Focus/concentration Problems

[Alexo45]

Hey all,

the title pretty much sums up my problem. I can't focus/concentrate for even 5 mins.
This is going on with pretty much everything i'm trying to do if it resolves around self-help material.
Reading a book, watching a YouTube video, doing the life purpose course of Leo,... you name it.
It's almost as soon as i start doing any of these things, that my mind starts to drift off and almost without being conscious off it, i'm reading the comments of a YouTube video instead of watching the actual video, getting identified with my thoughts and daydreaming while reading a book,.. 
I've had moments in the past where i was really concentrated on some of the material and the difference is crazy, too bad it doesn't last long and i don't know how to create these moment spontaneously. 

I'm getting pretty upset about it, since i'm planning my free time to make progress on the life purpose course or anything else, but when the time comes i'm not making any progress.

How can i resolve this and become productive?

 

 

[LaucherJunge]

40 minutes ago, Alexo45 said:

Hey all,

the title pretty much sums up my problem. I can't focus/concentrate for even 5 mins.
This is going on with pretty much everything i'm trying to do if it resolves around self-help material.
Reading a book, watching a YouTube video, doing the life purpose course of Leo,... you name it.
It's almost as soon as i start doing any of these things, that my mind starts to drift off and almost without being conscious off it, i'm reading the comments of a YouTube video instead of watching the actual video, getting identified with my thoughts and daydreaming while reading a book,.. 
I've had moments in the past where i was really concentrated on some of the material and the difference is crazy, too bad it doesn't last long and i don't know how to create these moment spontaneously. 

I'm getting pretty upset about it, since i'm planning my free time to make progress on the life purpose course or anything else, but when the time comes i'm not making any progress.

How can i resolve this and become productive?

 

 

Just keep a steady meditation practise and eventually this will fade. You will most likely first have just phases that might be days, weeks or even months where you feel like you finally have the "control" this is the wrong word for this but lets take it for the simplicity of it because you can never completely  control your thoughts just detach from them. after a year or a few years maybe even sooner you will permanently be in this space where you will not really be affected by thoughts anymore and they also may get less and less automatically.

[Erlend K]

You can use any object/activity as a concentration practice. As soon as you realize you have gotten distracted, reward/congratulate yourself for realizing it, and return your focus to that witch you wanted to pay attention to. Over time this will train the mind to stay focused for longer periods of time.

[onacloudynight]

Yeah I used to have really bad concentration as well. I got a lot better at concentrating once I starting a daily concentration practice. I would suggest focusing on the breath or any object for at least a 1 minute. Once you can do that completely, without your mind wandering, extend it to 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes etc.

[Viking]

i think youre not interested enough. pump up your motivation by watching some of leos vids for example 

 

 

think about it, can you concentrate on stuff like tv or video games? stuff thats interesting enough?

contemplate what you are really doing and why are you doing it. put a timer for 10 min and just sit think why the fuck are you doing this stuff. be honest.

[Joseph Maynor]

Try 20 minutes of do nothing meditation per day.  Meditation leads to cleaning out all the junk in your mind.

 

Edited September 15, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[BjarkeT]

I think some of the things that plays key role is self discipline(not just a little but as much as you possibly can), pratice and of course remove all distractions  if it something that you have to learn i highly recommend reading deep work by cal newport  

[cosmicrays]

Hey,

I am the same as you. What I did was I tried no-fap challenges. I first tried it not expecting anything. But boy when the days started counting, the effect was visisble.

In the beginning I started with several days and now I've grown myself to 2 weeks. It changed the world for me. 

Edited September 15, 2017 by cosmicrays

[Leo Gura]

@Alexo45 Just do it. That is the only way.

[Saarah]

@Alexo45 Sometimes you have to force yourself to do at least a little focused activity like reading one paragraph without distractions, allow yourself to drift off after that, and over time you might find it gets easier to read more before deciding to do something else. I think the main thing is to show a concerted effort to focus on focusing otherwise you have no idea if you're improving or not and it remains a vague wish with no results. It can be difficult to focus on focusing when focus is the problem in the first place but just try noting some of your results built into the activities you already do