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What is (hyper)focus like for you? (Patreon)

Published:
2022-03-01 22:44:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Hello folks! Time for trying to book part 3. 😀Once again, if you happen to remember, please let us know if you'd like to be named or remain anonymous if your answer ends up getting used in the book! If you don't want to be quoted at all, you are still free to comment, but you'll need to let us know that you'd like to not be quoted. 🙂TODAY'S QUESTION IS... What is YOUR experience with focus *and* hyperfocus? What does your focus feel like? What does your hyperfocus feel like? How do the two feelings compare? Any funny stories about that one time you hyperfocused a bit too much? Do you know how to 'hack' your hyperfocus? Share your tips & tricks! How do you pull yourself out of hyperfocus? 

Or anything else you can think about sharing relating to hyperfocus! The good and the bad. 🧡 That is, if you feel like sharing any of the bad with us. We'll be reading and pulling comments all this week! 😄

Comments

Kae(NWPA)

I would like to remain anonymous. When I hyper focused I would forget to eat, drink water or comb my hair, especially when I was a nurse many years ago. My latest problem is staying up late to read most of my subscription notifications. Luckily, I fall asleep while watching one! Sometimes I email them to myself to watch later.

Nehey

1st, feel free to quote me using my name. 2nd...the questions. What does your focus feel like? .. Theres a thing called normal focus? What? But really... Its rare I am actually focused instead of hyperfocus. I guess it just feels spacey. Like I'm focused for a second then not. I have to force myself to stay in track and I drift away constantly. I can be distracted by anything and everything. Even my own thoughts. What does your hyperfocus feel like? .. Hard to explain. It's like time doesn't exist and nothing else exists other than the thing I'm focused on. I'm not aware of things around me or how hungry or thirsty I am. I might notice the hunger in the back of my mind but its like a tiny thought that just sits there and isn't important. Nothing matters but the thing I'm focused on. If it's studying then I basically sit there till I'm tired. If it's a craft project I will be sitting there till I stubbornly Finnish it. Nothing can distract me and pull away my attention. Any funny stories about that one time you hyperfocused a bit too much? .. Not really a funny story about hyperfocus omg to much, but still something I find funny. In my last years of high school was when I learnt to finally study... And hyperfocus. Only back then I didn't know what that was. I used to sit at the computers in my art department (it was the perfect atmosphere and I guess I was body doubling without realising I was). So the teachers as they walked past used to say to me 'aren't u going to take a break' and I was just thinking 'no. Why would I need one' in my eyes... Breaks were just a thing people took if they couldn't focus. It wasn't till I saw ur video on hyperfocus that I realised this wasn't a thing everyone did. 😂 Do you know how to 'hack' your hyperfocus? Share your tips & tricks! .. Music I guess. But it doesn't always work. How do you pull yourself out of hyperfocus? ..   I don't... I just wait till it fizzles out.

Layla Green Touchet

Focus feels like I can pull my thoughts when I need them. I can get things done in a timely and reasonable manner. My former intern (and also one of my favorite people) described me being able to focus as "you can tell that Layla's brain isn't as loud in her head." When I'm in hyperfocus, I don't hear or notice anything going on around me. 4 or 5 hours will pass without me realizing if I don't have any "anchors" to pull me back like my husband, alarms, or my people and they usually have to put in some effort to get my attention. Work (im also on the autism spectrum and school counseling is one of my special interests), pokemon, martial arts, and reading will absolutely get my hyperfocus without fail. My former intern's favorite hyperfocus story to tell about me, especially pre-medication, is this one: we were running a small group on coping skills and my district supervisor sent an email asking for pictures and examples of things we have done with our school counseling program. The notification came through on my fitbit so I saw it immediately and my brain left the building and hyperfocus took over. I immediately started finding all of the things to email to my district supervisor while thankfully my intern took over and my tiny humans looked at me like I was nuts 🤷‍♀️ she told them to just let me be, because I had to find some things and she finished the session while I emailed all of the things.🤦‍♀️ not one of my finest moment as a counselor, but she still laughs about it to thus day.

Luke Goldstein

You can use my name wherever you like. :) My experience with focus and hyperfocus is they determine whether or not the people around me, or time itself, exists or not. Both have their place and usefulness, but being able to switch them off when necessary is something I continually struggle with. Focus feels good, while hyperfocus for me either feels great (because I'm plowing through something I need to get done) or like a blank spot in time. On those occasions it feels like I blinked and hours went by (especially those times when I work on something after everyone else has gone to bed.) On me, hyperfocus looks distracted and twitchy, if I'm not actively doing the thing I'm focused on. When I am doing that task, it's like I have blinders on. I don't notice things in my periphery or hear people the first time if they call me. I wish I had hacks for it, but currently I'm at it's whim and will.

