not turnin your obsession into practice

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Hello,

I'm not sure if this is the right forum or place for this question but I was wondering if any other people had this same issue and how they handle it.

I'm quite obsessed with the guitar and with programming, and I keep looking up stuff about this subject. Often I have moments of inspiration, where I want to get started, but I end up looking up stuff overly much and not doing anything at all. I'll give 2 examples.

Example 1 is with the guitar. I would want to learn a song or a solo, and I will end up finding one. Instead of actually pushing myself to learn it, I will end up keeping looking up other songs and solo's, eventually causing me to get overflown with feelings and impressions that I get demotivated and end up doing nothing at all. On top of that, I'd have gotten very stuck in my head, with thoughts running in circles and ending up feeling very bad.

Example 2 is a bit the same. I've been a programmer for some time now but it doesn't come easily. Recently I've been wanting to learn Java, but I end up looking up books and tutorials, overanalyzing the reviews and then switching to another book or review. This causes me to never start but get really stuck in looking things up and get stuck in my head. A year ago I did start learning something from a book that seemed OK, but 20 pages into the book I started looking up other things again and ended up in that same old lookingup circle again.

In both of these cases I end up looking up so much, and putting so much pressure onto succeeding, that I often get very anxious, sometimes even panick attacks.

Do any of you ever dead with this?

I have the same problem. It is so frustrating, especially when it gets bad enough to cause panic attacks which can be so scary and painful. I am at least glad when panic attacks happen when I am alone (as I usually am when I fall into a research-rabbit-hole) because it gives me the chance to practice calming down (like an exposure-therapy excercise).

Unfortunately I have not yet found a solution that really works all the time. The most effective thing that I have found is creating a very clear schedule and sticking to it. This is hard and often not fun...so i think some of the suggestions below (ie: smaller time blocks for things that are difficult and rewards that i can access while doing the things that I find hard...) will be useful for me....maybe they will help you too? Good luck.

I came across a really good post about motivation that I will be trying to implement some of the suggestions from. the link to the whole thread is: [url]http://wrongplanet.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=213437
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The post by analyser23 that I think had some really good suggestions is:

One of the problems with being on the spectrum is executive functioning issues, which definitely includes organisation, focus, and time blindness.

It is SUCH a struggle, I totally relate.

So, what I hear you saying is that

(a) you are tired when you get home from school, which leads to getting stuck on your computer to unwind... This is an example of time blindness. We have issues having any idea what time it is or how much time has passed. We also get very stuck on our perseverations and special interests... Especially when we need to "drain our brain" from the day.
What other ways can refresh yourself without going on the computer?

(b) You're not motivated by a delayed reward. I don't find that motivating either. For me, I need the reward WHILE I am doing my work. Which isn't ideal, but at least it gets me doing my work.
What ways can you reward yourself WHILE doing your wok?

(c) Changing location doesn't help.
What ways could you set up a new "work world" for you outside your home?
I have a netbook which I take with me to my Son's taekwondo. It is a 50min class. I put my iPod on to drown out everyone around me, and I do a solid 50min work. I work this way MUCH better than I do at home where they are many distractions - plus, if I do work on my home computer in my home environment, it is also in the same place where I relax. They cross over and it gets tough to stick with my work. Whereas at taekwondo, it is only for my work. Also, it is more appealing than sitting in the parents area bored and on the verge of a meltdown from all the noise (i.e. it actually is PREFERABLE for me to do work).

Another technique that works is short bursts, using a timer. Sit down and put 30min on a timer. Promise yourself you will work hard for 30min. This works VERY well for me. I also have used this with my Son when he eats (he has ADHD-PI). He used to take at least an hour to eat his bfast, but the timer only allows him 15 mins, which he accomplishes, surprisingly!
You might find you are so into your work that you want to keep working after the timer goes off. Or if not, you have at least done 30 min of solid work!
You could then time yourself for a 30min break, too, and then repeat the 30min (or maybe less this time) of your work again.

It's great that you are working out ways to combat this so early! I struggled through Uni with all of this because I was diagnosed very late with my AS.
Good luck!

Yes I often end up getting stuck in chasing up every detail about a subject instead of just finding out enough to get the original task done.

When I started out with music, the idea was to learn to play and sing well, but I kept getting sucked into technical matters. I achieved some impressive results, usually pushing the capabilities of mediocre equipment to its limit, and that was always supposed to be a means to an end, but the means kept becoming the end, so I used most of my music time on being a sound engineering technician rather than being an artistic musician. I must have got 10 times more "test" recordings than recordings of actual definitive songs.

When I saw what was happening, I was more motivated into applying a bit of self-discipline, but it's only been partly successful. The consolation is that a lot of the nerdy work was great fun.

I often just wake up with the idea of starting programming, and then because of me overanalyzing anything (uncontrollably) I get so stuck and anxious that I end up laying hyperventilating in bed.

Thanks for all the replies so far guys, it helps.

Can you just tell yourself 'I'm going to do some random fooling around, it doesn't need to be anything good'? For example, make a Java program that says 'hello' back if you type 'hello' - something super simple and useless like that.