Extreme methods to avoid distractions

ptilsen

Lately, I've been getting extremely distracted when studying. Not just a bit distracted, like taking a five-minute email break or something. I'm talking about habitually, unconsciously checking email, Facebook, Mint, Techexams, etc. I basically can't study effectively if I have Internet access. Given that I can't study very effectively without Internet access, that's a problem. I'm not sure if I'm actually getting more attention deficit as I get older, or if 70-643 has just completely broken my confidence and devotion to professional growth.

Anyway, my first attempt at solving this problem was pretty extreme, IMO. I created the following batch script and scheduled it to run every 60 seconds:
Run every one minute for x time:
taskkill /im firefox.exe /f
taskkill /im chrome.exe /f
taskkill /im iexpore.exe /f

When I'm labbing, reading the PDF, or doing a practice exam I try to turn this on. I will still hit that Chrome icon in quick launch a couple times during a session with that on. It ultimately doesn't work because I like to use Technet a lot, both as reading material and for the virtual labs.

Anyone else have a similar problem? If so, what have you done to fight the distractions? I'm thinking about maybe blocking all the sites I end up visiting when I'm supposed to be studying. Either a CFS rule in a firewall, or maybe a script to add and remove HOST entries setting the domains to localhost or something invalid.

On the other hand, has anyone ever gotten into a can't-focus funk like this? I was able to focus so hard on 648 and 680, and I don't know what's happened to me with 643. Ever since December I've been unable to effectively study for this.

higherho

Lately I've not be focusing on my studies as much as I should have. I've been working a lot of projects at work and putting 100% at my job everyday that when I come home I'm burnt out.

When I do study, I lock myself in a room and turn off all electronics that can distract me. Helps out a lot and if I feel that I'm getting distracted I go for a walk then come back and study some more.

ptilsen

higherho wrote: »

Lately I've not be focusing on my studies as much as I should have. I've been working a lot of projects at work and putting 100% at my job everyday that when I come home I'm burnt out.

When I do study, I lock myself in a room and turn off all electronics that can distract me. Helps out a lot and if I feel that I'm getting distracted I go for a walk then come back and study some more.

I'm glad someone else can relate, though obviously not glad you're also having this issue. The problem is, how I can I avoid electronics when I need Technet, our HR company's training portal (has a lot of exam material), VirtualBox, Transcender, etc?

I've been trying to take it easy with work, and maybe it hasn't been enough. I don't know. I don't feel like three tests in four months should have burned my out.

I am considering this following, but I feel like it's fighting the symptom instead of the disease. Study time.bat:
echo 127.0.0.1 Facebook.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 techexams.net >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 gmail.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 yahoo.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 mail.google.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 hotmail.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 mint.com >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 somebankwebsite.tld >> %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Echo Minimize this window and study. Hit any key when you are done studying.
Pause
Echo Remove the blackhole DNS records from your hosts file if you're done studying.
notepad %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

jibbajabba

Unplug your ADSL Router or configure it to block your IP between certain times. Use a random string generator to create a password and copy / paste it into your routers configuration page and mail it to your office or other email address which isn't configured on your mobile.

alxx

This semester for me its simple.
Just scored an awesome job and working it two days a week until semesters over.

If I pass the two subjects I'm doing(to finish the Eng degree) I get engineers rates (80k) if I don't pass I stay on my existing full time equivalent rate (approx $50k).

plus my old mans really sick(cancer) so I want to finish my degree while he's still alive.

So really focused this semester.
Needed to be:
Embedded Software subject (doing the labs in pairs) we've spent at least 40 hours each per Lab assignment (just passed Lab3) one more to go then large individual project to do (lecturer reckons minimum 120 hours work to get a pass for Lab 5).

Signal theory - Fourier transforms, laplace, z transforms and all the fun signal theory


If you want/desire the certs or degree enough and the job after that (with the dollars) you'll focus and ignore distractions with just will power. You just have to want it enough.

