3 ms·

Sometimes it seems like a gift but other times... not so much. I am working on a couple of projects right now, and it feels like every time I hit a tough spot,

by clickok 11y ago

Sometimes it seems like a gift but other times... not so much. I am working on a couple of projects right now, and it feels like every time I hit a tough spot, the urge to do/think of something else really saps my ability to just power through. I can't make claims about anyone else's experience, but the really frustrating thing for me is that these new tangents might actually be truly good ideas worth pursuing[1]-- maybe even better things to work on than what I'm doing currently. But I've been through this process before, and so I just write down whatever this amazing new thought was in a notebook, and then convince myself I'll follow up on it later. I almost never do. Still, the fact that I can't trust myself to switch tasks really bothers me, and even the strategy of writing things down and pretending I'll handle it later is not 100% effective[2]. So it's a mixed bag, where you might think of it as a gift because new and exciting thoughts are always popping in, ready to distract you, but in my case it is definitely also a disorder since a lot of the things I want to do require a certain degree of focus and commitment, and if I abandon them when I first start to feel bored I'd likely be unable to get through to the really worthwhile stuff. --- 1. The key is of course that they seem to be good ideas, but that might just be my brain fooling itself in order to persuade me to goof off. 2. I currently have something like 800 tabs open, the results of thinking "oh I'll just read a little about this", getting distracted/having to sleep, and now they sit across my various browser windows, preserved in the amber of my virtual memory.

walterbell 11y ago
Look at how writers, filmmakers and magazine publishers handle large quantities of research topics and editorial content candidates. There is usually some form of physical storyboard which clusters related material in a physical location (e.g. vision board, very large binder) that can be referenced by motor memory rather than symbolic memory. ADHD and dyslexia can co-occur. Martin Scorsese's Notebook for The Godfather: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfJJogeOdo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfJJogeOdo People with ADHD can also be found in professions like accounting and law – which provide compensatory external structure. Some people would find it easier to locate objects if all containers (boxes, closets, drawers, fridges) could be made transparent on demand. Until then, we have vertical surfaces, metal wires + strong magnets, foamcore, whiteboard paint, mesh drawers and transparent plastic containers.
- jacquesm 11y ago
  If that were released in book form I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
TaylorAlexander 11y ago
I experience the same difficulty focusing. Often the new ideas are in fact great ideas, and sometimes they become crucial parts of my work. Progress for me is very organic and sometimes seems random. It is also very difficult to force progress - even when I have specific work to do, sometimes I just can't focus on it no matter how hard I try. That usually means I haven't figured out how to do it, but it also happens when the task is related to things I'm worried about, like failure. When I need to describe to people where it will go, it rarely works well. I seem to have determined that the direction my mind takes me tends to be good though, and I should trust it. Some things didn't make sense for a year and then finally clicked once other things fell into place. I'm speaking as an entrepreneur. The article describes me well. I also keep many, many tabs open.

by clickok 11y ago

walterbell 11y ago

Look at how writers, filmmakers and magazine publishers handle large quantities of research topics and editorial content candidates. There is usually some form of physical storyboard which clusters related material in a physical location (e.g. vision board, very large binder) that can be referenced by motor memory rather than symbolic memory. ADHD and dyslexia can co-occur. Martin Scorsese's Notebook for The Godfather: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfJJogeOdo https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfJJogeOdo People with ADHD can also be found in professions like accounting and law – which provide compensatory external structure. Some people would find it easier to locate objects if all containers (boxes, closets, drawers, fridges) could be made transparent on demand. Until then, we have vertical surfaces, metal wires + strong magnets, foamcore, whiteboard paint, mesh drawers and transparent plastic containers.

jacquesm 11y ago
If that were released in book form I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

TaylorAlexander 11y ago

I experience the same difficulty focusing. Often the new ideas are in fact great ideas, and sometimes they become crucial parts of my work. Progress for me is very organic and sometimes seems random. It is also very difficult to force progress - even when I have specific work to do, sometimes I just can't focus on it no matter how hard I try. That usually means I haven't figured out how to do it, but it also happens when the task is related to things I'm worried about, like failure. When I need to describe to people where it will go, it rarely works well. I seem to have determined that the direction my mind takes me tends to be good though, and I should trust it. Some things didn't make sense for a year and then finally clicked once other things fell into place. I'm speaking as an entrepreneur. The article describes me well. I also keep many, many tabs open.