Concentration gone to hell under lockdown

[T42]

What it says in the title.  Couldn't settle to anything under first lockdown, didn't really recover during the summer and it's twice as bad now.

[arabella]

flibbertigibbet brain!
I used to have to play loud music when I was revising (in the days when I did exams) so that the bits of my brain that would otherwise be distracting me would instead be occupied ignoring the music.
More recently I came across some focus tips, don't see why they wouldn't apply to neurotypicals as well.
Or the advice I was given was to force myself for 5 minutes and then I might find myself deep enough in to keep going.

[L CC]

Standard by-product of anxiety.

[citoyen]

Or the advice I was given was to force myself for 5 minutes and then I might find myself deep enough in to keep going.

This sounds like good advice to me - setting smaller, shorter-term targets means you're more likely to hit them, and that in turn might motivate you to gradually build up your ambitions.

I mean, it sounds good in theory, but I am utterly incapable of following this advice myself. Anxiety is definitely part of it.

[T42]

Or the advice I was given was to force myself for 5 minutes and then I might find myself deep enough in to keep going.

I do that with hills.  Tried it in the workshop, doesn't work.  I've ruined a lot of wood in the last couple of weeks.

Standard by-product of anxiety.

Yes.  The pandemic also coincided with various other worrying occurrences/minor disasters, and when you add going stir crazy on top...

[Greenbank]

Or the advice I was given was to force myself for 5 minutes and then I might find myself deep enough in to keep going.

This sounds like good advice to me - setting smaller, shorter-term targets means you're more likely to hit them, and that in turn might motivate you to gradually build up your ambitions.

I mean, it sounds good in theory, but I am utterly incapable of following this advice myself. Anxiety is definitely part of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique often works for me when I'm stuck.

That or writing a todo list and putting some really easy items on there so you feel there's a sense of progress.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Plus one for Pomodoro.  I find https://rainymood.com/ helps also.
For me, I would love a website blocker which would block Twitter. I know such things exist, just cant be arsed setting it up.
I have a bad habit of checking Twitter before settling down to any work.

I try to use Toggle for time tracking of projects, and this now has a Pomodoro function. SO you can say 'I am now spening 25 minutes working on Project X'
and you will get a countdown and an alarm when the timer is finished.
I wish Toggle would have a site blocker or a 'Do Not Disturb' function.

[ian]

I always had the attention span of a fruit fly. I buzz from things to things. I'll do 30 seconds here, 30 seconds there, 30 seconds elsewhere, except they overlap, so for instance in the middle of this sentence, I span around on my chair and updated and saved a Powerpoint slide (between elsewhere and except).

There's absolutely no way in god's great creation that I can spend an entire 5 minutes concentrating on a single thing. I would go mental. I don't sweat it though, I figure that's how my brain works, and shit gets done.

(I also sent two emails while writing this.)

[L CC]

It's fine while shit does get done, but what if it doesn't?

I'm supposed to finish work at 16:30 but at 16:51 I still haven't actually done any of today's ordering.

[T42]

I'm currently measuring the regression of my concentration in terms of Guardian crosswords.  This time last year I could make a fair showing on the Cryptics, I romped through the Quiptics and did the Quicks for limbering up.  Nowadays it can take up to half an hour to do a Quick, I do the Quiptics on and off over a couple of days (I do do other things in between) and I don't look at the Cryptics.

[ian]

It's fine while shit does get done, but what if it doesn't?

I'm supposed to finish work at 16:30 but at 16:51 I still haven't actually done any of today's ordering.

Well, it does tend to explain while I'll usually be working after 6 pm, but I have enough discipline to put a hard stop at 7pm (as I have the sort of job that doesn't have an endpoint, I could work 24/7 until the end of the time without denting my to-do list). I did buy an enormous whiteboard though. More enormouser than anticipated because I wasn't paying much attention.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I'm a flibberty gibbet.

No concentration span. Frequently conducting 2-3 conversations (work, online), while 'working' on something else or in a meeting.

Gaps between meetings are often only 30min, which doesn't enable me to fully pick up a work piece (I'm often working on things akin to coding).

Depression destroys me.

Stress from work pressure is fine. Recently took my BP while I was in a very pressured work situation; perfectly normal BP, heart rate mid 50s. So I cope with stress.

[quixoticgeek]

What it says in the title.  Couldn't settle to anything under first lockdown, didn't really recover during the summer and it's twice as bad now.

Trouble concentrating is a common symptom of Burnout.

Have you had any time off work since the plague hit? Consider either calling in sick, or taking a few days leave. Rest, and do what ever it is you find relaxing. Maybe go for a bike ride.

J

[Auntie Helen]

T42 is a retiree in France stuck to cycling max 1 hour per day and 1km from home, so I suspect it’s a different stress cause.

As much as I am enjoying the quieter life of German lockdown, it does have its stresses. For me, not seeing colleagues (I am WFH, the rest are in the offices) is definitely loosening the bonds and this in a bad way. I think about work more than I should.

I also find my concentration is worse and I seem mentally exhausted by the end of the day - but I’ve done nothing taxing really!

[Chris S]

Trouble concentrating is a common symptom of Burnout.

Oh yes! I worked on a pretty intense (complicated database work) project between July and end of October, and I was basically a zombie at the end of it. I took a week off and literally did nothing except actively not work. Even now, I can't concentrate on work for long - before my brain is mush.