Look at Noc Ninja in the CCIE forums and his site Kim's Ninja Way to CCIE
see the hours he's putting in on his CCIE studies.

from his site
The NAKED truth about Motivation. - YouTube

Eric Thomas
Secret To Success - YouTube
Secrets to success Pt. 2 - YouTube

Qord

When this happens to me, which is a lot, I do everything in my power to work offline. I'll promise myself a decent chunk of time (maybe only 30 minutes even), open any tabs in the browser I think I might need, then I kill my network access. If I've already opened every web page I need, there's no need to stay plugged in. Not being plugged in = less distractions for me. It also helps that my laptop is old and uses a pcmia wireless card...Just pull and toss.

However, I do think that it is important to take breaks, especially after doing something like a lot of technet or pdf reading. Unfortunately, taking this break on the computer really isn't that helpful. I really do prefer to just walk away for a little bit, stretch, maybe go outside and pretend to be looking for something in my car...anything to refresh my eyes and my mind.

NetworkingStudent

ptilsen wrote: »

Lately, I've been getting extremely distracted when studying. Not just a bit distracted, like taking a five-minute email break or something. I'm talking about habitually, unconsciously checking email, Facebook, Mint, Techexams, etc. I basically can't study effectively if I have Internet access. Given that I can't study very effectively without Internet access, that's a problem. I'm not sure if I'm actually getting more attention deficit as I get older, or if 70-643 has just completely broken my confidence and devotion to professional growth.

Anyway, my first attempt at solving this problem was pretty extreme, IMO. I created the following batch script and scheduled it to run every 60 seconds:
Run every one minute for x time:
taskkill /im firefox.exe /f
taskkill /im chrome.exe /f
taskkill /im iexpore.exe /f

When I'm labbing, reading the PDF, or doing a practice exam I try to turn this on. I will still hit that Chrome icon in quick launch a couple times during a session with that on. It ultimately doesn't work because I like to use Technet a lot, both as reading material and for the virtual labs.

Anyone else have a similar problem? If so, what have you done to fight the distractions? I'm thinking about maybe blocking all the sites I end up visiting when I'm supposed to be studying. Either a CFS rule in a firewall, or maybe a script to add and remove HOST entries setting the domains to localhost or something invalid.

On the other hand, has anyone ever gotten into a can't-focus funk like this? I was able to focus so hard on 648 and 680, and I don't know what's happened to me with 643. Ever since December I've been unable to effectively study for this.

Well for one I think you need a vacation. My girlfriend and I took a vacation in April, and when we came back we felt so much better. So try to take a vacation, where you don’t gotta do nothing , but relax it definitely helps a lot.

I tend to lose focus myself too. When watching CBT videos I tend to lose focus, and honestly I can only watch 1 or 2 a day. There are only so many videos I can watch on Windows 7 70-680.

Have you tried studying at the library or at a park? When I was studying at the library for my Network+, I felt like I had more focus and fewer distractions. However, I did notice that the library has become nosier, than it used to be when I was younger.

Also, another trick is to tell people you are study for a said cert or degree, and they will ask you about your progress. This helps hold yourself more accountable for your studying habits.

MickQ

@pt I got my MCITPs in two months. Ok, a fair amount of it was experience, but I still had to study for the new stuff (no customers had gone to 2k8 ). I got my CCNA during that period, too. How? Just sheer determination. Just made myself focus on it so much that everything stuck.

When you get in a rut like you're in, try and exercise more. You'd be surprised how much that'll help.
If you video or audio courses (CBT nuggets, youtube, etc.) grab the audio stream and put it onto your personal music player and do your exercise with that on.

I was the same with my studies this year (Route) from January to late March. I went on a diet thing (yes, can't believe I'm saying that) and it got my brain power back to ten years ago. I finished the remaining 2/3rds of the Route course in about 2 weeks and got the exam. Sat Tshoot a week later and got that, too.

There's also a lot to be said for "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healty, wealthy and wise".

Summarising:
Determination and wanting, exercise, sleep, possibly diet.


@alxx Gotta love those Fourier and laplace transforms.

NetworkingStudent

If you have a laptop or an IPAD unplug it and study and do labs until it’s dead. Then once its dead plug it in and let it charge. While charging you can do some reading reading. Just a thought…

Psoasman

I just grab a book and go to a room with out distractions. I find when I am studying something that interests me, I don't have any trouble focusing. I recently finished the Project+ and it was all I could do study for 15 minutes at a time.

demonfurbie

i lock my self in the walk in closet with a chair

joehalford01

I've been having trouble lately but I've found the best times for me to be early in the morning, 5-7:30 because it is quiet and not a whole lot is going on. Also, if I can leave work early to study between 4-5:30 before my other half gets home, that is always great. Afterwards, we're talking, dinner time, tv is on. It can all be very distracting. As far as the internet goes, yea, you just need to stay focused. Drink a cup of coffee or black tea, the caffeine will help focus you.

