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[Urist McScoopbeard]

Good Evening,

I've been noticing this for a while, but it's starting to come to a head for me. As I get older (I mean like into my 20s older) I have begun to feel like it's getting a lot harder for me to concentrate. It's manifested in a lot of ways, but the most noticeable is my writing. I love to write, I really do enjoy it, and I'm inspired a lot, but I just struggle with motivating myself to do it. I mean... Sometimes for papers I spend hours upon hours sitting at my laptop working my way into working on a paper... It's usually the deadline that forces my hand. Even RIGHT NOW, I'm procrastinating on a project for school that I really want to get done, but it just takes me forever to get in to it. I WANT to write, I WANT to work on this project, but for some reason I just can't and it's starting to worry me.

In addition, I don't want to say I feel dumber, but I definitely feel like I've somehow slowed down since I was younger. I'm not as quick-witted, not that I was ever that quick-witted, I feel like even my voice has gotten lazier.

I've done stuff with meditation and hypnosis (to great success) where I concentrate the shit outta my inner self, but once I'm outta trance, boom, regular old can't focus on getting work done Scoopbeard. Most of the stuff I have trouble focusing on is writing or school work. I focus very well on my summer job and when I'm working out, but for whatever reason I have an incredibly hard time sitting down and writing a lot... As someone who wants to be a screenwriter and even perhaps write a novel one day, this worries me, ALOT. This is not to say I can't force myself to write, but it is... difficult, and I'm starting to question whether this behavior is normal or some form of low grade ADHD that has started to express itself the more complicated my life becomes or even a side effect depression (which is not to say I'm struggling, cause I'm actually the happiest I've ever been.)

In any case, I need to change the behavior ASAP. Suggestions from Bay12? Should I go see a doctor? Am I just a lazy fucker (which I am in some cases)?

[Bumber]

Sounds sort of like what happened to me and reading. I used to be able to read textbooks chapters really quickly without even trying. Now I find myself zoning out and reading the same line over and over "aloud" in my head. Can't speak for writing or math, since I've always been terrible at focusing on those.

[Orange Wizard]

Lack of motivation/poor self-discipline can have a number of causes; best bet would be to chat to a doctor if you can't just force yourself over the hurdle, so to speak.
Medication may or may not be the way to go, depending on how good your doctor is.

[Shadowgandor]

I have periods in which I experience exactly the same kind of feelings. I'm assuming it has to do with stress/anxiety. The type of stress I started experiencing in my 20s was a lot tougher on me than back in high school, what with the whole experience of having to "grow up" and becoming a functional member in society, making career decisions which could still affect me years later and the possibility of failing and getting indebt/homeless.

Best advice I can give is to get a bit of a schedule in your life. For example, start reading at 8 PM every single day. On some days, you might get distracted after 15 minutes and start doing something else, while on other days you might be reading for the rest of the night.
Try to schedule things in a way that works for you, without feeling choked by the amount of stuff you need to do. Coming home from school/work? Start working on your project for at least X minutes/hours or set a different small goal for yourself, but large enough to know that at this pace, you'll make it. Stress/anxiety can lead to a downward spiral. You feel stressed which makes it hard to concentrate, which leads to more stress.

I hope this is useful, but I guess you also need to find out what's working for you and what is not.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Sounds sort of like what happened to me and reading. I used to be able to read textbooks chapters really quickly without even trying. Now I find myself zoning out and reading the same line over and over "aloud" in my head. Can't speak for writing or math, since I've always been terrible at focusing on those.

That happens to me a lot too actually. Math I can usually do pretty well in (though I no longer take math) even if I make a lot of little mistakes.

Lack of motivation/poor self-discipline can have a number of causes; best bet would be to chat to a doctor if you can't just force yourself over the hurdle, so to speak.
Medication may or may not be the way to go, depending on how good your doctor is.

I think I will do that... Unless it's the absolute last second it's nearly impossible to force myself into doing work. Even when it's interesting/fun to me.

I have periods in which I experience exactly the same kind of feelings. I'm assuming it has to do with stress/anxiety. The type of stress I started experiencing in my 20s was a lot tougher on me than back in high school, what with the whole experience of having to "grow up" and becoming a functional member in society, making career decisions which could still affect me years later and the possibility of failing and getting indebt/homeless.

Best advice I can give is to get a bit of a schedule in your life. For example, start reading at 8 PM every single day. On some days, you might get distracted after 15 minutes and start doing something else, while on other days you might be reading for the rest of the night.
Try to schedule things in a way that works for you, without feeling choked by the amount of stuff you need to do. Coming home from school/work? Start working on your project for at least X minutes/hours or set a different small goal for yourself, but large enough to know that at this pace, you'll make it. Stress/anxiety can lead to a downward spiral. You feel stressed which makes it hard to concentrate, which leads to more stress.

I hope this is useful, but I guess you also need to find out what's working for you and what is not.

This is good advice, but I don't really real choked with work...there are times when I stress a lot but theoretically I should have waaay more than enough time to do an excellent job or get an extensive amount of work done, but I just can't help myself getting started.

[TheBiggerFish]

Set up a schedule and stick to it.  Commit to it in your head.  Commit to doing x thing at x time and actually do it.

It's what I've started doing to help with the same problem.

And maybe talk to, if you have one, some sort of counseling resource.

[Caz]

Do you exercise? Exercise stops your brain from turning into soup, man. It's science.


Also, stay off the drugs.

[ChairmanPoo]

This TED video helped me quite a bit: https://youtu.be/os6U77Hhm_s