How do you stay focused and interested?

Sometimes I struggle with my motivation. I tend to find it more interesting to call a friend or to hang with my girlfriend than to code and learn new things. Or even when I sit at the computer and think "damn I'm going to learn a lot today" or "today is a day I will code my ass off", I tend to lean "lets watch a few clips on youtube and then..." and time passes and I just have to check the news or something else on the internet that is none code related and almost a day have passed.

This isn't optimal and I would like to find a way to almost totally ignore none programming related tasks - at least when I sit in front of the computer and stay focused more.

How do people here stay motivated/focused to the max?

My tricks has been to take one or more beers basically or red vine, I have found it to boost my concentration to levels previously unseen. I can have my girlfriend yelling all day and as long as I have beers in my room I can concentrate. I have noticed that my girlfriend takes a lot of time. She demands attention or yelling and complaining begins.

Now all of a sudden she says I can't buy beer/red vine and she says she worries about my health. I have not bought any beer/red vine since that and I feel how my concentration is now really bad.

I know I got high blood pressure witch may be why I react so well to beer/vine. Also I tend to have many thoughts going, with alcohol I tend to stay focused on just one thing.

One more thing I tries to do when not 100% motivated is to do something totally unrelated and usually that makes me wanting to use the computer for good things once more..

Try AA. I never heard of alcohol helping concentration. It sounds like an excuse to drink.

I have been away traveling hence the slow response.

I guess when I read what I wrote and how I wrote it the initial impression is that of an alcoholic. However I never drink to the extent that I become drunk or even close, I tend to keep it moderate.

I guess since you won't be able to get the full picture we wont come to any conclusion regarding this matter. But lets just say I do not drink every day or even close to that and never to get drunk.

Your response was funny in a way tho and if people have other suggestions on how to stay focused then please share and maybe I swap my way to stay focused for something else.

No one ever admits that they are alcoholic. I didn't expect you to admit it either.

I will take your words into consideration along with the words of my beautiful girlfriend. However I think this discussion is going a bit off-topic.

Topic was: How do you stay focused and interested?

"Now all of a sudden she says I can't buy beer/red vine and she says she worries about my health."

That was your beautiful girl friend's quote. I'm glad you're considering it.

I've had a tough time staying focused and interested lately. For the last few months actually. What I need to do is constantly set goals for myself and work towards those goals, rather than blindly chasing dreams.

i been running around in circles for a while now but i just think being stuck at home is killing me, but good news today. My ex does the resume filter for this huge company in the city and they are looking for part time system administrators so that should lift my spirits.

@WritingBadCode I can't promise this will work, but try to look at some motivational videos on youtube. I'm not talking about the ones with lots of cute quotes, but about videos of people who have done in life what they dreamed they would, people that wanted more for themselves and actually made it. This usually makes me want to get off my ass and do something.. change something about my life.

Other than that, I would suggest you to take breaks from the computer. Try to entertain yourself with something other than the things you find online. Once you find those things in your life, you will not feel the need to waste time on the computer, but rather do something useful instead.

I hope this is helpful for you!

Thanks for all the input!

I think the low motivation thing may have been a bit temporary tho. But I'm sure all the input may still help others. : P

I have had better motivation now for the last two days (probably since I now got an idea to work on and not just code examples and stuff of that nature)..

There will be days when motivation is low none the less, so all ideas are appreciated (especially thanks to busygoat, those ideas seems very useful). : )

Any further input is of course welcome.

But just for the record - I feel that my motivation is back (at least for now).

Great! I am happy for you! Happy coding!

to answer your question, I will simply go into the bedroom and shut the door, turn off the tv and close out the browser to fb.

About the alcohol.. this could be way off base, but "alcohol" as we know it, in it's purest form is actually a compound in a really large chemical class of alcohols.

During the "initial" few drinks (pre intoxication ), alcohol stimulates the brain, which frees the cortex of inhibitory controls. A few too many and that too will be 3 sheets to the wind.

In other words, moderate amounts will work similar to the way Adderall works for ADD, etc. (No, I'm not saying you're ADD, just using that as comparison, and I'm not suggesting anyone start drinking to help them focus either!).