Zartanasaurus

I don't know exactly why this worked for me, but I started timing myself with a stop watch when I was studying. The fact that I knew I was measuring my performance made me not goof off on the internet as much. I've also found reading/streaming from a tablet took the distractions down even more since it's harder to browse the internet randomly on that, vs my workstation with 2 monitors.

kurosaki00

oh the geekness in this thread is quite high lol

This happens to me when I dont sleep well or have been awake for a long time.
The best time for me to study is when I just wake up, my attention span is @ its best.
Thats why even if I have work, I just go to bed early and wake up 2-3 hours before work and study early. When well rested and just woke up I find that things stick way more in my brain and I dont doze off so much.
Try it, go to sleep early, wake up earlier and st udy before work.

ptilsen

Great stuff in here, guys. I'm going to try some of it to start.

I haven't been exercising much lately. I started a diet in September and finished in March, hitting my goal. I've still been watching my weight, but I stopped exercising more than once a week, in theory to focus on studying. But April was probably my least productive month. Correlation =! causation, but it's worth a shot and worth doing anyway. I'm going to try to hit the gym or at least Wii fit twice a week on top of my Wednesday laser tag (that's right, I play four hours of laser tag every Wednedsay).

I am going to try my batch script and see how blocking DNS to various distraction sites (include TechExams) while studying helps.

I'll also try drinking even more caffeine. I drink plenty, but not always before or during study.

I've been sleeping okay, but I'll keep watching it and try to get to bed earlier. My hours have been shifting a bit in the wrong direction, which I should fix anyway.

I don't have any audio training, and I can't justify buying much of anything for this test, given how much I've already put into it. I would be interested in doing text to speech from a PDF on my iPhone or something while I drive and/or workout. I read a book while biking at the gym last night. I normally run, but biking was worth being able to multitask like that. It was truly awesome. Audiobooks/text to speech while running sounds appealing, though I don't know how focused I'll be while running. We'll see.

Honestly, I'm pretty motivated and very determined. I had ambitious plans for the last two quarters, and even more ambitious for the next two months (finishing 643 while taking two classes and working full time). I finished 70-680. jumped straight into 70-648 and finished that in a few short weeks, then immediately began 70-643. Something about it broke me, and that's what I'm trying to correct. I did take a couple vacations from studying, and one actual vacation from everything. But none of them felt like vacations, for various reasons.

All that said, there is the legitimate problem of I have no idea what the hell to study since I've read the MS Press cover to cover more than once and R2 unleashed and done all the labs.

joehalford01

Design a lab network from the ground up and create fictional scenarios that apply to the exam objectives, that's what I did towards the end of studying for 70-640. It helped a lot and was certainly more entertaining than trying to read the same stuff for the 20th time.

Essendon

I can relate as well, PT. I could only concentrate for 15-20 minutes before I'd goof off on the Internet, read the news, lookup TE/cricket/football etc. On some days it got so bad, that I'd only study for 15 minutes in a one hour block. My missus saw me watching some videos on The Age (a newpaper here) and goes - Mate, WTF are you doing? I told her I couldnt concentrate and that I may have ADD or something. She said someone at her work once suggested the following link, Forest Raindrops (Natural Sounds) - YouTube when studying. I tried it and to my astonishment it's worked to a large extent. I also started studying in the morning instead of the evening. I feel fresher and with no distractions from outside the study room, it made a big difference. I have been able to pick up speed on my VCP as a result of this. Try the video out, may help ya.

higherho

@Essendon,

I started using that video at work when I'm performing complex tasks. It really helps me calm down and get things done much faster / smoother. I will start using it to study at home more. Thanks.

Essendon

higherho wrote: »

@Essendon,

I started using that video at work when I'm performing complex tasks. It really helps me calm down and get things done much faster / smoother. I will start using it to study at home more. Thanks.

It sure makes a difference, glad it helped someone out. It does sometime sound like bacon's frying!