To try to motivate myself to concentrate on work that doesn't inherently inspire me, I make up a lot of games and challenges. The most consistent one is to keep a daily count of the number of times I consciously shut down superfluous stuff like Web surfing and make myself focus on whatever I'm supposed to be doing, or at least what I think I'm supposed to be doing. Then I reward myself, presently at the tune of 20 cents per point, towards the purchase of some frivolity such as a poker book.
(I'll break in and say that to the non-ADHD this may sound childish, or like I'm lazy or undisciplined or have no compunction about getting paid to goof off. Hopefully by the fact that you're reading this blog, you realize that life isn't as simple as all that for some of us, and that it requires conscious effort for some of us to make ourselves concentrate.)
Some days I forget to keep score, but in general my nadir is something like 5 or 7 -- on days where I come in, do some productive stuff in the morning, then think, "Screw it," and stop making the effort to focus. (I still do some work after that, just that I don't make that same conscious effort.) Until recently my high score had been something like 15 to 20. Lately I've been racking up days of 25 or 30. That's not because I'm any more motivated or excited about my work. To the contrary, I have less and less idea why I'm even here. The higher scores are just because I've been trying hard to "brute force" my way through this lack of motivation. I don't think that approach will work forever, but at least it's getting me through another day at a time.
Question of the day: An eccentric billionaire has offered you a job digging a ditch in his back yard, then filling it back in. What salary would you require for such a quintessentially futile task?
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3 comments:
I sort of know how you feel. Any time I go to the lab or library to write a paper or do research I ALWAYS check my email, facebook, and myspace in that order. If I really don't want to do my work I will log onto aim as well. I should start counting how many times I will take a facebook break while working on something. Here I am right now commenting on your blog in the middle of writing a paper. Mind you, I have just finished the extensive outline and now have to actually write the thing with about four hours to go.
Maybe I should keep track and try to work on NOT logging onto something every 30 minutes.
Thanks, I appreciate the comment.
Yeah, it takes a lot of work to not gravitate onto something more interesting. Most people don't get that; they think it's just a matter of being lazy or whatever.
It's not being lazy. Its the fact that your brain likes to do more than one thing at a time.
I'm always afraid I'm going to get in trouble in class because I can not just sit and listen to someone talk for an hour and a half. If it's not a converstaion, I have to do something. Usually I doodle, but I have been known to get a few poems or stories in :p
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