Hey besties help a weird ND guy out
Pretty much nothing short of immediate dramatic consequences can dera a hyperfixation episode for me. Other than that, I just don’t have the apparatus to stop—and that’s the next several hours of my life gone. Hyperfixation episodes feel kinda fun at the time but in retrospect the loss of control makes me feel really depressed. Not to mention the fact that it’s unhealthy to not eat, drink, or use the bathroom for long periods of time.
Like, I get people using “hyperfixation” as essentially a synonym for “hobby I’m soooo focused on! 🤪” but I’ve almost fainted in the library stacks and it’s a miracle I haven’t been fired from any jobs. Having a hobby/special interest fixation is fun; hyperfixation is not.
Wish I had any help for you, OP. I really do.
Environmental cues. It's way easier for me to work in the office than from home, because in the office my brain is aware of office things. The doorway effect where upon crossing into another room you forget what you were thinking right before, for me it works to transition to work mindset.
Working from home this is tougher and I get WAYYYY less work done in the same amount of time. Still, an approximation can be achieved with desktop windows: for example, i have my regular non work browser with all my tabs, and The Other Browser which does not save tabs between sessions and which i use when working. If I skip up and open non work things in it, they at least won't have get saved for next time.
Also, my brain is thankfully capable of hyperfixating on like... most things, and my work qualifies, if barely. That's the real reason I can do it at all.