Initiative

[Brent]

Just had an insight.

I've noticed that I tend to get trapped in "status loops," where I'm constantly re-checking various inboxes to see if anything new has come in. For example, I'll check Fark (http://www.fark.com/) to see if there are any new items, then Google News (http://news.google.com/), then some of my favorite blogs (Lileks' Bleat (http://www.lilkes.com/bleats/), p1k3 (p1k3.com/), etc.), and once I've done that, I wonder what else I'm missing. I might go back to Fark, or go through my bookmarks for sites I haven't visited in awhile, instead of closing the web browser and going on to other things that need doing.

When this occurs, I have a vague, throbbing sense that I should be completely up-to-date with whatever project I'm on at the moment. I don't even think about other things that need to be done.

Does anyone else have this habit? If so, what do you do to conquer it?

[Day Owl]

Yes. I check my e-mail. Then www.davidco.com. Then another BB I like. Then a blog. Then my e-mail, again. Then it's back to davidco.

The cure: I stop and listen, and hear the wolf howling, far in the distance. Pretty soon the wolf will be at the door. I hear him now.....gotta go.....

[monkeyjava]

I am a compulsive site-checker too. I have half a dozen or so that I go through in my "patrol" about every hour. I'm in front of the PC and craving change so I guess that's what drives it. I am thinking about breaking this habit and also going on a "news fast" for a while.

[andersons]

I've noticed that I tend to get trapped in "status loops," where I'm constantly re-checking various inboxes to see if anything new has come in. For example, I'll check Fark (http://www.fark.com/) to see if there are any new items, then Google News (http://news.google.com/), then some of my favorite blogs (Lileks' Bleat (http://www.lilkes.com/bleats/), p1k3 (http://p1k3.com/), etc. . .

Does anyone else have this habit? If so, what do you do to conquer it?
I'm not sure I understand. This sounds like procrastinating (?). Why do you consider blogs and news 'inboxes'?

[pageta]

I'm not sure I understand. This sounds like procrastinating (?). Why do you consider blogs and news 'inboxes'?

You are too funny!

I would agree. It sounds like you're worrying about the wrong inboxes. That could be caused by a number of things. Fatigue. This post did appear on a Friday. Maybe it's time for the weekend. Or perhaps your next actions aren't specific enough to get you moving (maybe they're specific enough for a Wednesday but not for a Friday...KWIM?).

[Desultory]

I do have that habit, and it's definitely procrastination.

Consider setting aside a certain time when you're allowed to check them. (This is also known as Unscheduling.) For example, I try to confine my patrolling to lunchtime. The danger of this is sometimes I end up taking long lunches! :oops: At least it scratches to itch to see what's new out there.

HTH

PS. This forum is especially dangerous. I have to confess I was in serious work advoidance mode last night.

[remyc88]

I used to do that as well, until I discovered the wonder of RSS :)

Now I just subscribe to the RSS feeds and read the material when I get the chance. Of course I’m often a day (or even a week) behind, but at least I don’t feel like I’m ‘missing’ anything.

For those who don't know, here's a quick tutoral on RSS
http://channels.lockergnome.com/rss/resources/articles/quickstart.phtml

[Brent]

Why do you consider blogs and news 'inboxes'?

A blog is a source of input, a place where data sits waiting for me to review it for appropriate action (e.g., perform further research about a topic raised, print and file for future reference, etc.). How is that not an inbox?

[Brent]

I used to do that as well, until I discovered the wonder of RSS :)

These blogs do not have RSS feeds.

Also, people seem to be fixating on the digital aspect of this. Perhaps I was unclear; I can do the same thing with ANY aspect of my life. I also do this while gardening, for example.

I'd appreciate insight on the underlying behavior. It's not quite procrastination, because I am doing stuff; I'm just doing stuff relating solely to the project at hand. I'm trying to be completely "caught up" on the current project, with no concern about other projects.

[Starfish]

I'd appreciate insight on the underlying behavior. It's not quite procrastination, because I am doing stuff; I'm just doing stuff relating solely to the project at hand. I'm trying to be completely "caught up" on the current project, with no concern about other projects.

