INTP Discussion Forum > People and Psychology > Get distracted easily?

Posted by: Metimbo=IMMT Feb 12 2004, 04:57 PM

First of all, Hi everyone! I just took the personality test yesterday or the day before and came up INTP twice. All this time I thought I was disfunctional and had all these "habits" to break, when it was my personality. Thank God!! Now I can move onto things that will work along with my natural tendencies and skills!
With all of that said....LOL....back to my original question!

Does anyone get distracted easily? I often find myself jumping from one thing to another. Losing interest in things pretty fast for the most part. If I want to finish something or work on something, I REALLY have to put a lot of effort into it.
Anyone else like this? Start a task and really get into it, then all the sudden, something else jumps in your head and you just take off in another direction?
~Tim

Posted by: NGene Feb 12 2004, 08:25 PM

Hi, Metimbo, and welcome to the forum!

QUOTE (Metimbo=IMMT @ Feb 12 2004, 04:57 PM)

All this time I thought I was disfunctional and had all these "habits" to break, when it was my personality. Thank God!! Now I can move onto things that will work along with my natural tendencies and skills!

Many of us (including me) can relate to this! Maybe that's one of the reasons why INTPs are among the types who really get excited about the MBTI. The other reason probably is that MBTI and psychology in general are new complex systems for us to study.

QUOTE

Does anyone get distracted easily? I often find myself jumping from one thing to another. Losing interest in things pretty fast for the most part. If I want to finish something or work on something, I REALLY have to put a lot of effort into it.
Anyone else like this? Start a task and really get into it, then all the sudden, something else jumps in your head and you just take off in another direction?

Well, yes, at least to some degree. I enjoy starting things, and when I get really excited about something new, it'll get all my attention and concentration.

Then, sooner or later, I just find other projects to start, and find it extremely hard to finish the old ones. I've noticed this tendency does some harm to my university studies. When the term starts, I enthusiastically start new courses and get all excited and interested, just to find out that when the term ends, I've dropped off half the courses because I've lost my interest in them...

Posted by: Metimbo=IMMT Feb 12 2004, 08:48 PM

Thanks for your kind words. I have been reading books on Psychology since around the 7th grade or so. I went to the University of Memphis for a couple years, but could not stay in class (except for the ones that my wife was in with me and she made me go to). The classes I went to, I got really good grades, which were Psychology and History. I always skipped everything else because, at the time, I had just been shown a card game called Magic the Gathering. It was a really neat game that you collect and build different decks to fight different oponents, etc. A bunch of us would meet in the University Center and play for hours on end.
Needless to say, I dropped out of college and supported my wife going. God has recently called me back into psyhology and I am putting my application into a Distance Learning Program at Liberty University studying Psychology.
Enough of my rambling.
~Tim

Posted by: irishwhistle Feb 13 2004, 01:03 AM

It is hard to ramble here. At least, it's hard to be bothered if anyone does.

I'm the sub-category refugee ISTP (so rare that we don't even have a message board, trust me, I looked, found one, it was empty. It was one in a list of MBTI boards) but I have this occur as well. Also the difficulty persuading myself to even begin the necessary dull tasks, even if every dish is soiled... More so, then. I figure that one isn't as rare as an ISTP might be. Sounds more like human nature, but it's in my profile. >shrug<

Yes, there are people whose interest moves from one thing to another before the task is complete and it doesn't mean we're damaged. Just inundated. So many interests, so little time. But you tell your doctor that and they write you a prescription, it seems like. Pet peeve of mine, hearing about people exactly like me in some trait who are "finally getting help for their problem." How irritating.

Hi, to you, too.

Posted by: Vagabond Feb 13 2004, 01:24 AM

If by distracted you mean someone that loses interest in something before it is over, and thus misses his/her chance to perform perfectly (even if the object is within the potentials of the person to excel on it), then I am one of them too. All the time. As tim said, when I absolutely have to finish something, I have to put a lot of effort in it. But I don't get distracted in the sense that someone loses concentration on something; when I do something, I am totally into it. I might be into 10 more things at the same thing, but I do not lose touch.

Irish: I know what you mean about no ISTP boards, there were no INTP ones until this one was made - pitty... anyway, I agree on you on what you said about telling doctors about one trait you have and them treating it as a malfunction. It makes me wonder how can men of human science be so narrowminded - as if we should all follow a certain model of personality to be considered as normal... which is the basic thing that has been keeping me from visiting one to help me out with my depression. I figured that, if I ever decided to see a shrink, I would go like "Hello. Before you say anything, you must know I am an INTP. Don't even think of proposing me a proper treatment to cure it; if by any chance you have no clue what I am talking about, I'll be happy to provide you with some matterial - but you will either have to keep in mind you are talking to an INTP who actually loves beeing one, or we are out of buiseness".

