for this?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THE_hhk1Gzc]YouTube - Limitless Trailer 2011 HD[/ame]
 


No meds for me (yet). I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, not sure if I am legitimately ADHD or just don't have my shit together (at 34 I figured I would have grown out of my inability to focus). Tried all manner of time management tricks and list writing. Tried piracetam but it didn't do much for me. I'm probably going to break down and score some adderall if I ever get around to it (pun slightly intended).
 
Thats one of the biggest problems with a job solely on a comp. You've got all your work and play in the same exact area and its so fuckin easy to make one click and switch over to the other.

Shit I have to get back to work...
 
Yep, it's tough with youtube, p0rn, facebook and rush limbaugh just one click away.

Why do I have a feeling that ganja would make boring tasks become interesting and engaging? ... it's not that I would ever know that, nor would I suggest that...
 
I think everyone gets like that. I would try to work for 20min, take a break, work for another 20min, take a break. See how that helps. By busting down projects/tasks into 20min intervals - during that 20min, be as productive as you can - it should make you pretty active, and on track to meet goals.

Should check out 4 hour work week - same guy writes about productivity (i think, don't hold me to it).

Perhaps you need to create better task lists? some people write them liek..1) do work 2) make site.

Can you imagine how many sub tasks are in "make website", its 3 days worth of tasks lists right there. but if you can find a healthy balance of 20min tasks, while making each 20min task as productive (in order of priority) as they can be - You'll find that when you complete a solid task, you feel good. Take a break, and hit the task list again.


Make your first 20min task, to create a solid, detailed and goal-orentiated task list as best as you can. Rest of the day just relies on following your well written task list, take breaks, feel good, next task.

Hope this helps,
JT
 
I guess this warrants a serious answer, since I struggle with this as well.

That NPD stuff is crap. First, you have to give yourself a constant stream of it. Second, the entire time you're trying to forget the fact that you are simply trying to manipulate yourself, which is just stupid.

There are two things that have helped me.

1. Find something mind-numbingly boring to do.

Clean your toilets. Empty out your gutters. This will clear out your mind, and will MAKE you want to get back to the computer to work on whatever project you know you should be working on.

2. Work as hard as you can for 20 minutes.

The uber-prductive "zone" takes about 15 minutes to get into. Once you're finally in it, an ass-ton of work gets done. Set an egg timer for 20 minutes (5 minutes longer than the "zone time") and work as hard as you can with NO distractions. If you're in the zone by the time your timer runs out, great. Keep going. If you're not in the zone by then, do some boring chores the come back in a half-hour.

Not guaranteeing they will work for you, but those are the only two things that have worked for me.
 
You don't have a disorder. You have weak attention, and very low willpower.

It's like being fat and unfit - the best way to fix it is to exercise your mind.

Make a conscious effort to cut out one distracting behaviour at a time, and start meditating to build your attention up.
 
.Hack said:
There is a big difference between ADD and ADHD.
Click to expand...

True, I wanted to see if I could identify myself overwhelmingly as one or the other or neither, I read this ADD versus ADHD What's the difference?

This line about the criminal proclivities of the ADD subtype had me rollin:

People with ADD make poor criminals because they have slow cognitive speed and do not tend to get away in time.
Click to expand...
 
amateursurgeon said:
You don't have a disorder. You have weak attention, and very low willpower.

It's like being fat and unfit - the best way to fix it is to exercise your mind.

Make a conscious effort to cut out one distracting behaviour at a time, and start meditating to build your attention up.
Click to expand...

amateursurgeon is also amateurpsychiatrist :costumed-smiley-015
 
FromUndaCheese said:
I seriously can't stop. Trying to single task is torture to me.
Click to expand...

That is a big part of your problem. Don't reinforce a problem by telling yourself how powerless you are to solve it.

Different things work for different people. Try to think of something else in your life that was once 'torture' that you managed to realign your perceptions about. Then figure out how to translate that strategy to your current problem.

And I know some people swear by meds but if you're going to go that route at least try cleaning up your diet and getting into better shape first, assuming you're not already. Cut out dairy, refined sugar, and processed wheat flower. Walk or run, stretch, lift weights.

amateursurgeon said:
You don't have a disorder. You have weak attention, and very low willpower.