Brent,

I'm the same way. Perhaps we don't trust our system enough to stop fixating on the project that has our focus; or perhaps we haven't done a complete mind sweep to dump the stuff that has our attention into our system?

Just some thoughts...

Matthew

[pageta]

Oh, I know what you're talking about. I have many times found myself compulsive about checking certain things, whether it be online forums or blogs or my garden.

I often blame it on procrastination, that I don't want to do the things I really need to be doing. But like with this forum, I'm currently obsessed with being more productive, and this forum (and other blogs I'm currently checking a lot) has truly helped me learn a lot about that. It's like productivity is my current "project" and at some point I will make progress to the point where progress is starting to slow and then I will move onto something else.

This happens to be one of my favorite things about GTD - I have a list of everything I want to do and so I can become absorbed in something if I want to because I'm aware of what I'm not doing. I keep my next action lists, and I have days when I knock out a lot of little items and other days where the whole day (or a significant portion of it) is absorbed with one project. Before GTD, I couldn't totally immerse myself in something I wanted to because I was afraid other things would slide. Now I can - and totally enjoy it - because I know what I'm doing and what I'm not doing.

I seem to swing back and forth from modes where I take in a lot of input - reading books, forums, blogs - to where I am very productive and don't want any external input. It's kind of like a planting and harvest things. I just ride out the planting times (when I'm obsessed with inboxes and absorbing all the information that I can) knowing that in good time, I will have a very productive period where almost everything on my lists will be completed and I'll worry about running out of things to do (even though that's never happened).

So I really don't know what to tell you except to follow your intuition and learn what you can, knowing that at some point you will be putting it to good use and accomplishing things you would never be able to accomplish with what you know now.

[ludlow]

I'm not sure I fully grasp the underlying issue being raised here but I have a feeling the too-many-inboxes thing is likely to be relevant.

It's true that an inbox is "a source of input waiting to be reviewed", but clearly if every source of input waiting to be reviewed was an inbox by definition, this might theoretically include every blog, website, newspaper, tv channel, or indeed person in the world. So we are all, automatically, making some kind of judgment to include some data sources as inboxes, and not others.

So it might potentially help, I guess, to mentally shift as many of these input sources as possible over to the side of "non-inbox" sources of data, to be reviewed on an ad-hoc basis -- ie., so that having reviewed them is not a precondition of your system being up to date. Then when you do look at those sources, and find something you want to act on, move it to one of your actual inboxes.

I appreciate that's probably only a slight help at best, and maybe none at all. But this does bring up an interesting philosophical issue in GTD, which is that there is a decision prior to any decisions listed on the famous workflow diagram -- whether to make something an inbox, and then whether to put something in one of those inboxes...

[CJSullivan]

A blog is a source of input, a place where data sits waiting for me to review it for appropriate action (e.g., perform further research about a topic raised, print and file for future reference, etc.). How is that not an inbox?

As David would say, an inbox is a "transom," as David would say, between the outside world and your "space." This could be psychic space, for sure. But a blog, a magazine, a news program: these are sources of information -- other people's expressions, sent out into the world for others to "tap into."

Not to belabor the semantics of it, but perhaps if you think of these blogs, etc. as "Read & Review," then you that might shift your urgency. I understand that blogs, etc. are updated at a more frequent pace than monthly magazines, or even daily news programs, but isn't it about what's helping YOU do what YOU want to do? It sounds like calling these things "in boxes" is a way to justify your desire to keep up with them. (And please know that I'm not judging your desire to do that.) But the blog is not "waiting for you to review it for appropriate action"!

For me, the bottom line is: is it working for you to check your e-mail (and whatever else you check) every five minutes? If not, own that, and decide to change your behavior...

[jac]

OK - let's take an example - you visit the DA Forum 4 times per day to read the latest post.
Why? What is the Successful Outcome? Presumably it is to "Learn the latest GTD hack to make me more productive".
What is the Next Action? "Browse DA Forum for latest hack".
Context? "@computer - online"

OK then. Next time you're in that context have a look at your NA list and go for it!

If you "have" to do this everyday then put is on your calendar.

I ask just one thing - listen to your intuition. When compared to all the other NAs on your list is this really the best thing you can focus on right now???

