[MrDisposable]

My last two episodes of such "superfocus" happened because the workloads I've been working on were essentially dopamine loops, not unlike playing Diablo or even a slot machine.

The first task was game sound design, and the second one was game marketing. Both tasks seemed impenetrable because I had no experience with either. Yet I managed to create the entire soundscape and SFX for the game in about a month, and, with the second workload, broke into game marketing and started getting some positive response.

Here's how it worked: both impenetrable problems turned out to be breakable into small chunks that were 1) easy enough for a beginner, and 2) came with immediately pleasing rewards on an intermittent schedule. For example, a sound that plays in a previously silent game, or 20 upvotes on a Reddit marketing post are immediately rewarding, but you cannot predict that the next post will be lucky, or that you will find a perfect sound effect on Audiojungle.

Both workloads turned into hugely addictive dopamine loops -- marketing felt similar to Diablo or a slot machine, and looking for sounds on Audiojungle felt like browsing porn. Due to that addictiveness I was able to work for 12-14 hours per day.

The absence of distractions is also helpful: the flow state was at its best at night when my family was sleeping.