question concentration and focusing

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I've been think how people with ASD level1 or AS are very good and also very bad at focusing on something.
What I have noticed is that many of us are able to focus on something if we can use the thinking part of our brain. To me, it seems that focusing on creative stuff or stuff that should be analysed are easier than focusing on just repeating something physical. It's hard to explain but many people just do a lot of physical stuff or exercises without needing to think. They just do it. I am really bad at focusing when doing physical stuff or exercises in which I am supposed to refrain from thinking. I practice singing and just doing exercises and refraining from thinking never works. I think there is something between overthinking and not thinking at all.

1. do ASD level 1 or AS often make people into thinkers? Are most of better at focusing on stuff that requires lots of thinking?
2. Is it difficult for many of us to focus on something that requires us to stop thinking?
3. Are many of us creative thinkers who have difficulties focusing on non-creative stuff?
4. is it actually bad to force yourself to do exercises, whether it is singing, peeling carrots or vacuuming without thinking as you are then trying be someone else than the person who you really are?

this must be a thing that is different for every individual

I don't know how common it is, but this sounds like me. I have trouble focusing on non-creative things. I sometimes say that most of life is people wanting me to do a lot of boring things really, really fast, which seems to come naturally to most people around me.

yeah that's reality for some of us. I really hate it when people ask me to just do stuff. My mind wanders away to easily. ASD doesn't exactly make concentration easier all the time. Sometimes it makes it harder. But on the other hand, thinking and being creative can be really important. Especially if you are doing something as it may help you do things better. My issue is that I often do stuff without reflecting or feeling if I am just supposed to do it. But overthinking messes thing up.

I'm ASD2 but I have the same problem. I either hyperfocus or I'm a space cadet with no focus or executive function. I'm diagnosed with ADHD which is a common comorbid for people on the spectrum, but even if people don't have ADHD we do tend to get lost in our thoughts and zone out.

I can usually focus wonderfully under the right circumstances. I have to be naturally interested in the matter. I need to be relaxed and free from distractions. I need to know I have plenty of time to complete the mission. I need to feel that there are no other activities that I'd be better off doing instead. The remit has to be clear to me. And sometimes I start to flounder or get bogged down if the problem manifolds out into too many angles for me to keep track of, and I might accidentally pursue an inefficient path to the result and get so fixated on following it to its conclusion that I waste a lot of time when a NT might much more easily see they've backed a loser and change tack. And I can lose track of what it was I was originally trying to do, though given enough time I usually find my way back to it. And I'm prone to being too perfectionist about relatively unimportant details, which can again waste a great deal of time. These things have got easier as I've got older and somehow developed some of the necessary mental habits to check whether I'm about to take any of those wrong turns. But as I get towards the end of my life expectancy, I'm more mindful of the risk of wasting what little may be left of my time on this planet, and that doesn't help at all.

I can usually focuse quite well on mindless, repetitive tasks. And on more advanced things IF I'M INTERESTED.
It's the things in-between that I have problems with.

/Mats

I have read that what people called Asperger's syndrome in the old days is now called ASD level 1. What about ASD level 2?
The level thing is really confusing!
Level 3 are the people who need helmets on their heads?

I read that level 2 mean that you need more support (Requiring Substantial Support) but on the other hand all people, including many who are NT people, say that they need a lot of support from other people in order to do stuff.
All this is confusing.

Last edited by Dandansson on 18 Jan 2022, 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

your mind never wanders away? you sound like a person who can do something extremely difficult.

This sounds a bit like me. At work, I have an easier time doing tasks in my own department that I'm used to and can do somewhat mindlessly than when they stick me in a different department. Sometimes I'm supposed to put back dozens of tiny products and I don't know where any of them go, so I have to concentrate on the boring task and my mind desperately wants to get away from that.

I don't know about others, but I design buildings. Apart from thinking how it should be put together, I have to draw a lot of technical drawings, participate in meetings, create CG renders and physical models, and many other things.

The creative part is actually harder to maintain focus on because creativity in architecture is a collaborative effort while I prefer flying solo. Most (good) buildings larger than the size of a one-family home come to life collaboratively rather than through one person's complete creative control. That means you have to discuss ideas and sketch together. Having to read social cues, voice patterns, body language etc. manually during those sessions is so tiring that I have little energy left to actually advocate for my ideas. I reckon writers or painters have easier careers in that respect.

When I was a teenager, I had a lot of difficulty focusing on household tasks. I would be asked to clean the kitchen and it would take me far longer than it would have taken either of my parents. Then, my stepfather would come to inspect, find a few crumbs on the counter that I had missed, or some such thing, and say, "It looks like you didn't do anything." To this day, I'm very sensitive to that sort of comment, especially if I've worked very hard that day, which is usually exactly when I get that sort of comment at work.

I'd probably have trouble with that. I guess I prefer to be the sole mastermind, though I'm happy enough to ask for help on specific issues if I'm lucky enough to have access to people who can just answer my questions without invading my project and trying to unpick my sensitively-organised strategies. Nor do I like taking on a task on which somebody else has already made a start. They've always done things in a way I don't like to do them. I've shared tasks with others, but only fairly simple tasks, when it's been clear from the outset that the task isn't mine and mine alone. And it depends on who the other people are. I guess you don't get to pick and choose if it's your job. Strange how some occupations have evolved to be collaborative while others haven't.