{"id":10259,"date":"2017-04-20T14:36:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T21:36:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/?p=10259"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:56:01","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:56:01","slug":"im-not-as-disciplined-as-you-might-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/im-not-as-disciplined-as-you-might-think\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m not as disciplined as you might think………"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I often read comments that I must be very disciplined in order to write books and do a blog. If you guys think I’m disciplined- think again. HEHE! It’s a daily struggle and sometimes a minute by minute struggle for me to get things done. Ask the people I work with and they will all say the same thing.<\/p>\n

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Working with me is like herding cats.<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Work is a huge issue for me- a lifelong struggle with focus that started when my bipolar got serious at age 19, over 30 years ago. I also have a right brain injury from a 2012 biking accident that greatly affected my memory around dates, times and numbers.<\/p>\n

I think I had a breakthrough today as to why I have not been able to improve my focus over the past few years and it’s not about the brain injury. I call this…….<\/p>\n

#<\/span>SocialMediaQuestioning<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

How much of my extreme focus problems are due to social media being on my work device?<\/p>\n

I am easily distracted- many of us with bipolar are this way. What does it mean for my brain that the computer is literally my work station and at any second, I can click off of my work and look at something that gives me a hit of dopamine?<\/p>\n

I am addicted to the Daily Mail Newspaper in a bad way. I feel better when I look at it even though it is filled with destructive stories. I see this as calming myself down when my work anxiety is high. Maybe it is the opposite. Maybe the dopamine is calming- but it’s also distracting and addictive. The research is VERY clear on this now that social media and our instant access to information has been around for a decade.<\/p>\n

Dopamine. What a lovely feeling. But it is NOT helping me work in any way. It is distracting and destroying in terms of my focus.<\/p>\n

I also see how this affects my beloved 15 year old nephew.<\/p>\n

It’s not pretty.<\/p>\n

I am doing something about this. It’s experimental and I am not sure of the results in terms of working, but I have to do something. There is too much I want to accomplish. Not being able to focus is harming my life.<\/p>\n

My Social Media Limitation Experiment<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a brain researcher and someone who wants to get better every day, I am now limiting my social media. For the first time ever, I turned off my phone while watching my beloved football (soccer) this week. And today while watching Barcelona LOSE TO JUVENTUS!, I turned off my phone and put it in my bag.<\/p>\n

I have decided that when I am with friends, the phone goes off. I am addicted to information. I want to be fully present for my friends and family.<\/p>\n

It starts with me.<\/p>\n

The next step is figuring out how to write without having social media so easily accessible. This may mean using a different computer with disabled internet access for working on my book project. Then, I will come back to my MAC when I have to do my social media work.<\/p>\n

I am not able at all to simply NOT look at the social media. I go to it automatically as most of us do. I have OCD and simply saying no while it is still turned on has not worked.<\/p>\n

We are adaptive creatures. We can manage our brains.<\/p>\n

Join me!<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n

This pic is by Eron Hare. I love it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I often read comments that I must be very disciplined in order to write books and do a blog. If you guys think I’m disciplined- think again. HEHE! It’s a daily struggle and sometimes a minute by minute struggle for me to get things done. Ask the people I work with and they will all say the same thing.<\/p>\n

Working with me is like herding cats. <\/p>\n

Work is a huge issue for me- a lifelong struggle with focus that started when my bipolar got serious at age 19, over 30 years ago. I also have a right brain injury from a 2012 biking accident that greatly affected my memory around dates, times and numbers.<\/p>\n

I think I had a breakthrough today as to why I have not been able [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11080,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10259\/revisions\/11080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}