Dealing with short attention span

[mamamia88]

Any tips on improving my attention span? I used to be able to read Harry Potter front to back with no distractions but, now, even when reading books i'm interested in, I'm like "get to the good part" and hope for lists etc. Is there any way to improve my attention span that seems to have taken a turn for the worse since I was a kid?

[theVOID]

It's not a bad thing. Stop reading fiction and use your lack of patience to get productive.

[Shinylight]

TL;DR

[theVOID]

LOL

[Autumnlicious]

To get back on topic, if you find that your attention span is too short, I'm sorry to report that unless you're using drugs, you'll have to simply train it by being disciplined and getting into the habit of staying focused.

It's bloody hard though. I've been catching up on my university peers in terms of discipline and focus - studying some stuff I'm not fascinated in definitely is painful. But if you keep to a schedule and resolve yourself to studying/paying attention to a particular task that you find boring, you can improve your concentration.

Personally, I find it easier to keep on track with the aid of music. Aggressive music for coding, introspective music for deep thought. Children of Bodom and Alan Parsons makes for an interesting combination when switching methods.

[theVOID]

And if you're playing an FPS don't listen to music you enjoy, you get fragged more.

[thesummerqueen]

I find that white noise or a podcast that I've heard before put on low (the more voices the better) generally helps me tune everything else out. I like studying at cafés and such for that reason.

Also, recognize that while you might be interested in the topic, a lot of authors still put a lot of crap in their books that doesn't bear paying close attention to. I've found few non-fiction authors who were talented enough to combine brevity with good information and engaging style. Don't feel too bad if you skim through some sections.

[Edwardo Piet]

And if you're playing an FPS don't listen to music you enjoy, you get fragged more.

Unless you love that music so much it keeps you amused while you listen and play the game for 16 hours a day for a year and a half - when without the music you would have probably been bored a lot quicker and given up - and so you get a lot of practice and are able to jump up and headshot people on the horizon with speed and ease relatively regularly without a scope.

EDIT: Furthermore, I wish *I* could deal with a fucking short attention span. My attention span used to be hideously long. And I say hideously because I tended to do the same thing for hours and hours and hours straight and get so immersed in it that I really needed *Less* focus.

Now I have a really short attention span because I am very afraid of getting over-focused again, getting so immersed that I ignore people when they talk to me and just forget to un-focus, get addicted, etc.

The problem is now I am WAY too easily distracted. Rather than being told the same thing 3 times (or a lot more) before I hear people, now I immediately respond to any background noise or otherwise distraction - so I have such trouble focusing now!

And fuck, I can't do balance. If it's anything I can't do it's balance.