Why am I compelled to alternate between having fun and learning?

[Forever Blue]

Originally Posted by yologuy01

Why can't I just do one for hours and not get bored?. If I'm watching Netflix or playing video games, after about an hour or two I just don't enjoy it anymore and feel like learning or being productive. If I'm just learning or doing something that I don't necessarily enjoy, I can't do it for more than an hour before I start craving something fun. I have to alternate between the 2. When I alternate I feel better. It's like that's how my mind works and it pushes me to behave this way otherwise I'll be miserable.

That doesn't sound bad. I'm sure many people are that way. Some can do either activity for longer hrs, but as long as you get your work, homework, work report(s), etc. done, then alternating's fine.

The problem is only when you notice that you're working on your work into the wee horus of the night/morning & it's affecting your sleep, etc. Then, you'll want to do more work & less fun, so instead of 1 hr of each, do:

2 hrs of work, then 1 hr of fun & alternate back & forth

OR

3 hrs of work, then 1 - 1.5 hrs of fun & alternate back & forth


...because MOST people just want to get work over w/ as fast as they can. But for you, when you run out of work & have run out of fun stuff, you should start doing some hobbies then & there's plenty of those to do:

- learn a new language
- learn martial arts
- learn to cook
- get a pet & train them

[fleetiebelle]

There's actually a time management technique called the Pomodoro Method that some people swear by that is setting a timer and working for a period of time, then taking a break for a period of time.

[mordant]

Originally Posted by yologuy01

Why can't I just do one for hours and not get bored?. If I'm watching Netflix or playing video games, after about an hour or two I just don't enjoy it anymore and feel like learning or being productive. If I'm just learning or doing something that I don't necessarily enjoy, I can't do it for more than an hour before I start craving something fun. I have to alternate between the 2. When I alternate I feel better. It's like that's how my mind works and it pushes me to behave this way otherwise I'll be miserable.

You are just describing the phenomenon of hedonic tone. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Everyone finds some things more interesting / fun / easy or challenging in a good way, more so than others. It is easier to motivate yourself and to focus if the task interests you.

If you think that you are having more difficulty with this than most people, you might have yourself evaluated for attention deficit disorder. That's a pretty treatable problem in most cases.

Personally I alternate throughout the day between work and play. I am a 100% remote worker and I set my own hours and within some pretty broad limits, can work whenever I wish to. My limit is probably 2 hours of really concentrated, intense work. Fortunately I also have a variety of responsibilities, some way easier than others, and seldom have tight deadlines. So I also alternate difficult and easy work throughout the day. Some days, perhaps after a poor night's sleep, I do nothing BUT easy work. I suspect that most people would prefer to work this way but in the typical office panopticon, can't.