PS: It is snowing!!!!!!!!! YEAH!

I am a happy little INTP

Posted by: misspadfoot Feb 16 2004, 07:16 PM

Are you kidding? Of course I get distracted! I think many INTPs are prone to having attention deficit disorder. That, of course, includes me.

Look for another thread on this sometime soon. I am definitely going to write about Keirsey's perception of ADD. I agree with certain parts of what he thinks, but some parts are flat-out misinformed.

Vagabond: You took the words right out of my mouth. I have gone to quite a few therapists - well, okay, two. One wanted me to start making to-do lists, then once I told her I didn't want to do that, she suggested I pretty much ditch school and forget the idea of going to a good college because obviously I didn't like school enough to try and do the assignments. The other one tried to attack the T part of me - in short, trying to get me to "express my feelings." I have no intention of being anything other than an INTP and I wish psychologists wouldn't try and make me change to something else.

Posted by: icedcooly Feb 21 2004, 09:13 PM

Well, yes I do get distracted easily because I never saw your post before I made mine asking if anyone else here had ADD. So there you go haha.

Posted by: TatsuBoshi Feb 24 2004, 12:42 AM

I tend to be pretty good at focusing on things in the short term, unless they get boring. Martial arts training may have helped with that.

My problem is with mid-term stuff. Like hobbies. I have quite a few hobbies, and my interest tends to waver among them. It makes it hard to be in things that require a certain level of involvement, like Go clubs or martial arts clubs where people expect you to show up on a semi-regular basis. At the moment I'm on an almost month-long hiatus from my martial arts group because I just haven't been feeling in the mood to go. And why should I go if I'm not going to enjoy it, right?

So I think this is my P side expressing itself. Which wouldn't be a problem if not for my J side, which harps on me about the stagnation of my skills. Like Japanese, for example. I could get better at it (maybe back to the level I was at when I was there studying) if I put some consistent effort into it, but eventually it just becomes tedious and I'd rather do other stuff. Same with Go.

Sorry if this really isn't what you're talking about, but I'm wondering if it might be related.

So to-do lists have been mentioned... I'm not very good with those. The closest I come is lists for groceries (which I sometimes forget at home). Maybe if I had a to-do list for checking the to-do list...

Posted by: Vagabond Feb 24 2004, 10:01 PM

Gee TatsuBoshi, I can totally relate... I couldn't have put it better.

Posted by: misspadfoot Feb 26 2004, 08:05 PM

I was utterly shocked today when I was talking about classes with some classmates - juniors in an AP AB Calculus class, no less - who claimed to "like busy work" and prefer it to work that actually makes someone think. I had no clue that such intelligent people preferred not to use their intellect, not to learn. I can't concentrate on busy work at all. I guess that's also my P side. As for my J side, I don't have one.

I suspect many of you are intellectually gifted, so I thought I'd share these articles on ADD in gifted children.

http://www.mythical.net/whydoso.shtml

http://borntoexplore.org/gifted.htm

Posted by: Odyssey Feb 27 2004, 02:06 AM

Hey thanks, padfoot, that last link's interesting! Compared to others I measurably exhibit all of the "Overexcitibilities" of Giftedness to varying degrees, but I feel so lucky because ADD-like negative behaviors don't really show in my school life because of my breakneck accelerated classes - school is usually very stimulating. Then again, being a Highly Sensitive Person as well as having a high need for all sorts of stimulation is quite a conflict! For me there's a fine line between stimulation (--> optimal functioning) and overwhelm (--> burn-out), and it's ever so fun to tread it dangerously close... *intense but charming smile*

Come to think of it, in my IB [accel.] classes we sometimes joke that we all have ADD =)

Overexcitibilities ____Negative Perspective

Physical ___________hyperactive, fidgety, restless, impulsive
-- I'm always fidgeting with something or playing with my pens/pencils etc., moving around in my seat (yes, more than others, I've noticed), but I stop if something catches enough of my attention. Impulsive if I'm bored, mostly - and I'm usually bored no longer than 10 seconds because of that... haha. My parents and I have done a pretty good job, I think, of placing me in long-term stimulating environments. I remember "regular" classes were often unadulterated torture; boredom is evil. There's always a way to make a situation at least minimally stimulating - but to slightly contradict myself, I wish I would have figured this out earlier.

Emotional __________moody, temperamental, prone to depression and anxiety
-- I am prone to depression and anxiety (believe it or not), which is why I attempt to protect myself diligently against it! And boo for teenage mood lurches.

