I Take my Moments of Concentration Whenever I Can Get Them!

Concentration and Focus have been my greatest challenges for most of my life... going all the way back to grade school.

Whereas I was never "that unruly and disruptive kid," I was often driften off to never-neverland in my mind, losing focus and not "getting" what was being taught, or what the teacher was writing on the blackboard.

I wasn't dumb, mind you... nor did I particularly hate school... but I did struggle mightily to keep my mind on things.

Not to mention the fact that I would sometimes just doze off, much like my grandmother would do, out on the back porch on a warm sunny day.

The "adult" explanation and diagnosis was typically that I just "wasn't being challenged enough" and that I was bored.

But neither of those were actually true.

ADHD — is it is now called — wasn't really "a thing" when I was a kid, and to the degree that it was a thing it was typically associated precisely with "that kid" who was massively disruptive and bouncing around like a flea in a bottle.

So here we are, some 40+ years later.

I have deliberately chosen to self-manage whatever "condition" it is that afflicts me because I was never very happy about the prospect of being medicated into oblivion by the legacy medical — and mental health — establishment, whose de-facto response to anything that even looks like ADHD tends to be "give them pharmaceuticals!"

A lot of people think I am somewhat nuts for going my own way... and I'll be the first to admit that "my way" is only feasible because I am self-employed and work almost 100% from home.

As such, I don't have a boss, an employer, even a set of clients to be accountable to.

The downside — at least to the perspective of an outsider looking in — is that I allow myself a lot of freedom and latitude, in terms of how I approach getting my work done.

What's important to note here is that I do get my work done; but sometimes it is done in fits and starts, 5 minutes at a time... and sometimes it is done is a great "whoooosh" because I suddenly find myself in a "concentration zone" where I can get more done in a day than most people an do in days.

I always struggled to get anything substantial done when I "wasn't in the mood."

And that was pretty much my experience back in grade school when I would fall asleep, and it's pretty much still my experience... having to concentrate when I am not "creatively receptive" tends to mean that I get very little done. If I am trying to write, I will just sit there and rewrite the same sentence, over and over. If it's something else... it ends up feeling like I am always "about to begin," but I never truly get going.

Which is where the "luxury" of self-employment comes in: When I do find myself in one of those "hot" periods, I try to use every second I have to my advantage.

And it would not be an out-of-place statement to admit that I have sometimes written 12-15 blog posts during an "on" day!

Of course, I don't publish them all on the same day... I "save" them for those other times when it feels like I couldn't write my way out of a paper bag.

Or whatever other task I might have on my personal menu, for the day.

I am grateful that today is turning into a somewhat fruitful day.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your weekend!

How about you? Have you ever struggled with focus and concentration? If so, how did you manage the situation? Leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)

Created at 2025.03.08 20:48 PST
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