I am one of the most monomaniacal people I know. When I am absorbed in something, I find it utterly impossible to think about anything else. I don’t want to do anything else; I don’t want to be interrupted; I just want to finish what I’ve started. Having kids hasn’t, unfortunately, broken me of the habit, though it has forced me to learn patience.
Are any of the rest of you like this? How do you achieve balance in your life? That is the thing I have the hardest time with. I find that when I accept projects, I concentrate on them so utterly that I don’t take time for anything else that I don’t absolutely *have* to. My house falls apart; I eat whatever is easily to hand, or just don’t eat; I don’t take time for myself in any way. So I work like hell for a month or two and then refuse work for a while so I can catch my breath. When I play, if I’m into something–learning a new skill, or beating a video game, or whatever–I have the same concentration pattern.
There are a lot of good things about being this way. I usually have my projects finished ahead of schedule (and have never been late with one), and I know the quality of my work is top-notch. It definitely is not the *healthiest* way to be, though. I went to the gym today for the first time in months–worked out really hard. It felt *so damn good.* I felt positively drugged afterward. And yet, it’s always so hard to convince myself to stop whatever I’m in the midst of to go.
So how does one break oneself of single-mindedness?
4 Responses to “On Monomania”
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I'm a freelance copyeditor specializing in fantasy and science fiction. SF/F novels I have copyedited have been finalists for (and have sometimes won) the Hugo, Nebula, Arthur C. Clarke, Endeavour, Golden Spur, John W. Campbell Memorial, Quill, Locus, Philip K. Dick, British Science Fiction, British Fantasy, and World Fantasy awards. In 2007 I became the first and only copyeditor ever short-listed for a World Fantasy Award.
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It’s rather like relaxing: you must focus very hard and concentrate every muscle in the body on being relaxed as hard as it possibly can.
I’m half-joking here; mostly it’s my way of saying I don’t really know. Because it seems like the answer is to turn that monomaniacal attention on ways to solve it, and I don’t think that’ll work somehow.
I’m totally that way. And I’ve also found it to be a blessing and a curse. I “get stuff done” for sure, but it always takes its toll on my health/relationships etc.
I’ve been trying to use a schedule to break my bad habits, like forcing myself to quit a certain activity at a certain time, or forbidding myself to start until a certain time. It’s kind of working, but then I sit around worrying I’m not working hard enough. :)
I dunno… if you come up with something that works, I’d love to hear about it. :)
I’m sorta like that, but not too bad. i can’t focus on work or studying unless i’m in a certain frame of mind…so i tend to procratinate to force myself there. I’m a bit better than I was in the past.
But I have a friend that sounds a lot more like that. I kid him all the time about it when he picks up new ‘obsessions’ as I term them. And he hasn’t broken himself of it now by the age of 30, i doubt he will. I just roll my eyes and wait for him to come up for air eventually
Yeah, I’m afraid there’s no way to break the habit–just learn to work within its bounds. I just wish I could choose my obsessions. :-)