This is something that’s been frustrating me to no end recently as I’ve had a ton of time over the holidays to do whatever I want. I have a dozen half beaten games and half watched tv shows that I really should just finish but idk why I just can’t stick to one thing until it’s done and then move on to the next like a normal person.
It’s because:
start of thing == dopamine
finish of thing != dopamine
We yearn for the brain juice and hop from hit to hit
Neurotypical people do not have this issue, I’m told
I generally only have this problem if I don’t enjoy the thing I’m doing.
Like learning a skill. Having the skill is what I am interested in; practice and all the boring shit to get the skill does not always keep my brain interested. Learning musical instruments is a struggle; but I have managed to do it.
Meanwhile learning a new language has been fun as hell even with the “boring” parts. My mind’s always been fascinated by words and writing; I now know it extends to words and writing in other languages, too.
I recently realized that many of the things I end up sticking with are those I didn’t pick up on a whim, but that I planned to take a look at for a while and pushed back on. For example, I’ve owned Elite Dangerous for more than a year, I was barely touching it for the first six months, and played extremely occasionally otherwise. This lasted until last November, when something just… clicked, to the point my wife got together with my mother to buy me a HOTAS this Christmas.
Rest assured that your experience does sound extremely familiar. It’s very difficult to stick to something. The dopamine rush I get from the very act of figuring out something new just doesn’t last past the novelty phase.
Well that’s peak ADHD for you right there. New thing=dopamin. No dopamine any more = abandoned projektets. My best advice is to pick something that you can keep itterating on infinitely and keep interesting. For instance i like making smoothies and its something you can vary for ever and never run out of recipes to try. Basically food is a good hobby because there’s so much to learn from the entire world
For gaming something like Minecraft can be fun because infinitely projects, but maybe harder to stay motivated.
3d printing is also good because there’s something new constantly.