But as AH says, I don't think that's T42's issue; I think he has classic Cabin Fever.
#internetdiagnosis.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Have redecorated the house literally from top to bottom since covid.  And now I have some shelving Mrs A wants done

[T42]

Agree w. AH & Chris S.  I've done the burnout bit (c.f. Y2K) and it feels different.  With burnout you're delighted to be able to do nothing, though it may be hard at first. With cabin fever, doing nothing sends you up the wall. Oh, there are things to be done around the house but they're all repulsive (e.g. when you're up the wall you can see the dust on top of all the cupboards).

The big laugh is that as of Saturday the lockdown exercise limit goes up to 3 hours in a 20-km radius, and next week the max temperature is forecast as 3°C.  Cardiologist tells me not to go out if it's less than 5°C.

[geraldc]

My concentration has got so bad after working from home for 7 months, that the other half insisted I get help. I have an ADHD assessment in 2 weeks...

[geraldc]

The hospital have asked to assess how often these things have occurred over the last 6 months, I'm putting down often or very often to pretty much everything.

[rob]

The hospital have asked to assess how often these things have occurred over the last 6 months, I'm putting down often or very often to pretty much everything.

We had J assessed when he must have been maybe 7 (?)   It looks like it's a lot easier when you can respond to questions as an adult rather than having to be observed by a professional.

[arabella]

My son got pointed at this neurodiversity pic when the uni sent him for a dyslexia test, age 20, same as his bro.  School screenings missed them both. So my brain is probably squiffy - but then I do (didn't this year) audax, so is that necessarily a surprise? 

[rob]

My son got pointed at this neurodiversity pic when the uni sent him for a dyslexia test, age 20, same as his bro.  School screenings missed them both. So my brain is probably squiffy - but then I do (didn't this year) audax, so is that necessarily a surprise? 

Yeah, I've seen that.   J is in the bottom right hand corner - also initially thought to be dyslexia.   It was picked up early enough that we could manage it.   The more we learned the more I recognised my own traits.

[Notsototalnewbie]

The hospital have asked to assess how often these things have occurred over the last 6 months, I'm putting down often or very often to pretty much everything.

May I ask if this is NHS? I've heard it's tough to get a diagnosis on the NHS.

I've read loads over the last year or so that's made me think I've got ADHD tendencies but can't quite face trying to get help from my GP. I could also answer often or very often to a lot of that though I think I've masked a lot of it most of my life. When I started primary school the teacher made my parents take me for a hearing test because I tuned out things I didn't find interesting so very effectively to the point I couldn't hear the teacher calling my name. The specialist was angry at my mum because 'this child's hearing is perfect' and nothing more was done except to tell me to stop daydreaming.

I can relate to having to have a certain kind of music on in the background to 'occupy' part of my brain while I work (and if it's a really mindless task like unloading the dishwasher or putting away laundry I absolutely can't do it without a really absorbing podcast playing).

[geraldc]

It's through the NHS. Had a chat with my GP. My GP was very sympathetic, we're pretty much the same age, and background, and my GP was telling me how he has some of the traits too, and how when he was a kid, his parents were told not to feed him to try improve his concentration (he never actually told me if he was diagnosed or is on any treatment now though). Then we just exchanged stories about near misses regarding deadlines and exams, and what I'd tried to do about over the years, and he then wrote a letter to the hospital to get me a referral. Then it was a blood test and an ECG, and then a zoom assessment in a couple of weeks. I did look at going private, I think it's about £600 quid to be assessed, and then they hand you back to the NHS.

It's more of a focus regulation issue.  They used to think that kids with ADHD wouldn't have done well in education. eg if you've gone to a good uni, and have a good job etc, you wouldn't have problems concentrating. But now they're reappraising everything. In a book I read, the author states that most people he met who didn't finish their phd write ups, have ADHD. Lockdown and working from home has screwed up a lot of people.  All the strategies I developed over the years to get stuff done, don't work when I'm working from home with a toddler running around. Also getting help is more to help those around me, I'm fine with how I am, it's my wife that suffers.

I'm the same regarding the need for podcasts to do any housework. However the one trait that really rang the alarm bells for me, was when it asked in a book do you feel the need to buy a new notebook for every major project, and then abandon the notebook within a couple of pages.  I have a drawer full of nearly new notebooks.

[Butterfly]

The hospital have asked to assess how often these things have occurred over the last 6 months, I'm putting down often or very often to pretty much everything.

May I ask if this is NHS? I've heard it's tough to get a diagnosis on the NHS.

I've read loads over the last year or so that's made me think I've got ADHD tendencies but can't quite face trying to get help from my GP. I could also answer often or very often to a lot of that though I think I've masked a lot of it most of my life. When I started primary school the teacher made my parents take me for a hearing test because I tuned out things I didn't find interesting so very effectively to the point I couldn't hear the teacher calling my name. The specialist was angry at my mum because 'this child's hearing is perfect' and nothing more was done except to tell me to stop daydreaming.

That sounds familiar. I answered always or often to most of those. I suspect the reason I don't have a diagnosis is that I work in a job where I can do several things at once - dishwasher, washing machine, supervising homework and cooking tea for example. I read the top third, then the bottom third upwards, then most of the middle - something I do a lot, but would be a bit of a problem in a workplace requiring much written stuff. Not finishing projects isn't an issue as a nanny.