Just PUT DOWN the special interest and move away slowly!

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When you become hyper-focused on your 'special interest' or just generally when you're focusing on doing something and someone comes along and disturbs you - do you get very irritated and snappy? How do you prevent yourself from getting irritated and snappy?

I also find that when focused on a special interest, or something else, I lose track of time, I don't go to get a drink if I'm thirsty or I don't go to bed when I'm tired. How do you put down your special interest and do whatever it is that you need to be getting on with?

er, that's a good question. When I get that bad nothing short of physical force can drag me away - even if I am aware of the time and it's ticking towards 4am.

I set aside time to get my chores and errands done. I put the interest down for a few hours and than I indulge in it after I get my stuff done.

I've never been accused of being polite and caring when somebody interrupts me while I'm doing something. I lose track of time too, but if something needs to get done I generally don't have a hard time doing it. Usually I do not get absorbed in my interests until everything I need to do has been done to begin with. If I have limited time, I just plan around that, and being an aspie, it's hard for me not to stick to my plan.

I get very irritable when I'm in the middle of indulging in a special interest and I get interrupted. I'm also prone to neglecting myself. When I really need to get stuff done, I tell myself "Okay, you're not allowed to indulge in this anymore until you finish doing what you need to do!" and then I get it done.

How do I put it down? I don't. I get snappy in my intense moments. The only cure I've ever had is to develop a variety of interests, so no one interest rules them all. Such times are usually short lived, however, because that's just not who I am as a person. Versatile, yes, but also intensely focused. It comes with the territory of productivity.

I get irritated and begin to stim, normally rocking back and forth if I am in my chair. I then talk to the person without looking at him/her, and try to end the conversation as soon as possible.

I also lose track of time and I get snippy when people bother me and or call me on the phone and interrupt me.

I do that whole "not sleeping or eating or drinking or peeing or noticing the passing of time" thing.

I HATE being interrupted.

I snap at people far more than is fair if I'm interrupted when I'm focussed, and I have to work hard to overcome this.

If I've things which need doing, but I'm desperate to get back to whatever it is that I'm 'researching' (some would say 'obsessing over'), then I make a list of what needs doing, in order of priority, and make myself work through the list before I get the reward of getting back to my research. This technique of rewarding myself has been quite successful over the years - I started by putting a box of my favourite sweets on the end of the bed and telling myself I could only touch them when I'd finished writing an essay (at University). I did very well, but my teeth aren't that wonderful.

Uhm, this is a really good question. I can get really bitchy when someone bangs my door open with some irrelevant remark. Usually it's my mom doing the banging. I guess you can take a breath to sort of "cool down" before responding, but the problem is I never think of this in time. I'm usually just so startled and annoyed that I snap, then of course my mom snaps back and that just makes me even more angry.

As far as time management, I like to use my special interests as rewards. EX: If I finish reading this chapter in my chemistry textbook, then I can go play piano, or go to the woods with my dog. It's a strategy I picked up from personal trainers who are trying to motivate their clients to loose weight. I also have a priority list that helps me figure out what needs to be done. Usually whatever is not on top of that list is used as a reward.

I used to be a lot worse about this but I still get angry/frustrated and snap when I'm interrupted.

What little sense of time I may hypothetically have goes out the door when I am engaged in my interest. Whole world can go away, and yes, I forget to do many things I need to do. I think I am actually better about this now than I used to be, but I can still get fairly intense.

I treat it like I would morphine or drinking. I use it according to a plan and schedule. I drink one gin and tonic in the afternoon, and later on that evening I'll have a bourbon and orange juice. They always have the same amounts of liquor, made by the same company. If I vary the routine whatsoever, it is only as a courtesy that I do unto others, and I have glowy thoughts over it about what a swell guy I am.

I am at my most productive when I treat my special interests in the same way. I get the right amounts of sleep, and maintaining an active life outside of it keeps me mentally charged to pursue what I'm into with a sense of energy.

If I don't maintain this sort of discipline, pulling me away from my interests is like stealing cigarettes from a smoker. Until I can get back to it, it's like the world is coming to an end.

Never trust anything that has more control over you than you have over it.

I snap too and then grumble grumble.

I have a pretty strict routine that runs on a time schedule so during the week (thanks to meds) I can switch between tasks with more ease. On the weekends, however, I let go.

LOL! I've gotten so involved in something I'm up late. I get really into my videogames and love the cut scenes that tell the story so if I'm interrupted I'll bark at my family. Mom/dad hate this and say "it's just a game!" They don't understand I'm missing a crucial part of the story! I was also so wrapped into Moby Dick a few weeks ago I didn't answer the phone. WHEN I'M BUSY DAMN IT I'M BUSY!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !

Oh, I hate this so much. I have to go back and replay just to see the cut scene again.

I remember once I spent several hours trying to get past a certain part of Full Throttle, and once I did another character showed up and gave plot information. Right when I got to this point, I remember my grandmother just walking into my bedroom and telling me something completely pointless. I ended up never actually finishing Full Throttle because of that.

Mind you, I was an adult in my mid-20s, and I was living with my grandmother because I had just left an abusive relationship. What kind of person just walks into someone else's space like that without knocking or even finding out if they can or want to talk?

Last edited by Verdandi on 03 May 2011, 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.