[kewms]

I've noticed that I tend to get trapped in "status loops," where I'm constantly re-checking various inboxes to see if anything new has come in. For example, I'll check Fark (http://www.fark.com/) to see if there are any new items, then Google News (http://news.google.com/), then some of my favorite blogs (Lileks' Bleat (http://www.lilkes.com/bleats/), p1k3 (p1k3.com/), etc.), and once I've done that, I wonder what else I'm missing. I might go back to Fark, or go through my bookmarks for sites I haven't visited in awhile, instead of closing the web browser and going on to other things that need doing.


I hate to say it, Brent, but you're procrastinating.

I know this because I have the same tendency. I'm an industry analyst, so I can reasonably argue that any magazine, web site, or blog related to my industry is "job-related" information that I need to read and absorb. And it is. But reading the Wall Street Journal is rarely more important than attacking specific tasks related to specific projects. So if I'm reading the Journal when I should be reading a paper on flexible photovoltaics in IEEE Transactions, I'm procrastinating. (Yes, the Journal is usually more interesting. That's why this trap is so seductive.)

The best solution I've found is to set aside a chunk of time when it's okay to do general information gathering of this kind, to use RSS feeds and similar tools to make that time as efficient as possible, and to have clear NA lists so that I can easily see what I should be doing the rest of the time. Otherwise, five minutes of browsing turns into two hours, and the day is completely shot.

Katherine

[Brent]

Thanks for all the thoughts so far! You've all given me lots to think about.

Just a note: This is not procrastination. Procrastination is "To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness" according to the American Heritage Dictionary. When I'm in these "status loops," I am definitely not putting off anything. My mind is fixated on the task in front of my eyes. I'm not even aware that there are other things to do.

It's sort of the opposite of ADHD. It's like I refuse to break concentration. Though that's not quite accurate, either, as I'm not really concentrating on the task itself; I'm in a particular state and don't break out of it. It's a bit like sitting in a bath, eyes closed, hair wet, completely relaxed, your bones like lead pipes...you don't even think about leaping up and going on to the next thing.

Perhaps I'm living too much in the moment? Ha! That'd be ironic.

In any event, I'm just trying to make my particular situation more clear. Again, thanks to everyone for your replies.

Regarding my definition of inboxes: I do see every blog in the world as a potential inbox. They're not all inboxes for me, though; I can choose what to have as an inbox.

[kewms]

Just a note: This is not procrastination. Procrastination is "To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness" according to the American Heritage Dictionary. When I'm in these "status loops," I am definitely not putting off anything. My mind is fixated on the task in front of my eyes. I'm not even aware that there are other things to do.

*shrug* In the end it doesn't matter what you call it. Whether your status loops arise from obsession or boredom, the effect on your other work is the same: it doesn't get done.

Katherine

[andersons]

Regarding my definition of inboxes: I do see every blog in the world as a potential inbox.
Well, right off the bat, see no blogs as “inboxes” and you’ll make a giant leap toward fixing your problem.

Katherine is right. You are procrastinating. Even if you are not aware that you intend to put off other work, the bottom line is that you are. And procrastination often takes the form of doing easy, low-payoff activities rather than the important, high-leverage ones. It's not the absence of all activity: that's called death.

However, a bigger problem is that you don’t know exactly what you are putting off. Maybe you're putting off defining and committing to some challenging goals. I hate to say it, but there you are missing the point of GTD. One of GTD’s major successful outcomes is to be fully aware of what one is committed to. You are not aware of what you’re committed to. It’s time to examine your application of GTD to see why you’re not achieving that successful outcome.

If excessive focus were the only problem, a solution would be to set a timer before you go online, then force yourself to review your NA lists and even project lists when the timer goes off. In theory, that 'interrupt' strategy should force you out of your state. But I have a gut feeling that it won’t work because I'm guessing there are deeper roots to the behavior.

The key symptom IMO is rationalizing. Your definitions of “task” and “inbox” are so generic that they are not useful; in fact, your definitions are counter-productive. Your idea of “task” seems to be anything and everything, including low-effort, low-importance, low-urgency, low-impact activities like reading Google News and various blogs. Repeatedly checking websites as you described in your initial post is NOT focusing on a project. You are kidding yourself.