Intellectual _________head in the clouds, inattentive to surroundings
-- ...INTP. (Self-explanatory, me thinks?) People often have to call to me several times before I realize they're actually saying my name. 'Anyone else have this quirk? =P

Sensual ___________picky eater, over-reacts to physical discomforts
-- I've always been a notoriously picky eater, and as an HSP I'm daily the only one in the room to physically jerk if some unexpected noise or light surprises me. I'm not irritated, just startled then momentarily fascinated. Uncomfortable clothes or seats are an additional major distraction. My parents are the same way.

Imaginational _______daydreams, inattentive
-- Very much so if nothing catches my interest at the moment. Also sometimes my imagination runs away with a situation, twisting it into a hilarious sequence of events *grin at the thought of it* and people have tried to tell me to stop laughing <...long after everyone else is done> on multiple occasions!

[/AUTOBIOGRAPHY]

As usual, I hope my autobiographical posts are interesting, otherwise I'd hesitate to submit them =)
~Odyssey

Posted by: flan2dave Feb 28 2004, 04:51 AM

I've been trying to shed myself of as many distractions as possible. I'm easily prone to them, I can spend hours reading miscellaneous stuff on the internet, watch a seasons worth of episodes in a row, finish a long game in a couple days, read books in large chunks if I'm in the mood. Going where my excitement takes me is insufficient, many times it takes a few minutes to warm up to an activity that is new but nontheless I wish to engage in to advance in goals I've set for myself. I have to remind myself to finish books that I've bought, remember that tasks left undone will only become more burdensome if left for later, and deliberately avoid activities that could turn addicting.

I didn't realize INTPs could have so much trouble with distractions because the descriptions I read for the type suggested their perceiving preference doesn't get in the way of academic sucess in the same way it does, say, the ISTP type. Possibly this is what happens when the INTP let's too many of their inferior functions, like introverted sensing and extroverted feeling, get too far out of their control.

It seems particularly strange that introverts would have so much trouble with distractions, since they are focused internally instead of on their outward environment where those distractions lie. Maybe you can say it is the effect outside stimulation has on our internal activity that has an introvert distracted? That could explain why it is hard for an introvert to do something if they are not in the mood, since their internal state is the arbiter of importance. If this is the case, would extroverts find it easier to do something that doesn't fit their current mood?

In any case, being more focused is something anyone can work on. Part of this is taking responsibility for your own occupation, finding something productive to do in your free time that is not related to school, work, etc. A creative hobby would be ideal, we all need some type of creative outlet to feel satisfied with ourselves. Changing your attitude about various activities could be helpful. Does homework problems really have to be a chore? It would make perfect sense to treat like a relaxing game, it's a domain with its own rules, symbols, and logic. Sometimes we let ourselves get frustrated too easily by activities that can and should be enjoyable for their own sake, and this takes an attitude shift.

Posted by: birdsnest Feb 29 2004, 01:58 AM

Lets put it this way, the task needs to be stimulating in order to keep my interest. So lets say I have some house cleaning tasks to do, and well, quite frankly, housecleaning is very mundane and bores me easily. The only way I get it done, is to spend about 5 minutes with each task at a time, then move to the next task. Eventually everything gets done if I continually just take two or three things from each area and completely change tasks and do another room, or fold ONE load of laundry, or rinse dishes, or clean one room, well, I get bored and stop if I have to fold 3 loads of laundry at one time. With concentration type tasks or tasks at work, I do fine, but with mundane non-thinking tasks I get SO bored that I have to make a game out it, and stagger tasks like a mosquito going from one to another, back and forth, to make it interesting. I don't like housework, but I like a clean house, so I try to do it once a week on Saturdays.

Posted by: Odyssey Feb 29 2004, 04:02 AM

Making a game out of so-called boring activities is an excellent way to get them done.

That's all =)

~Oddy

Posted by: misspadfoot Mar 1 2004, 04:51 PM

Yeah, that and this thing my mom calls the "reward system"... it's basically a way of building self-discipline. Maybe it would work for some of you guys, but it's not great for me, because I am very bad at shutting thoughts out of my mind.

I'll explain. The system goes like this: you put aside a jar for money that you're going to use for... something. Just a general "fun fund." Now, every time you do a certain task, e.g. a certain portion of your taxes, paper work, household chores, etc. you put a dollar or some amount of money into the jar. When you get a certain amount of money, you go out and do something or buy something fun for yourself as a reward.

The problem with this is that you have the money at your disposal anyway, and if you really want to spend one hundred dollars on tickets to an expensive show, you don't need a reward system to do it. Which is why I don't use the reward system anymore.