For context, I have always had music playing in my head constantly, whether studying or just generally in daily life. (I know the music's internally generated, i.e. it’s not externally generated.)
Throughout my life, this constant music has made it near impossible for me to study. Essentially everytime I sit down to work, the music starts to play in my head, gradually occupying more of my attention until it takes over my awareness completely (often without me realizing it happening).
As a result, by the time I notice, I‘ve lost my train of thought and have no idea of what I was doing / trying to focus on beforehand. Furthermore, it also feels incredibly difficult to redirect myself back to studying; my brain feels “stuck” listening to the music, with a huge inertia against doing anything else. Even when I genuinely want to return to the task, I find it hard to do anything besides just continuing to sit there, listening to the music.
TL;DR: For people who have experienced this exact same problem while studyingand overcame it: how did you? Specifically, what strategies do you use in the moment when your attention is already stuck on the music to shift it back to the task?
Some suggestions I’ve heard are to redirect your attention elsewhere first — for example, imagining turning the music down with a mental “volume knob”, or shifting attention to the breath first before returning to the task.
Also, for people who have overcome this: did the music become less frequent over time?
For context, I have always had music playing in my head constantly, whether studying or just generally in daily life. (I know the music's internally generated, i.e. it’s not externally generated.)
Throughout my life, this constant music has made it near impossible for me to study. Essentially everytime I sit down to work, the music starts to play in my head, gradually occupying more of my attention until it takes over my awareness completely (often without me realizing it happening).
As a result, by the time I notice, I‘ve lost my train of thought and have no idea of what I was doing / trying to focus on beforehand. Furthermore, it also feels incredibly difficult to redirect myself back to studying; my brain feels “stuck” listening to the music, with a huge inertia against doing anything else. Even when I genuinely want to return to the task, I find it hard to do anything besides just continuing to sit there, listening to the music.
TL;DR: For people who have experienced this exact same problem while studying and overcame it: how did you? Specifically, what strategies do you use in the moment when your attention is already stuck on the music to shift it back to the task?
Some suggestions I’ve heard are to redirect your attention elsewhere first — for example, imagining turning the music down with a mental “volume knob”, or shifting attention to the breath first before returning to the task.
Also, for people who have overcome this: did the music become less frequent over time?