Ask HN: I've lost the ability to concentrate. How can I fix this?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14904142

by whitepoplar • 9 years ago

30 25 9 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I seem to have lost my ability to concentrate, work, and think deeply about topics. I can't even seem to read a book, even when I want to. I check my phone for notifications. I get anxious. Occasionally I feel depressed or hopeless. But I generally feel okay-ish, I think.

What's the quickest way for me to regain my ability to concentrate and get into states of flow?

Khelavaster• 9 years ago

Give us a breakdown of what you eat and what you do throughout most of your days, so we can have a better idea what's going on.

whitepoplar2• 9 years ago

I don't eat fantastically well, though I don't eat horribly. Unfortunately, following an injury, I don't go to the gym anymore either. As I live in an urban area, I try to walk as much as possible, but I don't think it's ever enough.

During the day I'm (attempting to) work full-time on a software project, but tbh, I think I may be burning out.

whitepoplar2• 9 years ago

I realize that there are many things I can improve, diet and exercise being the obvious low-hanging fruit.

gt565k• 9 years ago

If you have an injury, please go to physical therapy. In many cases, not exercising at all is actually worse. Most injuries require at least some form of therapeutic / strengthening / rehabilitation exercise to correct the injury.

You can also do other forms of exercise that are low impact and less prone to trauma. Swimming, yoga, etc...

Also try meditation. Start with 1 minute at a time and work your way up to 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. You'll experience an immense difference and calm your racing mind.

camhenlin• 9 years ago

Block all social media at your router, sell your smart phone, and buy a dumb phone that only texts and makes calls

vikp• 9 years ago

What really helped me was to:

* Uninstall some distracting apps, and block the rest with Appblock

* Not check email on weekends, and do outdoor things like hiking instead

* Start running as much as possible, for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week

* Meditate for 10 minutes a day

* Cut out sugar and alcohol

* Install Stayfocusd to limit time spent on sites like HN

* Go to bed by 10 every day, and have 30 minutes of "unwind" time in bed without devices

I don't always adhere to all of these well, but when I do, I feel amazing, and can concentrate extremely well.

I would encourage you to think of this as less of a "quick patch to get back to concentrating on things" and more as "I need to change my lifestyle to improve my mental state. It's going to be a long process, but the long-term rewards are worth it".

dovin• 9 years ago

There are two things that come to mind that seem like opposite approaches.

One is to find something you care enough about to actually concentrate on--some project you really want to work on, say. Your work ethic will be great as long as it's interesting enough to hold your attention. Then you need to find out how to sustain your interest when you finish, or get stuck or bored.

The other way is to build a suite of habits to minimize, or at least de-emphasize, distractions, and to maximize the amount of time that you're focused on work OR not focused on anything else. You train your mind to enter a mode where either you're focused on work, or nothing at all. Since we generally don't like boredom we'll refocus on the work. This takes more discipline and long-term habits. This is the method that Stephen King advocates for in On Writing: you sit down every day at the same time and wait for the muse to come, and don't do anything else.

I'll generally use a combination of these two strategies, and while I'm still more distraction-prone than I'd like, it generally works fine.

tedmiston• 9 years ago

I just want to add 2 thoughts to the discussion that's already here:

- Attention is a muscle you have to train and build up (of course it helps to be able to work on interesting and/or challenging things)

- The world is infinitely distracting and if you think about it, almost everything is noise. Today's apps are literally designed to capture, own, and monetize your attention. The most successful people are the ones that stop to think about what to ignore intentionally so that they can focus on tweaking the small number of levers that actually drive results. I like to work with my phone on Do Not Disturb mode or Airplane mode. I keep Slack and Notification Center on macOS on DND as well when I'm doing hard work.

rgera• 9 years ago

A great free series on coursera called Learning How to Learn (also a book "A Mind for Numbers) addresses this in several ways. The biggest win for me was integrating a Pomodoro Timer into my workflow. I'd really recommend going through video series or book or both if you feel like you're having trouble learning, good luck!

pasbesoin• 9 years ago

Check your physical health.

An injury (and failed surgery) obstructed my breathing. Big impact on my ability to get into and maintain "flow".

Sleep apnea (not something I've been diagnosed with, although...) is often cited as a problem in this vein. Some people become so used to its chronic presence that they don't realize just how tired and impacted they are.

tony• 9 years ago

Anecdotal stuff I've found helps keep me out / people I know who struggle out of low points (YMMV):

- Keep a clean room.

