What should I do if I get discouraged easily?

Multi tasking has been shown to actually lower our intelligence.

From Slashdot and news for Nerds:
“Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires — the constant switching and pivoting — energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on… studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy.”

So laser like concentration is what solves problems. The Sistine Chapel was not created by a someone painting while texting, nor did Apple Computers spring from a weekend warrior’s down time. In my opinion dedication and hard work spring from passion. Maybe you have not found the passion if you are not doing it. I do what I do for 12–16 hours sometimes and I don’t even think about it. Work hard to find it and when you do it won’t be work but you’ll have to actually discipline yourself to stop.

You need to pick those few things that are most important to you to allot your time and ruthlessly prune the rest. You cannot do everything.

Focus on one thing at a time. Block everything out. If you want to paint, put in a good CD, lock your doors, silence your phone, and turn off your computer. Think about how beautiful it’s going to look at the end.

Maybe try painting with the tv on or music playing.
It sounds like you just aren’t inspired to paint, but maybe doing it while multitasking will get you into the mode of painting until you do get inspired.

Isn’t putting music or the tv on while painting just another form of multi-tasking?

I have a hard time with getting discouraged at well. Something that helps is to have a specific place to do things. I might not want to study, but when I go to the library with all of my books, there’s nothing else to do but sit and study.

Just give up.

When people are at the end of their lives, no one says, “I should have spent more time at work.”

Do what Marina said. Do what you love as much of the time as possible. Make the time.

Dump as much of the rest as you can.

Sometimes I get like that when I make the goal too high or unattainable. I have this conversation with myself and decide why bother, I am not going to make it anyhow. It is like sabotaging yourself, predestining yourself to fail.

Try not being so critical and demanding of yourself to start, ease into it and increase your time at any project slowly. Don’t expect to go from total lack of concentration to being able to spend 3 hours at a task.

And if it keeps up and you continue to be down on yourself about it, then yes, I would consider some therapy or counseling.

Make sure your environment at home and at work is organized, then shut off the television, the cell phone and the computer for several hours. Trying to find a 6 hour chunk of time in an adult schedule is hard, but finding 3 two hour chunks is doable. You will be amazed how much time is wasted watching television and being constantly accessible.

Know and believe this saying:

“The only way to truly fail, is to give up.”

Live by it and don’t ever doubt it.

@drdoombot – yes, having other things on while trying to paint is another form of multitasking. But if someone has lost the ability to focus on one thing, then maybe some light distraction will help them.

I read an article that said doodling during a meeting while at work helps some people to be more focused on what is being said. That little bit of distraction allows other parts of the mind to focus.

If this is about more than just painting, then my other suggestion would be to find 15–20 minutes to meditate and allow yourself to recognize the distractions present in your brain. Allowing time for the mind to process and get rid of the excess synaptic frings is a great benefit.

Just start by sitting still. If you itch, don’t scratch, just sit still. If you feel the need to get up and do something else, just sit still. listen to the sounds close to you and then slowly start paying attention to the sounds further away, then pull your focus back to the sounds close to you. But keep sitting still.

After some practice, you should be able to increase your concentration level and become more aware of your internal dialogue.

One step at a time. You are not, I repeat, not alone on this one.

So, my 2 cents, for what that is worth in today’s emotional marketplace: savor those moments, my friend. Let all of the anticipation leading up to what became a disappointment, and all of the discouragement of the event itself, simply inform your life beyond the moment and the memorable impact it has created in your life. Live the entire experience. Really live it. Try not to feel like you have to fix it. Delight in all of the euphoria and wallow in the sadness. Feel everything. Fully. As if happens.

And, in living your life within and beyond each opportunity that appears ahead of you, in your future, just maintain the same anticipation and embrace the same level of disappointment, if it occurs, as before.

Trust the process of your life to generate a response to a pattern, if it exists. And if you play with this much gusto in all of your pursuits, you will find a way, you will invent a system, and it will be all yours, for you, and it will eventually work.

I sense you are my long lost twin on this one.

Think of your passion for life as a gift – there are so many people out there who would give anything they now possess, to have your ability to feel such things the way you do.

I just read this and I feel exactly the same… I too am a very passionate person… I get quickly worked up about everything and then as soon as I see or feel some kind of negativity I get discouraged and lose interest… I feel sometimes likes it’s my defense mechanism to not get hurt or make a mistake at the end.