Trouble Concentrating Unless Multitasking

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12 Dec 2010, 7:43 am

Not sure if anyone else can relate to this but...

I really cannot concentrate on any task unless I am doing about 3 other things at the same time. When I was in school I had to study with both my headphones on, the TV on, and closed-captioning. If I sat in the room with only the book it was impossible.

If I work I need a job where I am doing many things at once or my mind drifts. My previous job was working in an animal hospital. I had about 5 tasks going at the same time. Now I teach and teaching kids is similar. I need to pay attention to lots of different areas of the classroom.

The weird thing though is I find it impossible to drive, maybe because that requires motor skills and mine are somewhat poor.

I'd be interested in hearing if other folks out there are similar to me in ths way.

Aimless
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12 Dec 2010, 7:54 am

I can kind of relate to it. Sometimes playing music or having the TV on something can help me focus on something else. I think of it as part of my brain is like a fussy toddler that needs to be occupied so the adult part of my brain can concentrate.

Kiseki
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12 Dec 2010, 7:58 am

That is a really cool idea! I know what you mean

wavefreak58
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12 Dec 2010, 9:07 am

I am just the opposite. I need a very narrow focus in order to keep on task.

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leejosepho
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12 Dec 2010, 9:29 am

Aimless wrote:

Nicely said!

Sometimes, however, the task at hand is sufficient to keep everyone occupied.

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AnotherOne
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12 Dec 2010, 9:45 am

for me it is caused by anxiety thing: if i have any CPU resources left I start worrying about not to make a mistake (and also about the world hunger and lots of other things) so i tend to keep my mind working on its max.

Kiseki
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12 Dec 2010, 10:11 am

AnotherOne wrote:

That is kind of my problem too. My mind will wander off into all kinds of worrisome things

Then I become anxious.

This is my main problem with lying in bed and trying to get to sleep. I've been keeping the TV on lately.

fb5b
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12 Dec 2010, 8:14 pm

This I can relate to! All through Uni when I was doing assignments etc I'd have to be doing something else as well, I'd suddenly get an idea in my head, back to the assignment and bang I'd write down another 200-300 words and then I'd switch back. Even now, when I work I usually need a web browser open in the background and I am quite aware of any inter-office gossip. To the outsider it must look like I am slacking off (I know that's the assumption my parents made when I was in Uni) but it's how I work best, and I always get my job done with time to spare.

Kiseki
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12 Dec 2010, 9:52 pm

fb5b wrote:

Cool! Yes, that is how I am! My dad always used to think I was slacking off but I wrote my school papers in spurts like that too. I write creatively the same way.

27315
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13 Dec 2010, 12:53 pm

Aimless wrote:

I think of it as part of my brain is like a fussy toddler that needs to be occupied so the adult part of my brain can concentrate.

That was a perfect comparison!

I ALWAYS have to do at least 2 things at the same time or else I can't keep my focus longer then a couple of minutes.
That's the main reason I don't look people in the eyes while we converse; when I've looked there once there is no more information to take in so if I have to keep looking my thoughts drift of to other things and I forget to listen to what the person say, but if I look at the sorundings insted I can keep my main focus on the conversation.

auntblabby
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13 Dec 2010, 1:25 pm

the people who can truly multitask [as opposed to multithreading] are truly gifted, with superior brains. the people who can multithread fluently also are gifted. where does this leave the rest of us? in the remainder bin?

leejosepho
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13 Dec 2010, 2:21 pm

auntblabby wrote:

where does this leave the rest of us? in the remainder bin?

Nah, just doing one thing well at a time!

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Kiseki
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13 Dec 2010, 9:35 pm

27315 wrote:

Aimless wrote:

I think of it as part of my brain is like a fussy toddler that needs to be occupied so the adult part of my brain can concentrate.

That was a perfect comparison!

I'm glad to hear you can relate!

Yeah, I know I am not doing any of these tasks very well when I do them all at the same time. But otherwise I just can't concentrate.

I also do the same thing in conversations. If it's boring to me, or I'm not the one actively talking, I start thinking about all kinds of random things instead,

Narkito
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13 Dec 2010, 9:51 pm

oy! I can totally relate.

I have to study standing up and keeping my hands occupied so I can concentrate in the paper/book in front of me. Usually I just walk around reading aloud (or being read to) and have a rubik's in my hands, or a rubber ball.

Even going to sleep is hard without some sort of distraction, my mind wanders, a lot, and that's how I end up singing pirate songs when I should be learning something. Eventually, when I need to retrieve this knowledge I end up retrieving pirate songs, funny word plays and similar.

Music or anything else that sounds like speech throws me off the rails, though.

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Kiseki
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13 Dec 2010, 11:01 pm

Narkito wrote:

oy! I can totally relate.

Music or anything else that sounds like speech throws me off the rails, though.

I cannot listen to rap or hip-hop when studying cuz yeah it sounds like talking

lissy983
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14 Dec 2010, 12:05 am

yeah, i couldn't do homework with out listening to music and tapping my pencil... but I think i did it mostly to distract myself from how frustrated I got doing homework in general. The more that occupied me the more i was able to let go and let myself guess and not be the perfectionist and drive myself insane alone in my head without anything to distract me from what i felt was a mediocre attempt to grasp what the hell my teacher meant when she assigned the homework.

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