You have taken the concept of “inbox,” a little piece of the GTD productivity puzzle, and mis-applied it to every source of data, even data that is 1) directed at the whole world, not specifically to you; and 2) not likely to be actionable or to support completion of meaningful, important projects. Your outcomes of blog processing, for example, mainly appear to be a) printing and filing for future reference, and b) doing more "research" -- i.e., a self-perpetuating collection loop!

By inflating web sources of information like news and blogs to the status of inbox, you risk becoming a passive collector of other people’s ideas rather than a proactive achiever of your own goals.

The outcome is that you are overly dependent on bottom-up inputs while being unaware of higher-level goals. My gut feeling is that the root of the problem is not being committed to meaningful, important, inspiring, and challenging higher-level goals. Your Weekly Review you described on another thread does not seem to include much thought about higher-level goals either. In terms of the GTD model, what are you committed to at 50,000 feet? 40,000? 30,000? 20,000? And be brutally honest, how well are your projects and actions achieving those higher-level goals?

If you fully commit to clear, meaningful, and compelling goals and review them frequently, you won't lose sight of them when you go online unless you have a clinical problem. You may avoid them at times, but you'll know what you're avoiding.

But of course, I could be wrong. Especially if there are other critical factors you're not telling us about. ("Oh didn't I mention, I've been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder". . .) I am not trying to be obnoxious here; I've had this experience on forums where someone asks for advice for what seems to be a simple, common problem with straightforward solutions, but it turns out it is a much deeper problem.

[Brent]

Thank you all for your advice.

The number of assumptions here made about my implementation of GTD is staggering.

Hopefully I can dispel beliefs that my GTD system is broken by posting my Projects list (http://brent.other-space.com/misc/gtd/Projects.html) and my Next Actions list (http://brent.other-space.com/misc/gtd/Actions.html) (phone numbers masked). I fully acknowledge that they could be more specific/defined, but I think my Projects are reasonably well-defined and my Actions are reasonably specific.

I will also ask those here to understand that blogs are only one example of this behavior. I appreciate the suggestions here about them, but I am more interested in advice about the behavior, not the example.

[Brent]

Something else I should mention: I procrastinate. I procrastinate a lot. But the behavior I'm trying to describe is different.

And yes, the end result is the same as procrastination. But the end result of everything is the same if you take it out far enough: Death. A particular result might have one of many causes. Murder and suicide have the same result, but the different causes are very important.

Or, look at it this way: As a thought experiment, what might cause this behavior besides procrastination?

[Desultory]

I too am a writer who enjoys browsing the web, which means I am presuming that I understand your situation (based on what I can glean from your Project list).

In your first post, you sounded like you were worried that you were spending too much time checking blogs. In a later post, you describe quite nicely the pleasure you get from that. It's absolutely fine to acknowledge that you enjoy doing this, and to make time for it. But it's not fine to realize that you are caught in a "status loop", when you really want to finish writing a story. At least, I think that's what you're worried about. If so, then on some level, you have realized that you need to set a limit on your blogs.

I'm not telling you to stop reading them entirely. I am warning you that blogs a are the Inbox to an infinite Read/Review stack. But you know that.

[kewms]

Or, look at it this way: As a thought experiment, what might cause this behavior besides procrastination?

Why don't you tell us what you think is causing it?

Katherine

[ADD GTDer]

As a thought experiment, what might cause this behavior besides procrastination?

As I think you said, ADHD (or maybe I should say ADHD-like tendencies - yours may just not be that severe) :) My doctor says I do this sort of thing to "change channels" so I can re-engage when I come back. If I'm not constantly changing my environment my brain goes numb. Not sure if that helps...

Janice

[eowyn]

Is it a case of poker machine addiction? - Keep checking the blogs/web-sites, and every now and again, you get a "win" - which is something new to read. ( I have a feeling this is called "operant conditioning" but I could be wrong).

There is one particular forum I have this behaviour on. *sigh*

Regards
Eowyn

[andersons]

I will also ask those here to understand that blogs are only one example of this behavior. I appreciate the suggestions here about them, but I am more interested in advice about the behavior, not the example.
For one thing, it is the only understandable example you gave.