- Own less things.

- Wash clothes ahead of time. In big cities there'd also be cleaners that'd fold clothes, too.

- Have your bills paid and paperwork up to date. You don't want this weighing over your mind.

- Rearrange furniture.

- No caffeine after 2PM.

- Are you getting enough sleep? Consider going to a sleep specialist to get to the root of the problem.

- Hyperactive? Considering fitting gym into your schedule to get it out of your system.

- If it's possible in your commute, take a scenic route where there is more time to walk.

- Sometimes people check with a doctor to rule out ADHD, depression, and so on.

- Install a clean copy of your OS.

- Try switching between windows/linux and macos/linux. I flip between them every 6 months.

- Intermittent fasting has helped me focus. That is, not eating foods until 4 or 6PM, there are various types of this.

- Remove toxic people from your life. These are people in your life who aren't straight with you and suck your emotions away. Steer clear.

- Keep a change log of all the stuff you accomplish in a day. Helps you feel effective.

- White noise sound files (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dozJzkdLPRU) / White noise machine on Amazon

- Full spectrum light (I've found Verilux to be quite nice)

- Vitamin D if you don't get enough sun light. Zinc, Magnesium.

- Consider removing all stimulants (caffeine, energy drinks) for a few weeks and see if that causes things to return to equilibrium

dman• 9 years ago

This was very thoughtful and thorough, one upvote isnt enough!

jotjotzzz• 9 years ago

Awesome list! Things to add to it:

- Cleaning your environment is very helpful. Get rid of clutter, donate, or trash things you do not need. Have minimal stuff in your environment, this will help you focus.

- Do not multitask. Do one thing at a time. Multitasking is bad for your focus. (Read this: Leo Babauta's https://zenhabits.net/focus-book/)

- Start a meditation practice. I meditate at least 10 minutes after waking up. This trains your focus for the day.

- Exercise and eat right. If your body is healthier, your focus is much better. Setting up an exercise routine builds discipline as well.

- Caffeine is ok. t if you are having too much of it, it affects sleep. Reduce caffeine intake, go decaf, or quit.

- Sleep. Your mood is affecting your focus. (Ariana Huffington's sleep manifesto is on-point: https://www.ted.com/talks/arianna_huffington_how_to_succeed_...)

muzani• 9 years ago

Two ways worked for me:

1. Get away from everything for a month. Visit another country. Go somewhere completely foreign and immerse yourself. It jolts your brain away from whatever habit you have now. It can be a bit expensive so a lighter detox can work - cut yourself off from all websites and apps for at least a week.

2. Overwork yourself. It doesn't have to be hard work. Maybe work fast food at night, work in a warehouse by day. As long as it keeps you too busy to do the things you need to do.

IMO a lot of blocking tools don't help. If you block FB or Reddit, you just replace it with some news site or game.

BlueSlide• 9 years ago

From what you've described, I'm going through the same thing and I understand it's completely down to my lifestyle choice and work. I'll be trying lots of these comments (thanks everyone) to see if I can improve / lift my brain fog. I can say sleeping around 10 after half an hour of no technology is bliss, have a shower, prepare your clothes for the next day so you have nothing but me time in the morning. It feels good to wake up, grab a coffee and read a book.

bhattisatish• 9 years ago

I don't belive there are any quickfix solutions. It's something that needs time and attention (!?)

One thing that helped me was, doing something physical which needs attention and concentration, for e.g. Woodworking or Yoga.

Also, it might be a good idea to do a complete break from technology. Say maybe do a 1 week hike or a hunting trip without internet and mobile with you. I did a 10 day Vipassana retreat and that definitely helped me. But I don't recommend that route unless you are ready to fight through that process. It can be mentally and physically challenging! But it did help me thremondously in concentrating and becoming aware of things that distract my mind.

Start with git-pull's recommendations (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14908340) those are rock-solid. With that as a starting point, investigate other options that could help you. But first is building awareness of what is throwing you off the game.

bernhardwenzel• 9 years ago

- Radically limit your input. Read less and only high-quality stuff

- Do-nothing-alternative: if you work on a task either a) work on it, or b) do nothing. Don't allow yourself to browse, check the phone etc.

- meditate or try "free-writing": open your text editor and write. Only rule: never stop typing. Do this for as long as you can. It clears your mind and uncovers deeper thoughts and ideas

I believe we all are losing our ability to concentrate which is a frightening prospect. But you made an important step by recognising this! To concentrate is something we need to train and exercise like a muscle.

o2l2• 9 years ago

I can strongly relate to your situation. To me it felt like there is a constant unrest in life, you are not happy about how things are but not that motivated either to change overnight.

