this post was submitted on 27 Mar 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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125
Short attention span (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 days ago by SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml to c/nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

After working for many years in a "fast pace environment" I can't help but notice that I have increasing difficulties to do simple tasks.

In office, I always start multiple tasks at the same time. I noticed I often start but barely finish.

At home, it gets even worse. "Let's make tea" takes several back and forth to the kitchen, wondering what I am doing there. Then forgetting I boiled water.

I've tried to trick myself by ordering tasks, but ultimately I end up asking myself what was I doing until now.

I don't take medicines of any kind. "1st world problem" is granted, accepted, validated.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. Have you found a recipe that works for you ?

!

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[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 59 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Its stress. You need a break, even if you can't tell you need one. I know, because I'm in the exact same boat, and I need a break too. You and I need physical rest, time to dissociate mentally with existing responsibilities, and spiritually (emotionally) reconnect with our motivations for living.

I think its reasonable to assume these symptoms are compounded by environmental factors (like having had covid, stress, getting older, etc), but ultimately, its our own behavior to be put at blame. That doesn't preclude the need for potentially deep recovery. For example, I was extremely burnt out 6 years ago. I made a huge number of life changes, where I knew I would be overextending myself even further, with the goal of being able to real it back in at the end to a much more simple calmer life. And it would have worked if not for the complete and total collapse of American democracy.

[–] EcoByte@lemmy.world 0 points 5 days ago

Mate, I have that and the thing that I have the most is time and I have this, for me it's mostly because I focus a lot in some things in my head and don't think what I'm doing

[–] guy@piefed.social 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

You're stressed and showing signs of a coming burnout man

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thanks, appreciate the insights

[–] guy@piefed.social 3 points 5 days ago

I implore you to act to destress. Burnout takes years to recover from.

[–] solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

In similar vein to what others have posted:

I think you're describing a combination of stress and preoccupation. I suggest looking into mindfulness as a way to start helping with both.

If it's more than that and you have healthcare, both a Dr visit and psychiatry visit to discuss with a professional could be helpful.

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago

Thanks for the tips, this post helps me realise the issue at hand.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It used to really fog my brain in my 20s, but in my 30s I'm okay with multi-tasking.

I think I just got used to the idea of documenting my progress, and doing work in increments so that I can switch between projects with not too much inertia.

In my 20s I kept everything in my head, or barely wrote anything down and the head inertia was real.

I also now know from experience where certain rabbitholes go. Ive pursued every fruitless tangent task to fruition already in my 20s, that it no longer spurs my curiosity in my 30s.

TLDR; it gets better with time.

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thanks, seems you're not the only one writing down things...

Maybe I should try that as others suggested too. It's something I was so happy to get rid of when I finished studying... Oh well

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

Hah yeah. The notes dont have to be detailed or coherent mind you, just rough sentences on what you did and what you'll pick up next time. Good luck!

[–] BigMikeInAustin@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Sounds like you made changes to get better. The TDLR glosses over all that work and makes it seem like you are saying for OP to just sit and wait for it to resolve on its own.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 3 points 6 days ago

Well, a little bit of both. It looks like OP is already putting in the time by diving down fruitless tangents, and will ultimately learn this lesson one way or another. I do believe it's inevitable from OP's described patterns, and that they ultimately shouldn't worry too much about it.

[–] Opinionhaver@feddit.uk 5 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Man.. I think I saw this (music?) video where that picture is from like over 20 years ago when me and my dad went to buy something from a stranger and his daughter was watching the TV and showed her dad this scene. I don't know why, but that moment stuck with me for some reason and now here it is again decades later. Where is this from?

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 13 points 6 days ago

Its from the oav "Ghost in the shell", from the 90s. Thanks for your interest

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 days ago

For the chills, this 20 mins opera like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjOuEruzoh0

[–] BigMikeInAustin@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm working on writing down lists on paper by hand, not typing into a device. I can copy over to a device, but the writing by hand is helpful.

And sometimes I'll write down tasks that I did finish already. For me, seeing the number of completed tasks doesn't matter much, but just the break to reflect on what has been done is grounding.

Sometimes even break the list into multiple lists, such as one where you move all the yard tasks to, and kitchen tasks, and cleaning tasks..., if the main list gets too long.

[–] meyotch@slrpnk.net 3 points 5 days ago

There is actually some neuroscience behind this one. The act of hand writing activate more areas of the brain than typing the same info.

This is a popular press article covering some of these studies.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2024/05/11/1250529661/handwriting-cursive-typing-schools-learning-brain

[–] confuser@lemmy.zip 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

I used to be in your position, I started focusing on my health and fixed all my problems, now I'm wondering why I didn't do this sooner...actually I know why, its because I was slowly killing myself and degrading my brain and body. This guy is on thin ice at the moment so I can't recommend much from him besides taking a look at his protocol page and changing up some of your habits, supplements wise though i can reccomend a equal competitor that has been around longer called novos. It really has been a day and night change since I started a health stack like this and realized I'm a totally worse functioning person without prioritizing my health.

https://blueprint.bryanjohnson.com/pages/blueprint-protocol#my-daily-routine

https://novoslabs.com/product/longevity-kit/

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is just like taking vitamin C without having a vitamin C deficiency, costly and worthless.

