Day dreaming

Post Reply New Topic

I'm beginning to realize that I spend a not so insignificant amount of time daydreaming or zoned out. Sometimes something will trigger a chain of thoughts and I'll just drift off task. Sometimes I'll zone out because of stress. Sometimes I'll be bored and just daydream. It hurts my job performance significantly. I suspect this is at least partly to do with executive functioning. But lists and other organizational techniques only work when you actually remember to use them. I often don't even remember that I actually made a list. I'll find lists days, weeks and months old that never got updated or had items crossed off. Lists are very linear. I am not. My thoughts are discontinuous in that I jump from one thing to the next without any smooth linkage. When I switch out of one set of thoughts into another, there is no sign post that reminds me to check my list.

I'm just musing here. Not sure the point. Wondering how to get my brain to function more smoothly with the rest of the world.

I like to meditate. My thoughts aren't so absorbing, and I tend to spend less time lost in them, and have better awareness of when I'm drifting.

Still not sure about the executive function stuff, a lot of that appears intractable for me at this point (though I don't entirely rule out positive change in the future). I make my life as simple as possible, that seems to help. I tried list making, the cure seems like more work than the disease.

i like to meditate now too. ^.^
it helps stop the bad thoughts when they start to overflow.

I am exactly like this actually and have had to use list software that has reminders or alarms. Otherwise my tasks do not get done either. It isn't easy being Aspie...

Outlook has a cool task feature btw. One thing that REALLY works for me (and NTs say it is useful for them too) is if I don't go home at night until I have planned out my tasks for the next day and documented them. That way I come in the AM (when I am not really functioning so well) and just work on the things on my list.

I also spend a lot of time daydreaming... sometimes I notice I'm talking to myself, having complicated conversations in my own world. Sometimes I'm afraid one day I'll mistake my world of daydreaming for the real one. I try to keep myself focused on social skills when I'm around others, to prevent slipping into my own world and start saying really strange things that don't make sense at all for others.

On the other hand, when I'm alone I really love to loose myself in daydreams, it's a perfect way to forget everything for a moment! Never tried meditating though, I don't think I can stop thinking somehow.

I have the same issue. I never noticed it as much when I was younger, I just remember that my teachers would often snap their fingers in front of my face and say things like "Hello?" "Are you paying attention" "Wake up!" or my personal favorite "Earth to Space Cadet? Can you read me?". I started to notice that I often go off into "my own world" towards the ends of high school. It worries me that I never seem to do anything without drifting off. But at least I seem to be able to work well enough on auto pilot....as long as I am not writing an essay. I tend to start typing the dialouge in my head....

I started making lists 40 years ago to help me keep track of things to do. At the time I was very busy with working, college and remodeling a house. The lists helped to keep me from forgetting something. I kept and still keep four lists, work today, work longer term, home today, and home long term. Oh, yea I almost forgot. Make that five lists, since I kept a shopping list too! School didn't require a list, since I worked on that every night too keep up.

As for daydreaming let's face it, the fantasy world is much better than "reality" any day. This world is a disaster area no matter where you are on the planet. (Just say thank you government. ) It's fine to daydream, but it's not good to let it interfere with your work, although in some occupations it can be an asset. This links into creativity and problem solving, where sometimes it helps to just let the mind wander. But for other jobs this is definitely not a good idea.

I am exactly the same and as you say, it does no good at work! Or at home for that matter!!

I have lists and lists and lists and I never seem to refer to any of them.

I do use the outlook task list for work, it does help but I still have a longer section of incompletes than completes. I spend more time writing lists than doing them.

I tend to get lost in my thoughts. It isn't really daydreaming, in the usual sense. I'll just get fascinated by something or other, and will spend time pondering it. I'll also plan out a conversation about something. Its mostly an annoyance, and doesn't usually get in the way of work. It is a problem in social situations, though.

I sometimes find that when I'm programming, I get lost in my thoughts, and when I return to my body I find that my fingers have continued to write software. The scary thing is that what my fingers wrote in my absence is actually pretty good. It is either a bit scary or very Zen, depending on how I look at it.

I try to keep lists of things that I need to do, but I find that my lists get too long, and filled with unnecessary items. At that point, I just abandon the whole list.