That's why I asked for clarification at first. Your story is inconsistent with itself. People have given advice about the one situation you did describe very clearly. Read your first post again. There you gave a clear example of a specific behavior, asked for advice about it -- and that's exactly what you got. Completely reasonable.

The rest of your posts are unclear. You mention "doing this" while gardening, but it's not clear what you're doing. If you are a writer, you will recognize the indefinite pronoun reference. You generalized your first problem -- incorrectly -- as getting into a 'status loop' checking 'inboxes'. It's hard to imagine what inboxes need to be checked while gardening.

In another post, you claim to be "focused on the task at hand," but the specific example you gave in the first post is not even remotely consistent with being "focused."

Even if you cannot clarify the behavior you want to understand, one problem is very clear. Your application of the concept of "inbox" lacks wisdom -- the trait of applying knowledge and experience with common sense and insight -- and will guarantee predictable problems like the clear one you described in your first post. Whatever other problems you want to understand, you'll have to describe them. If there are lots of examples, describe some. Clearly.

[tuneczar]

Without any professional credentials to back this up, I'd suggest that the original poster is attempting to describe his awareness that he is essentially compulsive.

It's easy enough to fall into. Perhaps the task at hand is to recognize this inability to "pull away" from a pleasurable activity and get on with more important or urgent activities.

So, my advice: pick the answer from this forum that resonates with you, but you must learn to break away if you hope to move forward. Remember, if you are keeping all NAs in your trusted system, you won't be missing anything -- but you must learn to *ACT* on each one in turn.

HTH,
~TC

[pageta]

Here is a bit of a different angle...perhaps. I find that I am most compulsive about checking blogs and such things when the thing I need to be working on requires thought or I am not sure exactly how to do it. I remember reading a book about writing once where the author said she did some of her best writing while moving the dish cloth slowly around the dishes as she "piddled" with doing the dishes instead of sitting down with a piece of paper and writing.

In my business, people are always telling me to delegate the things I don't "have" to do. Well, that's great and all, but if I had to just work all of the time, I would go crazy. I get some of my best ideas while vacuuming the floor, washing the dishes, and taking out the trash. When I'm stuck working at a desk in a desk job, surfing the web takes the place of cleaning the house or working in the garden.

Ideas come from the oddest of places. Sometimes they surprise me. Perhaps that's why I find the need to work on something directly and then do something else in order to let my subconscious mind work on the problem. Otherwise I literally give myself headaches.

So while it may seem that I am very much procrastinating, in the long run, I am accelerating the completion of the project by allowing myself down time. Perhaps. I know my obsession with blogs grows when I have a major thought project that I'm working on. When I don't have anything that I'm trying to resolve in my mind, my interest in blogs wanes to where I can check them 20% as much or less as during peak times.

[tuneczar]

[QUOTE=pagetaIdeas come from the oddest of places. Sometimes they surprise me. Perhaps that's why I find the need to work on something directly and then do something else in order to let my subconscious mind work on the problem.[/QUOTE]

Pagedata, I completely agree that it's important to allow yourself to have some mental "down time" to allow for random free-association to get flowing...yes, yes, absolutely.

My experience with being compulsive and/or avoiding getting started is that I will inevitably put myself into a *really, really* tight deadline. Now that CAN sometimes be amazingly productive, especially in a creative field, but it's can also be bloody stressful!

As much as I hate it at times, I just have to make myself jump right in and get started on that list of NAs. That's what I suggest -- just do something, however small, to move the action forward and begin to get your momentum rolling.

[grt]

This topic really resonates with one of my struggles.

I love to gather new information, love being an expert, love learning all I can, love analyzing things ad nauseum.

When I'm doing something I love, it is very difficult to break my concentration. It's kind of a hyper-focus. It might even be "mind like water".

BUT, I also know at a certain point, these things I love get in the way of being productive in other areas. I do these things I love, sometimes, to avoid other tasks that a) do not bring me as much pleasure, or b) overwhelm me, or c) cause me anxiety.

