LIGHTNING BOLT TO A.D.D. GIRL HERE!
hi, my name is sarah and i have a concentration problem. yes, i am the worst at this. i always seem to be "multi-tasking." and by this i mean that as i'm working on a project if i see something else that i'd like to look at, something else that needs to be done, or think of something else that i'd rather focus on, i am off and running in a new direction in .0345786 seconds. i guess i'm used to this because this is just how i've always been. but it often drives the people i'm with crazy. chris tells me how obnoxious it is when he's trying to get me to focus on something but my thoughts are bouncing around in no-man's-land.
in a different book that i'm currently reading, the author writes, "the irony of multitasking is that it's exhausting; when you're doing two or three things simultaneously, you use more energy than the sum of energy required to do each task independently. you're also cheating yourself because you're not doing anything excellently." i believe this. i can see it in my life. when i'm distracted or trying to work on multiple things at once, my speed and quality of work both down significantly.
so i'm going to try a little experiment. for one whole week, starting today, i am going to stop multitasking. if i'm reading a book i'm going to be reading a book (i wonder if this means i should get through one book before starting another?). when i am talking on the phone i'm not going to be looking at the computer screen. i am going to listen. if i'm working on one task, i'm not going to get distracted and start another. i am only going to google one thing at a time. :) and i am going to focus my brain on what i am currently doing instead of what i'd like to do next.
this also means that i'm going to eliminate distractions like TV and music as ambient noise. this may be the hardest part for me. i like to work to music. i find it comforting. but again, if i'm focused on the music, i'm not focused on my work. and vice-versa. i am going to try to focus 100% of my brain on my task-at-hand. and if my brain explodes in the next 7 days...you can be sure this is the reason why.
2 comments:
One thing that totally helps me with this is using a timer. I am terrible about this, especially when it comes to cleaning. If I set a timer for 15 min then I can tell myself, I am just going to do this for 15 min. Or 5, or whatever. Then it reminds me of what I am supposed to be focusing on, and it also gives me permission to move on to something else when the timer goes off. Good luck, it sounds like a fun goal!
Very interesting. I struggle with this too. It's so subconscious it's hard to change. Every once in awhile I have to turn the computer off for a week and refocus. I'm always doing two things at once.
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