When I hyperfocus it is usually because it is something that interested me in the first place. I will do it for hours. I have trained myself to watch the clock. So I can make myself stop when it is time to cook or go to bed or anything else. It took awhile to remember to look at the clock, but now I can't function without a watch.

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How do you make yourself cook (rather than nibble) and go to sleep when your alarm has gone off or snoozed (1 or 2x)?

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It is pretty hard to remember to pull some meat out of the freezer. But, I cook because it is almost time for my husband to be home from work. Also I must because my blood sugar drops about that time and I have to eat by a certain time or I get sick. It is also difficult to sleep. I take lunesta to help wind me down and help me sleep. I just have to make myself go to bed so it can work. But, if I ever wake up after that it is hard to get back to sleep. I do struggle with these things but at least I do have myself trained to keep up with the time. lol

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Hey, that's better than most of us can do! Keep it up . . . no, I mean asleep (unless it's time to cook)!

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I was doing good, then bam the hyperfocus got me. I started refinishing some furniture and now I am so hyperfocused on it that I am not cleaning or cooking anymore. It was torture to stop and get on this computer to post. What next

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Step aside, splash some water on your face, and look around another room for anything you see out of place until you get going a little on that new project. Just a little work there (no hyperfocusing on that).

Then, go to your desk and, on paper, break up the refinishing job into its parts and set different (not consecutive) blocks of time for doing each part.

Then stick to the schedule. Set alarms to stop if you have to.

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Thank you, I needed to here that.

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And how can that theory be applied to internet researching/posting/etc.?

Hmmmmmm....

HFQ

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That's a great idea for Internet activity . . . too bad they've chained me to the computer until 2:00 a.m. :)

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I found a way that works for me to go to sleep, i first on my right side stil talking to my wife, then i turn on by back and try to relax my body, and then turn on my left side so i fall asleep. I nkow it sounds stupid but it works for me.

When i wake up at nigth and i can find the sleep again, i get up and do some things for an an hour or twoand then return to bed. i am tired that day but the next night i know i will sleep fine. The other week i was working on the electricity in my home at 4 pm.

About hyperfocus, i don't think it is posible to turn on the hyperfocus for something you dont like. you can try to make it more interesting?

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Over the years of misdiagnoses I have managed to succeed (sometimes) by turning on hyper focus. I find that I can use external queues to get me into the state. My office is one spot and if I let go, this post would be far too long. It is not a white room without any distractions, but a white room with one visual point of focus (bright red spot) and one white noise source (ticking clock), I keep it cool, and as people leave, I can focus on my computer screen, idea book, or even have an intense person-to-person conversation (usually rambling with lots of digressions, often boring). I have noticed the common features of my hyper focus environments and they all involve low stimulation of several senses and a point of focus. There are activities that I like to do when focused. Most involve solving problems. So I try to take the unpleasant task (income tax!) and approach it as a problem to be solved, not as drudge work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. What I have also noticed is that hyper focus is only effective for a couple of hours. I have stayed focused for 10-12 hours, but my mind will wander all over the place uncontrollably. So, you have to have a way to break out. I am very unpleasant "waking-up" so I don't ask anyone I want to keep as a friend to provide the service. My latest trick is to remind myself that the parking lot doesn't charge after 8pm so it is ok to go home. My wife of 35 years and a neighbor with ADD sat me down last weekend and convinced me that I fit an ADD pattern. I have lived for forty years with secret diagnoses of schizophrenia just waiting for the guys with the straightjackets to knock on the door. I knew I was different. I knew I was off the charts bright. I couldn't understand why nothing turned out and why I couldn't or wouldn't keep a job for more than a few years. But I knew that there were gifts there, too. For example, learn to speed read and see what you can do when you are focused. It's uncanny.

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how does hyperfocus happen to you guys? only on the meds right? For me its really to focus on anything even on them, but i hyperfocus when i'm doing something i like or when i have a lot of homework to do i can force myself to hyperfocus on that by doubling my dose of Adderall IR. :)

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I don't think we consciously be hyperfocused anymore than we can be able to pick the number for the pick 6. Sure it can happen but not when we expect it too or want it too. Hyperfocus is being in the moment and is sheer joy of the thing we are so engrossed in. Time has no beginning or end that you are conscious of. I can hyperfocus when I paint or am writing or learning something that I love. I have a male friend who I can hyperfocus with because I find him that interesting. But try to focus on something that I can't feel engaged in such as filing papers, cleaning house or sitting in a meeting that just isn't stimulating is sheer toture. I wish I could hyperfocus and find the joy in some of things but I can't. If I love it. I have to set a alarm to go off. to bring back to reality . and even then I may ignore the alarm. Trying to file my paper and to finish organizing my room that use for business, school right now is taking two days and I'm not even close to finishing . Why because I hate paper that is loose and trying to organize it. take boring time. I have TV on that sometimes grabs my attention , but I just am truging thru as if I have all week to do it. I don't but I will hopefully be done tonight. ADD RN

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A Good Way when you notice that you are hyper focusing is to try and reverse engineer it (finding out what makes it tick) when you do that often enough and have a better understanding of it i find that you can apply it to other less interesting things.

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I get this when an assignment requires every brain cell I have. Trouble is everything else in my life gets ignored. It can go on for so long that I can't answer unexpected callers sensibly and make decisions. Wish I could just turn it on and off so I could be hyperfocussed when I need to be.

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