How to keep focused without losing interest?

Question

I am not sure how common is this, but I experience loss of interest pretty often. Unlike many people, my problem is not in starting things but in sustaining the interest.

One day, I decide that I am going to do a specific project/task. I will be highly interested and full of energy to get it done. After spending some time in it, I start thinking that the output may not be really worthy enough. I get doubts about the utility of the project. I lose the interest. Other projects appear more luring and I get distracted. I abandon the project and jump into new one.

Not, just any project. Even tv series/websites/friends/relations everything is the same. I lose the interest much before the task is finished.

How do I ensure that I don't lose interest in a thing that I started and stay till the end? I am not abandoning it when I am stumped by a problem. I am stopping it much before just because of my thoughts.

Answer 1

The ability to bring the matter to its logical end - an important skill.

Each project consists mostly of routine or of things that goes out of your primary specialization and it is simply a rule - you will always have plenty of reasons to consider it uninteresting. In real life things simply works like: If you have not finished it - you did not do anything, you lost.

You just have to adjust yourself and realize that the goal is precisely to reach the end. It would be helpful to set goals and reach them not only in the professional fields but in related fields also. For example, not only to write code and ignore the rest - but also to strive to do good design and documentation. Such skills are also very useful.

But do not mix up matter with entertainment. If entertainment is not as interesting as it seemed - do not waste time on it )

Answer 2

If you're losing interest, perhaps you aren't being clear enough upfront about the outcome and benefits of doing a project. Both in the Getting Things Done and Zen To Done methods, they focus on getting the goal of a project clear upfront.

These methods also allow you to put projects on a Someday list, so you don't have to start with a project immediatly. It could be that you just want to do too much at once. You could try for a couple of weeks to first finish a project, before moving on to another. Perhaps if you get the feeling of actually finishing a project a couple of times, you can achieve a behavioural change.

I believe a lot of people have this to some degree (I surely have). To me it's a different version of the behaviour some people have to always want the newest product (phone, tv, etc.). It's just a behaviour / habit you can unlearn using the right tools.

Answer 3

I think you may find this problem is not limited to you - I think this is one of those feelings in life that applies to everyone.

I might suggest, based on some things that have worked for me and some other friends in the past, that you try taking breaks from the work while you are still interested. So for example if you are writing a story, and it's time for a break, you stop writing halfway though a sentence even if you know how the sentence will end. The idea is that you know exactly were to start when you come back to the project and it's easy to get re-enthused.

Regarding issues like 'doubts about the utility of the project' - I'm afraid I can help much at all :(