I am not successful nearly as much as I would like, but what I have tried is:

1. Make it difficult to visit the blog and website (or do whatever activity it is that I want to reduce) Take it off my favorites list (I did this with this forum.) :| Don't buy the Sudoku book. Delete solitaire and minesweeper software. Walk away from my PC.

2. Schedule a commitment that forces me to shift my focus. Set my reminder to go off on Outlook, make plans to walk with a friend, read a book with my daughter before bedtime.

3. Replace the hyper-focused activity with another activity that I'll enjoy more.

These may seem really simplistic, and probably more helpful if you're willing to stop the activity completely, but in my experience, this hyper-focus is very strong. I can even hear myself telling myself to stop, STOP, STOP , but that rarely helps me. So I've had to set up other triggers that stop me for me.

Hope this helps even a little!

[Gameboy70]

Just had an insight.

I've noticed that I tend to get trapped in "status loops," where I'm constantly re-checking various inboxes to see if anything new has come in. For example, I'll check Fark (http://www.fark.com/) to see if there are any new items, then Google News (http://news.google.com/), then some of my favorite blogs (Lileks' Bleat (http://www.lilkes.com/bleats/), p1k3 (http://p1k3.com/), etc.), and once I've done that, I wonder what else I'm missing. I might go back to Fark, or go through my bookmarks for sites I haven't visited in awhile, instead of closing the web browser and going on to other things that need doing.

When this occurs, I have a vague, throbbing sense that I should be completely up-to-date with whatever project I'm on at the moment. I don't even think about other things that need to be done.

Does anyone else have this habit? If so, what do you do to conquer it?

I apply the two-minute rule. I have no qualms about checking for updates on a site if it takes less than two minutes. I'll even post on a site (like now) if it takes less than two minutes. If these activities take longer, I'll put them on my @online list (which I keep separate from @computer), and wait for a more appropriate time.

[remyc88]

Just a note: This is not procrastination. Procrastination is "To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness" according to the American Heritage Dictionary.

I think that definition is too general.

If we begin with the notion that procrastination is not the basic "problem" but rather an attempted "cure" for fears, self-doubts, and dislike of work, then it is obvious that most procrastinators will have to focus on the real problems--underlying fears, attitudes and irrational ideas--in order to overcome the procrastinating behavior.
Source: http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/chap4r.htm

It seems like you have a need to be always “up-to-date”--that you are afraid or unwilling to start a project until you have all the information.

It’s like when people are waiting for the perfect time to start something, e.g. “I’ll start exercising after I finish this big project” or “Once I get this pda, then I’ll be able to get organized.”

An excellent post from CosmoGTD: Be aware, that reading all of these books on procrastination is an elegant form of procrastination that lets you feel relieved that you are doing something about your procrastination problem without really doing anything about it.
Source: http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3416 (btw, that link's topic seems somewhat similar to this topic)


And as cheesy as this sounds, never confuse motion with action (or activity with productivity).

[andersons]

A particular result might have one of many causes. Murder and suicide have the same result, but the different causes are very important.
I agree. I believe it is powerful to understand causes. And sometimes it may be nearly impossible to change a resulting effect without understanding its underlying cause.

But human behavior seems complex; so a lot of times we plain just don't know. And the main way we identify causes is by working backwards from solutions. Most medical "breakthroughs" are found in this way.

If you go to a doctor for a diagnosis, and the doctor knows what she's doing, she'll identify a bunch of possibilities consistent with symptoms and proceed to try to rule some out by doing the easiest, safest, and least expensive tests first. Or even prescribe solutions to see if they work.

That is why I try the most obvious and straightforward -- and safest -- approach to a solution first. So I advocated changing the way you look at inboxes and clarifying connections between actions and goals. And setting a timer before you go into this state. This is essentially a straightforward cognitive-behavioral approach; it's simple and safe to try it; it can't hurt and it might help. And if it helps, you now have a good idea of the behavior's cause.

If the safe, straightforward solution doesn't work, you are still closer to understanding the cause since you have identified a factor that is not it. At least not all by itself. The Thomas Edison approach.


Or, look at it this way: As a thought experiment, what might cause this behavior besides procrastination?
I still don't understand the behavior(s). I see 2 different things in your posts:

1) The web surfing example in the first post. This one still looks to me like it might have a simple, straightforward cause and solution. This is the behavior most of us in this thread have tackled because as described it seems solvable.

