How long does it take you to switch activities when.....

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How long does it take you to switch activities when the two activities are very different types?

I don't really know how to explain different types and I'm way past my "running out of words" point....the word-ometer needle is shivering just above zero. Hopefully you can magically understand. If not please tell me and I can try to explain another time.

Since the poll doesn't let you select more than one option, you can pick whichever one applies more often than the others or just pick "other" or "depends" as you see fit (sorry didn't see at first I'd written no words for this part:) if more than one applies.

For me I think it is most often the last two categories with time-units in them....depends mostly on whether the switch is expected, a little bit on the activity. If it's part of a daily routine or an emergency situation then it's usually one of the first two categories.

I call it "getting stuck", and as the name implies, the duration is "hours to indefinitely", usually until I'm so tired I'm going into microsleeps, or so hungry I'm trembling, or until I'm forced to run to the bathroom to avoid an embarrassing incident. Sometimes my cat climbs into my lap and nudges me, which can get me out of that "stuck" state, but well--he's a cat, he's not on duty like a service dog would be.

I risk getting stuck whenever I do things that don't have a natural end-point. Like, if I read a book, the book ends; but if I play a computer game or read a Wikipedia article, I could be there all day. Sometimes I get stuck, sometimes I don't. Sometimes when I keep trying, I can get away from it within half an hour to two hours; sometimes I don't remember that it's possible to switch tasks.

That's life with autism. Sometimes I think my brain is just trolling me.

I'm not sure how to answer this. Sometimes I can physically change to a different activity very easily but I just can't get my mind on it. Other times I just can't get myself physically unstuck from the first activity.

I guess I'm non-Aspergian in that sense--except for something that I really don't want to do; in that case, I become VERY Aspie.

I don't think I've had real problems with "transitions" throughout my life.

It really varies. I get stuck a lot just as Callista said, sometimes for hours, but sometimes only for a half hour or an hour. Sometimes natural deadlines can snap me out of it. For instance, I might want to go for a bike ride. I might be thinking all day about how I really, really want to go for a bike ride, but just can't get myself together enough to organize it, and instead I flit around the house aimlessly or just spend time online endlessly. I will be literally sitting at the computer thinking about how much I want to be on my bike. Then when I see the sun going down, I can finally snap into action. And that is why I always seem to be going out for bike rides at sundown! One time I rode my bike 13.5 miles in the dark around an unlit trail on a nature preserve. Going through the wooded areas was really scary because the path curved a lot and I couldn't see very far in front of me because the light on my bike was terrible, and so I had to go really slowly so I wouldn't hit any trees (which would suddenly rear out of the darkness at me).

In my previous career (I switched careers), I had to switch between tasks frequently, and it was a major problem for me. It was like trying to run through molasses. In my current career I can just focus on on thing for long periods of time, and it works much better.

I would never have done what you did: go 13.5 miles in the dark, in an unlit area.

I commend your bravery.

My preferences tell the biggest story, it's hard to quantify them, I prefer to have a huge chunk of time to study something, I hate cramming in studying into one hour, I used to procrastinate as a way to force myself to go on a work marathon for some college exam. Like any aspie, I love to binge on whatever I'm doing in relation to my special interest, and there's slim to no chance any academic material will be studied that day when I decide to go into "fun time" (ie 2 or 3 straight hours of video games), granted going in from play mode to work mode takes some effort for anyone.

The best example of what I think the OP is alluding to is when I would talk to a teacher about fantasy football or something, or just check my fantasy football team right before class starts; and when it does, my mind feels stuck, like pushing a large boat from a dock: initially very slow and very difficult to build momentum and move on from the ff. Combine that with a difficulty in filling in the lines and recovering from a missed beat in a lecture and I would kiss the class time goodbye, I may as well not have shown up at all. I used to listen to sports radio on my iphone on my way to study, also not a good idea.

I put 30 minutes to 1 hour. but it's more complicated and varied.
I can't do too many things in one day. I feel like my brain gets scrambled when I go from one activity to the next and I have to start from scratch to remember and figure out what I need to do and I end up walking in circles doing nothing.
When I'm focusing on one thing I forget about everything else I need to do. I can do something like reading posts on WP instead of paying bills or other pertinent things because that's the first thing I think of when I wake up in the morning and then I have to rest and space out before I can focus on something else and figure out what I need to do.
It also takes me a long time to do things, like writing this post, because I'm spacey and I have to figure out what to say and how to say it.

I also can get stuck reading and researching things and I wish that was all I had to do all day.

I was lucky to have had a night shift job in which I worked alone and I stayed at that job for most of my working life so no one would find out how deficient I really am.

Hey Marybird,

Any time one raises a kid successfully, and is now "raising" a grandson successfully, it is evident that the"deficiency" should never enter into the picture.

I like your lifestyle--walking around the garden. I'm glad you live in an aesthetically pleasing place.

Hi Marybird,

Of course I don't know where you live. You mentioned that you walk around a garden once.

Please don't be offended. Then you wouldn't let me pet your kitty cat!

It's ok.