Distractable?

[wolfy]

How distractable are you?

I've become interested in my distractable personality. I think I inherited it from my dad. I don't really have a question but am interested in your thoughts on distraction.

 

[Snuggletron]

very. mainly anxiety related.

 

[teslashock]

I think being easily distracted is generally a P thing. SPs are distracted by potential thrills and beauty in the environment (OOOHHH SPARKLY!!), while NPs are distracted by their constant stream of ideas induced by anything and everything at any given moment. We all just crave fun, so we are easily distracted when we see the potential for it.

 

[JustHer]

I don't know, its probably an extravert thing too. I think we have less self discipline.

Probably Se or Ne.

 

[teslashock]

^Yeah I was actually going to modify my post and say that it's probably even worse for Se/Ne doms, but whoops, I got distracted and forgot...

 

[wolfy]

I don't have any trouble concentrating on a task, something that I do. But sometimes I really can't listen, as much as I try, it's like listening through a thick fog.

 

[Phantonym]

I don't have any trouble concentrating on a task, something that I do. But sometimes I really can't listen, as much as I try, it's like listening through a thick fog.

I get that a lot too. If I get immersed in a project I'm working on or something I enjoy doing then it's quite difficult to distract me from it.

But my thoughts keep wandering if I don't really involve myself fully in what I'm supposed to be doing. It's like if I read or hear something and all of a sudden my mind just gets so involved in one aspect of what I read or heard that a long time passes when I can finally get myself out of that. It's a sudden jolt, back to reality. It's enjoyable at times but also frustrating when you're supposed to get things done.

 

[wolfy]

What do people mean when they say thoughts? Lost in thoughts? I just feel zoned out. Or the thoughts are really random, things thrown at me. Is that what people mean by being lost in thoughts?

 

[Phantonym]

What do people mean when they say thoughts? Lost in thoughts? I just feel zoned out. Or the thoughts are really random, things thrown at me. Is that what people mean by being lost in thoughts?

That's what it feels like to me to be lost in thoughts. Everything else around me seems like a blur, the sounds are muffled but the thoughts flow in. It can be random, one thing leading to another. But it can also be circling around one theme.

 

[wolfy]

That's what it feels like to me to be lost in thoughts. Everything else around me seems like a blur, the sounds are muffled but the thoughts flow in. It can be random, one thing leading to another. But it can also be circling around one theme.

That is an excellent description of it. Funny old habit that.

 

[Lady_X]

i'm distracted quite a lot...if i'm in some creative pursuit i seem to be hyperfocused...not in an organized way someone else might be but there's more focus...but it's a very lost in thought unaware of physical surroundings feeling...like sometimes other people can't even penetrate...you know...like...i see you and can tell you're talkin but....why?? haha that sounds awful and it's certainly not all the time but...it just depends on how much i have on my mind.

 

[wolfy]

i'm distracted quite a lot...if i'm in some creative pursuit i seem to be hyperfocused...not in an organized way someone else might be but there's more focus...but it's a very lost in thought unaware of physical surroundings feeling...like sometimes other people can't even penetrate...you know...like...i see you and can tell you're talkin but....why?? haha that sounds awful and it's certainly not all the time but...it just depends on how much i have on my mind.

I know what you mean. Sometimes I can just be a million miles away, especially if I have some idea in my head. It just captures my mind.

 

[DaPerformer]

very. mainly anxiety related.

I'm right there with you. I get teased by my friends (and I embrace it) that I can be right in the middle of a sentence and will break off into "oooooh, look.... shiny metal objects!" LOL.

But where anxiety is concerned, I have at times struggled to keep focused on the task at hand and caught myself sitting staring, totally inside my head focused on the thoughts racing around. I just keep breaking myself out of it and trying to refocus, only to find myself in the same position a few minutes later, and no progress on the task.

It has been a few years, and a few prescriptions, since it was that bad for me, but I would still classify myself as extremely easily distracted.

 

[Serendipity]

I'm not sure I'm getting distracted rather than looking for more posibilities to draw parallells in between on-going thoughts and tie it all together with my original focus.

So, I think I'm not that distracted, no. You know that when you have to do something you'd prefer not to do; then I'd be easily diverted by anything that brings new ways of thinking or a moment of peace aka. lost in thought.

 

[JoSunshine]

Gee, I don't know how to answer this question. I am typically completely focused on what I am doing, but then if I am distracted away from what I am doing I become completely focused on the distraction....which is why I hate distractions I have no control over (phone ringing, etc). I could have a ton of things to do, but I will end up talking on the phone...I call it shiney ball syndrome...Ohhhh! Shiney ball...I can't resist!

 

[Unkindloving]

It depends on my state of mind. I can tune out a lot of things, but then everything on the outside is a mass of chaos and that becomes distracting.
There are times when i focus on one thing, get distracted, but my next line of action if to go back to the first thing. I do this a lot in conversation. Leaving off and going back, but i don't like to spend an extended period of time on a distraction until i've revisited the previous. (Oh damnit that all sounds so enfj it hurts. I'm going to go cry in the corner now)

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

[YOUTUBE="HxoWHeoYU3g"]Dug[/YOUTUBE]

squirrel!