2) The excessive focus thing. Much tougher. I still don't understand this. Take your bathtub example: the only thing I could come up with was ?????? Don't understand. I understand the idea of excessive focus in principle, but I can't relate. And I don't think most people will relate because it is not a common problem; the common problem is not focusing enough.

Not understanding this problem, I was unwilling to take a stab at it. Really need more facts; logic is no good when it depends on all assumptions and no facts. So a thought experiment? Maybe first-pass hypotheses to elicit more facts. . . :-)

1) Some neurochemical brain dysfunction. Could be caused by a drug or supplement. Definitely not ADHD: the opposite of ADHD. ADHD is helped by drugs that increase dopamine in certain brain areas. Many, many, many drugs and supplements increase dopamine and could cause excess focus of attention for you. For example, if you happen to be taking Ritalin. Or 'fat burners' or 'energy' supplements, caffeine, tyrosine, vinpocetine, glucosol, vanadium, gingko, NADH, St. John's wort, alcohol, opiates, cocaine, nicotine, amphetamines, etc., etc., etc. And of course all supplements that specifically claim to "enhance focus."

2) Some sort of fugue state -- but it sounds too mild.

3) Obsessive-compulsive disorder? Sounds similar but too mild.

Aerobic exercise is a powerful modulator of brain function too; it seems to help just about any brain dysfunction, so you could try that too.

[Disclaimer: you must of course see a health professional about any of these possibilities.]

[pageta]

Not understanding this problem, I was unwilling to take a stab at it. Really need more facts; logic is no good when it depends on all assumptions and no facts. So a thought experiment? Maybe first-pass hypotheses to elicit more facts. . . :-)

1) Some neurochemical brain dysfunction. Could be caused by a drug or supplement. Definitely not ADHD: the opposite of ADHD. ADHD is helped by drugs that increase dopamine in certain brain areas. Many, many, many drugs and supplements increase dopamine and could cause excess focus of attention for you. For example, if you happen to be taking Ritalin. Or 'fat burners' or 'energy' supplements, caffeine, tyrosine, vinpocetine, glucosol, vanadium, gingko, NADH, St. John's wort, alcohol, opiates, cocaine, nicotine, amphetamines, etc., etc., etc. And of course all supplements that specifically claim to "enhance focus."

2) Some sort of fugue state -- but it sounds too mild.

3) Obsessive-compulsive disorder? Sounds similar but too mild.

Aerobic exercise is a powerful modulator of brain function too; it seems to help just about any brain dysfunction, so you could try that too.

Okay, I think this might be going a little too far. I know I will become completely immersed in projects - whatever they are - and ignore everything else. I don't think that is a mental disorder. I always credit it to lack of discipline, and I credit GTD with it happening a lot less. But I will be the first to admit to spending the entire day surfing the web and then it's dinner time and my husband is home and wants to know what I did all day...

I say that GTD helps considerably because where I get stuck is with thinking of what to do. I need something more interesting to do than surfing the web. If I have my next actions written down and they are specific and I've reviewed them within the last 24 hours, I don't waste a day surfing the web. If, on the other hand, I have to think about what I need to do, it requires too much thought and I go back to surfing the web. That's the beauty of having specific next actions sorted into contexts.

I would say that since I started GTD, I may have wasted a couple hours here or there at most on surfing the web, but I have not gotten so immersed in the web or some other project that everything else slid. But I can easily see where if I was in a context where I did not have next actions clearly specified, I could easily just waste time or become overly focused on a single project and everything else would slide.

I know I can very easily become so immersed in something that everything else slides. I've tried Flylady's routines for the things I needed to do every day, but even then I wouldn't get them done because I would be busy working on something else. Now that I have those things and other things turned into specific next actions, I get them done.

An example: fixing supper. Fixing supper can easily be ignored and fall by the wayside, especially if I get immersed in some project. But if I replace "fix supper" with "make bean soup," it gets done. "Fix supper" sounds like it would require effort (what am I going to make? do I have the ingredients?), so I avoid it and continue my project because I feel like I'm being productive and making progress. But if all I need to do is make bean soup, I can step away from whatever the project is long enough to do that and then go back to the project. Then when my husband comes home, there is food to eat...even if I surfed the web for the remainder of the day.