The quickest way to get what you want is trying out small changes which can have big impact on your day, which gives you hope that you can change.

Below are such small changes that made a big impact on me. I have come to know about these methods from the book "Mind Hacking" by Sir John Hargrave. It is a free GitBook and I strongly recommend it. Not a long read. -

1. Mindfulness Meditation -

  I follow the below order

  - Be aware of your breath for some time
  - Be aware of your thoughts for some time ( don't fight them. Let them free but observe )
  - Identify negative loops (Things that you believe in or repeatedly say to yourself that puts you down. Eg. I am a bad dancer)
  - Write positive loop for each negative loop ( Eg. I love dancing. Literally write this on a piece of paper everyday for a couple of times. It is to make it stick in your head )
  - Simulate situations in your head which you are afraid to face or are confused about.
  - Think of the best possible future situation, 4-5 years down the line. Think in as much detail as possible.
  - Think of the perfect day where you get everything done exactly as you wanted to. Again, think in as much detail as possible.

  Also, try to stay mindful of your actions and thoughts throughout the day. It will help you control yourself and your unwanted habits like checking phone frequently or procrastinating.

  You don't have to identify negative & redefine positive loops everyday unless needed.

  This routine takes 15-20 minutes in the morning and has helped me be clear minded and motivated throughout the day.

  I owe my current job ( which I am very happy with ) to this routine. It inspired me do things I won't normally do. The rush of positive energy I felt during the first few days was something I have never felt before, as if I was high on something very strong but positive.

2. Writing down a detailed to-do list the night before

  You have to make a list of things you think you can do the next day and write them down in the exact order you want to do them in. Keep the list very practical and write in on a piece of paper or white board. Try not to do it on your phone.

  Then, on the next day strike out the things you have done. This will give you a clear sense of accomplishment and in case you are ahead of schedule, it will motivate you to do even better.

  This also eliminates the need of thinking what to do during the day and you will have very less confusion.

  I implemented this a few days ago and it was the most productive and satisfying day I have had in several months, not just work wise but on a personal level.

The key in both the above methods is that you are actively taking effort in the process of figuring out what you really want to do in life or just the next day. Implementing either one of the methods would only take 15-20 minutes of actual thinking every day, so give it a try.

o2l2• 9 years ago

Also, email me if you need to talk about this. Sharing thoughts about this kind of stuff always helps.

andkon• 9 years ago

If you can't concentrate or work and feel anxiety and occasionally hopeless, that sounds like the definition of depression to me. I'd suggest immediately finding a therapist you connect with (or at least get into meditation with an app like Headspace), a long vacation, and an emergency infusion of fun and challenge in your life.

hackermailman• 9 years ago

Exercise improves memory and concentration. Schools here now have kids go on a stationary bike for a few mins before lessons to help them concentrate on lessons. Personally I will ride a bike for 20 minutes as fast as possible to get heart rate up, shower, then have no problem concentrating on streaming lectures or working through a technical paper for the next couple of hours whereas before I would always have my mind wander and not get anything done.

Doing pullups/anything that builds your core also helps your back, so sitting for a while isn't uncomfortable. If you don't have an exercise bike just run in place, or do anything else to get your heart rate up before you try and concentrate.

rbalsdon• 9 years ago

I find the one thing that kills my mood quickest is just not drinking enough water. A lot can be learned from tracking your diet: https://cronometer.com/

hueyl772• 9 years ago

Try the Headspace app. Just using the first 10 free sessions should get you started. If you don't want to spend the dough Youtube has a bunch of guided meditations.

Or you can try standing in front of the mirror, look your self right in the eyeballs, say "I will stay focus on task X for the next 30 minutes", then slap yourself across the face 3 times. That always worked for me.

hueyl772• 9 years ago

Creating a quick to-do list every morning also helps.

peteevans• 9 years ago

Physical stuff: Make sure you get enough exercise and sleep, check your diet is balanced and reduce caffeine and alcohol. Mental: Try to work out what is distracting you and get it done or eliminate it. Technology: It's yours to use sometimes it feels like we are its slave. Time out: Go on a back to basic holiday trekking or cycling , camping etc with a bare minimum of stuff (particularly tech) - find this puts things in perspective

Ask HN: I've lost the ability to concentrate. How can I fix this?

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