There is no consensus about biological aging tests, so that is a first bs. Taking supplements isn't shown to do anything good in any study of humans. There is one (not a supplement but a molecule) but I won't talk about it because it's just "promising", and that's as close to worthless you can come.

Also "longevity kit", wtf sure, if you believe that I have a bridge to sell.

So no, go see a doctor, don't buy crap pills on the internet.

[–] confuser@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Ok I'll bite.

These are all things that can be measured to see if they are helpful or not so saying this is worthless is not true and ignores the people they did help.

I agree that there is not a whole lot of consensus on aging but I'm talking about health in general, these things just happen to also be good for aging (which you can verify if you look into the research available yourself, no i wont link it for you, I know that is unkind of me to do)

Believing there is a singular promising thing that is as of yet unproven is not better than all of these other things that are so that is a silly point to be making from your perspective.

Longevity is a serious research field and there are multiple government petitions at least just in the us that are making valid points to relabel aging as a disease the same way that obesity was relabeled as a disease which then introduced a flywheel of lots of research to add onto what was already present.

The pills are in fact not crap so long as you can find 3rd party testing available to prove to everyone that they have what they claim to have (this is what has gotten blueprint onto thin ice and why I recommend novos instead at the moment)

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I see no bite, only bark ;-)

If it is helpful, provide the study showing it! It's too easy to say "look it up yourself" IMO.

Health "in general" is, health. What do you think health means?

The phrase that starts with:

Believing...

is just incompréhensible for me, I'm not a native speaker.

Yes longevity has become a serious research field, almost solely by the massive effort of Dr Aubrey de Grey. Read his 2007 book Ending Aging for a dumbed down explanation of what is needed to cure aging (as in a science interesed person can get it).

For third-party examination of supplements, that only shows what is in the pills, not that they are actually effective.

So again, stay away from any supplements until there has been some real studies done. There is always a supplement, once it was cinnamon, once it was radium water, always it was snake oil.

You want to live longer in good health?

What's proven effective: don't smoke, don't drink(or very little), don't be sedentary, don't be overweight.

That's about it as far as the scientific consensus has it.

[–] exothermic@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I suggest you enjoy your placebo effects and take a physiology course. (You can verify that this is the placebo effect by studying and doing research, but I won’t link how to do that for you, I know that’s unkind of me to do)

Go peddle your snake oil elsewhere.

OP, go see a medical doctor who knows more about human physiology than some snake oil sells person on the internet.

[–] confuser@lemmy.zip -1 points 6 days ago

I am actively recommending the non questionable company called novos, nice try though.

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Thanks for your help.

Indeed, it seems I need to focus a bit more on my health, appreciate that.

I think I'll pass on the potions, it's just never been my jam, but I keep your suggestion of Novo's in mind in case I ever change my mind in this journey.

[–] confuser@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Thanks for at least listening, what I learned from this is that even without going into a big switch like that it seems like everyone would benefit from getting a general blood panel test done so they can see if there is something specifically unexpectedly off that may be contributing, some peoples tests ive seen seem to be in a very wide range of a target so much so that its not useful to go by that and others I've seen seem to have a very narrow range of what the target is so if you ever did get one I'd go do some research of your own just to make sure the numbers look fine.

From what I have learned everyone lacks something or has too much of something without a intentional effort to fix it which may or may not contribute negatively or positively moment to moment but it won't be good long term so I definitely recommend a general blood panel at the least just to have one for curiosity from an earlier date to look back to in the future.

[–] Rooty@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Must be the reason why I'm king of my castle

Must be the reason why I'm freeing my trapped soul

Must be a reason why I'm making examples of you

[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 days ago

Wandu project ! Shower time

[–] AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

After working for many years in a “fast pace environment” I can’t help but notice that I have increasing difficulties to do simple tasks.

How many years are we talking?

A lot of what you describe sounds like you're starting to have "senior moments". If you're past 50, that's pretty normal. Which is not to say it's good. "Normal" does not mean good. It just means common. I don't think you should look for anything exotic if the mundane explanation fits your observations.

Low-tech suggestion: Keep a notepad in your pocket. Make to-do lists. Cross items off it when you're done. Maybe put the time in when you cross it off.

  • ~~Put water on stove~~
  • ~~Turn off stove~~
  • ~~Make tea~~
  • Drink tea
[–] SoulKaribou@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 days ago

That would be 15+ years

Thanks for the tip on the notepad, seems others are suggesting similar approach, I'll try and see how it helps