The idea of having a bookmark next action for a project has also helped me. I can stop knowing that when I come back to it, I am going to do X. I don't have to worry about re-immersing myself in it in order to make any progress.

Since implementing GTD, I am amazed at the things I have gotten done. They are things that either would not have gotten done before because I thought I needed a big chunk of time in order to do them and now I break them down so I know more of an idea how much time I need. I also trust myself to come back and finish things since I know how to leave a bookmark (next action) so I don't have to get so immersed that I need to reserve an entire day to accomplish a single task.

I'm sure I'm rambling, but I hope I made a semblance of a point in what I've said.

[pageta]

Then again...I seem to have immersed myself deeply enough in a project that I did not notice the mess my toddler was making at the other end of the room...

I think some people just have the [dis]ability to block everything else out and really focus on something. Whether that is an ability or a disability probably depends on the situation.

[andersons]

Okay, I think this might be going a little too far. I know I will become completely immersed in projects - whatever they are - and ignore everything else. I don't think that is a mental disorder. I always credit it to lack of discipline, and I credit GTD with it happening a lot less.
pageta, I honestly think that your situation may be very different from Brent's. Not all people's problems are caused by lack of discipline or specific next actions. What seems far-fetched to you may be another person's reality. Brent says his next actions are fine. Brent asked for "thought experiments", actually speculation, about what could cause his behavior -- assuming that his projects and next actions are fine and assuming that he's not deliberately avoiding other tasks.

I did read all his posts carefully before I threw out this speculation; I am a brain researcher; he is free to reject it if it's inconsistent with the complete picture that only he knows about. Free speculation can sometimes lead to fruitful ideas we would not have considered otherwise. Take it for what it is -- brainstorming by someone who studies brain function. But it's speculation only.

More importantly, though, a "mental disorder" is a brain dysfunction, certainly not something to be ashamed of or refuse to consider. Non-optimal function of the brain's attention system is not extreme or bizarre. It is certainly intriguing that complex behaviors can be altered by tweaking the dopamine receptors. For example, a form of "procrastination" can be eliminated by dopamine-altering drugs. Brains can function non-optimally just as easily as anything else in the body. It can easily happen; and it's not far-fetched at all. It's not that different from, say, an immune dysfunction that causes allergies.

In my opinion, "lack of discipline" does not explain behavior, it merely describes it: choosing an activity with immediate reward requiring low effort rather than a future reward requiring more effort.

[Sante]

I know this thread is pretty old, but what Brent (and to an extent pageta) describe sounds exactly like me - not that I've done the GTD thing, I will read that next... - in that I suffer from hyper-focus - on net surfing, sudoku, computer games, but very seldom what I actually want to be doing to achieve my long-term goals.

Brent, if you found any solution/description/tools for dealing with this I would love to know about it.

[TesTeq]

I know this thread is pretty old, but what Brent (and to an extent pageta) describe sounds exactly like me - not that I've done the GTD thing, I will read that next... - in that I suffer from hyper-focus - on net surfing, sudoku, computer games, but very seldom what I actually want to be doing to achieve my long-term goals.
Do you really have long-term goals that you are commited to?

Did you define Project(s) and successful outcome(s) for each long-term goal?

Did you define Next Actions for these Projects?

If not - you have no long-term goals.

[kmhlamia]

I'd agree that obsessive loops are slightly different from procrastination, although I often find that I'm prone to obsessive loops when I'm trying to avoid thinking about something emotional, rather than something tangible that I need to do. Have you tried a timer? I find it can break me out of obsessive loops and make me go and do something else. Of course, I do break my own rules a fair bit but at least it focuses my awareness a little.

Kirsty

[DStaub11]

A point of interest--people with ADD have the ability to hyperfocus when something is fascinating to them. Looking at my daughter, who has ADD, I consider this a benefit of that particular brain configuration! So the hyperfocusing behavior is not actually inconsistent with ADD. (Not that I'm implying that you have ADD, Brent).

Do Mi