It's like being fat and unfit - the best way to fix it is to exercise your mind.

Make a conscious effort to cut out one distracting behaviour at a time, and start meditating to build your attention up.
Click to expand...

+1

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrlmLvPFdg8"]YouTube - Human Machine[/ame]
 
Do you read a lot of books? If not, start. Purchase a Kindle and make a commitment to read every single day. It will increase your ability to stay on task.

Remember, we live in an age where we are constantly multitasking and that has reduced our ability to focus for any extended period of time. It's worse for people in our industry because we're in front of the PC all day long and constantly juggling multiple tasks.

Close your email client if your business doesn't rely upon instant communication, get off Facebook/Twitter and put your mobile in another room where it is not at arms reach.
 
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Start with the porn. Make Saturday or Sunday "porn day" and don't look at it the rest of the week. You'll be astonished at how much extra time you'll free up, and how focused you can be when you're not basking in afterglow all the time.
 
Change your perception about what role the Internet plays in your life.

Stop viewing the Internet as a place where you go to get your entertainment, chit-chat with friends, play games, read interesting articles, and other assorted time-draining bullshit. Start viewing it as a fucking tool that you use to do focused business research, broadcast your "messages" (sales letters, articles, videos, etc.) to potential customers, and track the results of your efforts. With the ocassional business communication and shopping thrown in.

Schedule after-work time each day where you open your browser to bullshit around. But during whatever you consider to be your scheduled work hours, all the Internet should be in your eyes is a business utility. Because at the end of the day, if you're in IM, that's all the Internet is - a means to an end. That end being more leads, customers, and money in your bank account.
 
Check your diet and see if you are getting enough fat. Some fish oil/krill oil/omega-3 pills/eggs/meat might help. Also the exercise/meditation. Block some of the sites in your hosts file. I know for me I am distracted if I have a lot of stuff open, but I forget about it if I just don't see it. So I usually use FF panorama to organize all the tabs and keep most of my windows fullscreen. Also, turn off the history/bookmarks in your location bar when you type shit in in your browser you don't get reminded of another site just because you typed the letter w.
 
Try this one:

When you have the urge to click one of those unproductive things, block it out and switch your attention back to work. Develop this habit.
 
amateursurgeon said:
You don't have a disorder. You have weak attention, and very low willpower.

It's like being fat and unfit - the best way to fix it is to exercise your mind.

Make a conscious effort to cut out one distracting behaviour at a time, and start meditating to build your attention up.
Click to expand...

This is so true. I struggle with it periodically, years and years ago to the point of depression. Finding a reason for it almost became another form of procrastination. Finding "cures", reading books and finding software to solve it was again little more than procrastination.

Time has taught me it's all about will power, concentration and facing your fears. It's being able to tell yourself to stop being a cunt and get on with it. It's asking yourself, repeatedly, what hurts more - this work or the regret of not doing it?

The cure is baby steps. DO NOT try to give yourself massive targets, because the overwhelming nature of them only perpetuates the problem. Chose 7 tasks now, that you know you could do and could be done in under 30 minutes a piece. Set a timer and do one. Have a list and cross it off. Then do the same, 1 item each day for a week, be strict and don't quickly check WF mid task.

It sounds easy and it is, but it's good for your work ethic. It's funny, but most people who try this say, yeah but it's fuck all, and that's true, but ask yourself how much you've actually done, I mean really done, not bookmarked or wrote on a todo list about, this day/week/month.

If you try this eventually you can add more tasks to a day, but the moment you don't achieve them all, take one off the next day, don't add the ones you failed to do today to tomorrows list. Add them to the end of the list. Eventually you can use these small hits of work to tackle breaking a large task into small tasks, then approach the large tasks in a series of tiny simple easy tasks.

If you can't do the above, get a job. (Remind yourself of that as well.)
 
I like the Swiss cheese method from Eat That Frog. If you have a large project do it in small parts don't do it all at once.
 
The mind is a very powerful thing, put your mind to it an you can accomplish anything. People today are way to quick to jump to conclusions about an "attention problem" they may or may-not have.
 
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