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Back in high school, my English teacher told me that she thought I actually had ADD. It wasn’t news to me. I’d never been the most focused kid, but I always thought it was just a teenage thing and that it wasn’t indicative of anything mental. She disagreed.

Since then, I’ve realized that, while I’m still not too sure about the ADD thing, I do have a difficult time focusing on one task at a time. Throughout college, I tried different techniques to stay focused on the task/project at hand.

• I’d listen to music, but that was a disaster. After only a few minutes, I’d either be rocking out or picking apart the song. I’ve got a musical knack, which didn’t mesh well with keeping my eye on the proverbial ball.
• I’d hit the library, but soon found out that silence is more distracting than background noise. Even worse is the couple that whispers in the corner about things you want to know about, so you start imagining what they’re talking about, and then you start having secrets with yourself and leaving them out of it just to spite them. Or, maybe that’s just me.
• I’d sit in the courtyard. Honestly, though, that was just to look smarter, not actually get anything done. But everyone has done that at some point, don’t they?
• I’d lock myself in my dorm room, but the sound of people having fun out in the hallway drove me nuts with curiosity. I found myself drifting to the door to peak out more and more often.
• I’d turn off the computer and use a pencil and paper, but my hand muscles must have atrophied over the years of very little “real writing” because I’d cramp up after only a few sentences. (Writing with pencils is a lost art. My handwriting sucks now. I still believe that the pencil is just a pen with a delete button.)
• I’d give up trying, which worked just as well as the other efforts at getting things done.

Then, I found the sweet-spot. I’d find a quiet place and play jazz music that was instrumental only. I’d use speakers and not headphones because the wire on the headphones was distracting. The music was loud enough to block out the ambient noise, but not loud enough to get in my head. That’s when the magic happens.

In fact, if it’s the middle of the day and you don’t see too many tweets coming from me, it’s probably because I’m GTD’ing my own way.