5 ms·
Another ADDer here. I have two modes of operation: hyper focused or not. Things that require focus, like deep reading mean I need to switch operating modes. I h
by mindfulgeek 6y ago
Another ADDer here. I have two modes of operation: hyper focused or not. Things that require focus, like deep reading mean I need to switch operating modes. I have oodles of ways to address this issue so I only chose a few. Maybe one helps.
Ways I do that:
1. Be really interested in the content — not sure if this works with a non add brain, but it really doesn’t matter where I am, if it’s interesting I’ll jump right down that rabbit hole. Not sure that helps you but maybe can create some parameters for experimentation (like is there a pattern with your interest level and if so how can you mitigate that)
2. Meditation - specifically working with the breath. It takes 30s-3min for me to reboot my brain between tasks. Not much of an investment and in my experience it works.
3. Printing stuff out — i find it much easier to read deep if I have it on paper
4. Copying into an editor and editing — this is my goto for boring reads because it uses a different part of my brain that reading alone
5. At the end of each paragraph I ask myself “what was the point of that?” This is a habit that takes time to develop. At first you may get through an entire article without asking but eventually you can catch yourself sooner.
- nefitty 6y agoI hadn’t ever considered actively editing the content I’m reading. That sounds like a great idea. I’m going to try it out on some technical docs today!
- t0s 6y agoHow do you learn to work with the breath?
- tduberne 6y ago"The mind illuminated" is a very good introduction to meditation. It is unique in the formal system he used to make sense of the various levels of practice. Very practical and low-BS.
- cmehdy 6y agoYou might be on to something with your different ways to focus. I'd love to use a tool (in-browser perhaps? or an app for tablets?) where I could: - load/import reading material from various sources (typically web articles or ebooks) - efficiently edit in-place (with a trace of the original content, google-docs-like), - annotate words or paragraphs, - classify the content for future reference (a sort-of Mendeley bibtex builder, as opposed to simple bookmarks) - auto-formatting for "pretty-printing" (thinking about the reader mode in browsers there) - perhaps with the option of sharing that content, or allowing for comments on my annotations (here I am thinking about goodreads and how authors themselves can answer questions about the books directly)