Hyper-systemizing

[Shawn D]

I've always had one or two interests or obsessions, some lasting for years or even my entire life, but I've also always had an insatiable curiosity and thirst for new things. My dad once described me as "addicted to novelty", because of my impulsive nature and desire to experience new things, but it's really more an "addiction to insight", as one site put it. I have to learn and experience EVERYTHING, resulting in me asking questions constantly and obsessively seeking answers to curiosities. I find myself saying, "I wonder" at least once a day immediately followed by a hunt for the answer on the Google machine.
My bucket list is longer than I have years left to fulfill it and my obsession for learning new things is the reason for my indecisiveness and inability to "pick one thing and stick with it" for a career.
Can anyone else relate? How do you cope with your hyper-systemization and learn to follow-through, rather than jump to the next new and exciting thing?

 

[Sully]

Same here. It took me ten years to earn an associates degree at community college because I kept changing my major. I also get into hobbies, spend a lot of money and then move on to something else. I get frustrated with myself for not being able to focus on one thing for long enough to become really good at it.

 

[Progster]

Yes, I can relate to this to some extent - I have a big thirst for knowledge and love learning new things. I like to learn about how things work. I also like travelling and visiting new places. As for trying new things or having new experiences, that depends. Sometimes various sensory issues will prevent me from trying out something new, such as a new kind of food. I can't imagine myself ever tucking into a nice bowl of juicy... maggots, for example, or eating crunchy crickets. Also, before I decide to try something, I need to know a lot about it before I feel secure and confident enough to try. If I visit a new place, I like to learn a bit about it first - I look at a map, that helps, or even Google Street View. Also, if something is very complicated and in different stages, it seems too much at once, like a huge mountain to climb, and that might make me reluctant to try, so I'd need to break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. Also, new experiences involving people and social interaction are difficult.

 

[tree]

 

[Sully]

I've decided the way to fix this problem is to just have one interest for the rest of my life: the universe.

 

[Shawn D]

Same here. It took me ten years to earn an associates degree at community college because I kept changing my major. I also get into hobbies, spend a lot of money and then move on to something else. I get frustrated with myself for not being able to focus on one thing for long enough to become really good at it.

I was on the 6 year plan in college. I, too, kept changing my mind about my major. I was also one quarter shy of a minor in French, but financial aid was threatening to cut me off, so I had to graduate.
If I had known more about myself at the time, I would have majored in a hard science, like engineering, regardless of my level of interest. Since I want to learn everything, anything would have piqued my interest once I got into it and at least I'd have been qualified to do a specific job.