Patience

[FarajiLjaba]

Hello.
I am not patient enough, I wish to read a book but I get bored after half a minute, I go to play a game but I leave 10 seconds later. How can I fix this. I need to do everything but my brain wont let me. Any help is appreciated.
Slane lhiat, O

[Koguntetsu]

I tend to have a similar problem. If one were to see my desk they would scoff at how messy it was, however it is simply because i am "doing everything"... just all at once. I do not know your particular case well enough to give specialized advice however what i can say is, if you are the kind of person (like me) who "needs to do everything" but you get too distracted to work on a single project for more than a few minutes, do all the projects at once. This may seem a bit complicated but in the most basic of examples I'd be listening to a youtube video in the background while i read a book on coding (like Python, CSS, C++, Java, etc.), building a video game, brewing a pot of coffee, while keeping an ear out for my microwave or oven to beep letting me know to go check on the food that is cooking, and glancing at Rosetta Stone so that i can learn Japanese, occasionally reading through a post or two on this forum in-between. (Funny enough this is how my evening went today) Most of the time i only spend a few minutes on each thing before getting distracted by a random thought and absolutely NEEDING to do something else or i just feel itchy all over.

I don't know if it's a problem with patience you are dealing with or if it's a problem with focusing on a single task for extended periods of time, but this may help your situation.

[Koguntetsu]

This somehow felt relevant to my previous post.

[Svalbard]

I tend to have a similar problem. If one were to see my desk they would scoff at how messy it was, however it is simply because i am "doing everything"... just all at once. I do not know your particular case well enough to give specialized advice however what i can say is, if you are the kind of person (like me) who "needs to do everything" but you get too distracted to work on a single project for more than a few minutes, do all the projects at once. This may seem a bit complicated but in the most basic of examples I'd be listening to a youtube video in the background while i read a book on coding (like Python, CSS, C++, Java, etc.), building a video game, brewing a pot of coffee, while keeping an ear out for my microwave or oven to beep letting me know to go check on the food that is cooking, and glancing at Rosetta Stone so that i can learn Japanese, occasionally reading through a post or two on this forum in-between. (Funny enough this is how my evening went today) Most of the time i only spend a few minutes on each thing before getting distracted by a random thought and absolutely NEEDING to do something else or i just feel itchy all over.

I don't know if it's a problem with patience you are dealing with or if it's a problem with focusing on a single task for extended periods of time, but this may help your situation.

I used to have the same tendencies - and still do, though to a lesser extent. Do not take my comment as criticism if this approach works for you personally; but I have found that in my particular case, multi-tasking was, generally speaking, bad. It made it more difficult for me to concentrate, and when I did manage to cut through the "noise" of other activities and focus on a single task, I nonetheless performed that task less effectively. For instance, I would be unable to absorb myself in a book due to a constantly distracted mind, and upon finishing reading, I would not even be able to recall what I had read about.

When I realized this, I worked to curb down multi-tasking. One method that I used to accomplish this relied on acknowledging an urge to distract myself when it came about, and then allowing it to pass (much like in meditation). Now, I try to practice a pomodoro-inspired technique, which essentially means that I give my full, undivided attention to a single task for a short period of time (say, 20 minutes), and then take a quick break (say, 5 minutes) before returning for another period of work. The time intervals can obviously be adjusted; the point is that you set aside time for work and time for rest (or in our case, distractions) and you don't mix them.

Again, perhaps multi-tasking works for you. I'm simply sharing what I found useful in my particular case.

Best Regards.

[Koguntetsu]

Do not take my comment as criticism if this approach works for you personally;

No offense taken, I know that my techniques don't work for everyone, which is why i mentioned not knowing their case enough to give specialized advice and was simply giving an example of what i do in these cases where i have work piled up to the ceiling.

which essentially means that I give my full, undivided attention to a single task for a short period of time (say, 20 minutes), and then take a quick break (say, 5 minutes) before returning for another period of work. The time intervals can obviously be adjusted; the point is that you set aside time for work and time for rest (or in our case, distractions) and you don't mix them.

And yes, I wholeheartedly agree to take frequent breaks at which point I actually watch that youtube video that's playing in the background instead of just listening to it. (Should have been more clear about that but it was the middle of the night with lack of sleep when i posted that)

[494iam]

remember that at first, we all forget. Just try to breathe one by 3 or three by 5 some use ten to start all over again.

[Koguntetsu]

Welcome to the forum 494iam, and what an intriguing post you've written. It makes sense in an odd way and has a bit of merit to it. And i must seem terribly rude, I forgot to extend a welcome to you aswell, FarajiLjaba.

I hope you both find your stay here informative.

-Koguntetsu