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pawelk1986
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03 Nov 2012, 7:22 am

I am a student of library science.

I have a problem, I should write a paper on a certain topic but I can not concentrate on academic work, I have a lot of thoughts in my head but I can not concentrate on my work.

Are there any effective techniques to improve concentration.



b9
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03 Nov 2012, 7:36 am

i would think that the only effective technique for improving your concentration would be to identify what you are fundamentally interested in, and think about that.

unfortunately, one does not have to be advised to isolate what they are interested in if they have true interests because they live in their interests anyway.

so if you are following a course of action that you are not interested in, then i think you may fail.



pawelk1986
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03 Nov 2012, 7:51 am

b9 wrote:
i would think that the only effective technique for improving your concentration would be to identify what you are fundamentally interested in, and think about that.

unfortunately, one does not have to be advised to isolate what they are interested in if they have true interests because they live in their interests anyway.

so if you are following a course of action that you are not interested in, then i think you may fail.


My problem is that i have thousands thoughts play on games online, watching movie, playing on web game but none of them is related to my research papers and i cannot focus on my work.



izzeme
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03 Nov 2012, 7:56 am

it helps greatly if you are writing about something that you are honestly interested in. in my case, i will start research on it as a form of productivity avoidant behaviour; but becouse it is on the topic of whatever i'm writing about, relaxation is actually productive, so all io have to to is keep track of the places i read in, and then i can just write with the, now innate, knowledge i got and just put the reading records at the bottom for a reference list



b9
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03 Nov 2012, 8:22 am

pawelk1986 wrote:
b9 wrote:
i would think that the only effective technique for improving your concentration would be to identify what you are fundamentally interested in, and think about that.

unfortunately, one does not have to be advised to isolate what they are interested in if they have true interests because they live in their interests anyway.

so if you are following a course of action that you are not interested in, then i think you may fail.


My problem is that i have thousands thoughts play on games online, watching movie, playing on web game but none of them is related to my research papers and i cannot focus on my work.

it is sad that the bulk of your mental energy is sucked into a virtual reality that is shaped only by your imagination.

i do understand in a way, but i have made a business with arduous attention to the fine tuning requirements that account for all aspects of the business.
as it is, i get a reasonable income by employing a driver to deliver the goods.

i have refined it so my input into the business is merely ringing all my customers 3 times per week in the late afternoon, and inputting into a program i wrote what they want, and emailing an automated "run summary" for the date that is the end of the file name ("run summary 12-11-03" was the last file i sent).

the other thing i do is pay for all the stock which is a bit of a hassle because i have to work out whether their figures are correct

it is now i can lay back a bit, but you can not lay back while you have no means of supporting yourself, and there is work ahead for you i think.



littlelily613
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03 Nov 2012, 12:53 pm

The only advice I can give about keeping concentration when writing papers is to study something you are truly interested in. I find the vast majority of Aspies would have no problem whatsoever writing papers on their most intense interests. Can you manipulate the topic to reflect an interest without going too much off your subject matter? If not, you might want to reconsider if this degree is really captivating enough for you in order to, not only study it for now, but to work with it for the rest of your life.


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Tufted Titmouse
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04 Nov 2012, 10:05 pm

Niccotine.

Its used by many parents in niccotine patches to treat their ADD or AS kids. Its like a really low dose ritalin- it just sharpens your mind a little. Without AS or ADD itd make you wired bt for us it focuses us- like focusing dispirate laser beams into a point.

I smoke sometimes (cigarettes mot weed) and noticed a cpl of years ago it def makes me less AS after a few days. I have mild ADD.

Google autism and noccotine; theres a gazillion hits for it.its well known for at home autism treatment.

Other than that- work in a calm area- lessen visual and other sensory distractions. You may also find you're more alert at different times if day- teens are biologically better functioning later in the day, anyway- melatonin issues etc. but aspies are esp prone to sensativities to light and thr ions produced- sounds BS, i know- bt then i live being on hill tops or at sea- so its certainly true for me (both have good ions).
Im at my optimum beween 11-2. Even if i get into an early morning body clock mode, i still cant function mornings, so no longer bother to try. Try working after 9pm. Might work gor you too? Other aspies i know are weirdo might owls like me, so im certainly not alone!!

Lastly- just do it. Even if its bad, the sooner you start the more re-writes you can do. That will help you improve it- your attitude will be a bit calmer, and re-writes and the extra time will give you space to perfect it!
Good luck : )



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05 Nov 2012, 6:48 am

Well, I would suggest using caffeine instead of nicotine. It will help clear your head if you are feeling fuzzy and having trouble concentrating. I don't usually drink coffee because I hate the taste, but it helped me get through university because it cleared my head when I had to work on my studies. If you already drink coffee every day, stop doing that ASAP - the reason I say that is because your body gets used to the caffeine and it ceases to have much of an effect. However, If you only drink it when you actually need a caffeine boost, it has a very considerable effect and should be helpful.

While I agree that it's important to study things that capture your interest, it's not always as simple as that in practice - there are always parts we have to do that are boring even in a subject which is generally of great interest. But I have a better suggestion than drugs, which is lists, lists and more lists. Most people with ASDs are awful at planning or processing multi-step tasks and so this enormous, complicated task in front of us is daunting, bewildering and extremely unappealing, and very hard for us to focus on or even to get started on. Whatever it is you need to do, break it down into sections which are as small as you can get them. For example, if you have to write an essay on a topic, your portions might be: rough essay plan (brief list of the things I need to cover), introductory paragraph, two paragraphs about X, two paragraphs about Y, one paragraph about Z, concluding paragraph. Then choose one of these sections - it doesn't even have to be the introduction one first, choose whichever sounds easiest or most appealing to you at the moment. You might choose to write the paragraph about Z because you can do that without going and looking anything up and it will be faster and easier. Tell yourself that after you've just written that little paragraph about Z, you can go play your games/watch your videos for a while. Also, you can cross one of those things off your list. Crossing off each part as you do it gives you a sense of achievement and momentum which encourages you to try the next little bit. It also means that, as long as you leave yourself enough time, you never have to concentrate for long periods. Just for short ones, say one little bit each day, and reward yourself for it afterward.

It is vital that these portions are SMALL and manageable, preferably things you can do in a short time, and get done before your brain really grinds to a halt from the boredom of the task if it's something that bores you. The above is just an example and of course you will need to tailor your planning to your own piece of work. You may need to break down some of the sections into smaller sub-sections and check those off one at a time. Once I started doing it I found I actually really enjoy the planning stage of projects, perhaps because of the AS tendency to enjoy organised lists of things! Perhaps you will find it the same.

Here is a great little free piece of software which is very easy to use which you can use to make a task-list for your project, break it down into sub-tasks if you want to, and which will show you the percentage complete your project is, as well as how much time each task took you, which is great for estimating how much time the rest will take - I don't know about you, but I'm horrible about estimating the time it will take to do things.

http://www.abstractspoon.com/tdl_resources.html