Teejus Maximus

Hyperfocus feels like I just sat down five minutes ago to do a thing, but when I remember to get up and eat or use the bathroom it's been 10 hours. Feel free to use my name if this makes it into the book!

Brittni Moore

I'm fine with my name being used. I can definitely tell the difference between focus & hyperfocus based on how it feels to pull away from the thing I'm focusing on. In regular focus, I might find being pulled away a bit annoying, especially if I was getting a lot done, but I can switch gears to think about whatever it was that pulled me away. If I'm hyperfocusing and something tries to pull me away, my brain straight-up refuses. I could be on the other side of the house from whatever my hyperfocus was on, and I'm still thinking about the hyperfocus. It's the only thing that matters. It's the only thing I'm interested in doing. Everything else is an obstacle. It feels physically difficult to take my eyes off of the hyperfocus. It's almost like there's a little bit of desperation associated with hyperfocus, while regular focus is pretty chill. But while I'm immersed in it, before trying to pull away, it can be really hard for me to realize that I've entered hyperfocus.

ralanie

Okay to cite me as ralanie! Simple focus is usually on meds. I am checking each step I need to take for a task, and I can easily be distracted by messages, outside noise, chores that pop up in my head, and the like. Hyperfocus is when nothing else exists in the world but that one thing I am doing. When I first learned about menstrual cups, I spent 9 hours watching all the youtube videos I could find about them - reviews, methods on how to use them, etc. I was really hungry but even hunger wasn't enough to get me to leave the sofa, and only when I was madly hungry I quickly cooked up instant noodles while letting one of the videos play in the background. Then I went right back into it for another two hours. After all of that I couldn't help but laugh at how tired I was from all that focusing. Meanwhile my nearly due college assignment was left untouched and I couldn't understand why, if I had the brainpower to focus to the point of not even wanting to eat, I couldn't bring myself to finish that assignment in the same amount of time.

Lost Paul

Okay to quote my name. When I was 13, I decided to teach myself guitar. I knew a pile of piano theory and knew each fret on the guitar went up a semitone; once I was told the names of the strings, that's all I needed. The obsession took over. Three days later, my fingers hurt very badly, but obviously I needed to keep playing. Gloves were the answer. I started wearing a winter glove on my fretting hand. It still hurt like hell until I built up the necessary calluses, but I kept playing for hours a day. Now I'm 52, and have taught myself every stringed instrument I can get hold of with that same intensity - I don't need gloves anymore though. 😀

Adrian Grøndahl

You can qoute me using my name. My regular focus is all over, I’m not able to shut anythin out. I hear people behind me breathing in class, the projector sounding like a jet engine while the teacher talks, cars are pulling out of the parking lot, and the ventilation is going ape shit. My hyperfocus however. It’s like it’s only the thing I’m focused on. Time, space, hunger, sleep all cease to exist. It happens kinda random. But more often when I’m photographing in a studio, playing piano or videogames and sometimes when I’m enduring something physically taxing that demands my focus (MMA, running or building something) It can happen at other times as well but these are the most common situations. It can be a big asset as I’m able to push myself a lot further than others. But I also have to have alarms for when I’m supposed to eat, go to sleep and maybe a toilet break😂

TheJason

Feel free to use my first name and last initial. I equate my sense of focus to a coin funnel, the kind where you put in a coin and watch it roll into the center gradually. Focus is much like staying on the outer edge of the coin funnel, relatively slow and steady, the kind where you can pull away without much difficulty, and be able to start again with consistency. Hyperfocus on the otherhand is much closer to the center, a faster-paced excitement that lures you in with each moment, urging you to draw closer to the center, pulling you in until you have crossed the event horizon-- the point of no return. At this moment, there is little able to pull me from my hyperfocus save an external influence that could physically wrench me from the funnel, or an internal pain, (usually hunger) that snaps me from the trance.

Lord Yod

Focus is me being able to see a notification, register that it happened, then put my phone back down to continue working. It's being able to check things off a list as I go through my tasks for the day, and when I am finished with one it's being able to move onto the next one. Hyperfocus is me not registering that notifications even happened. It's sitting down at my computer before I've had any coffee and getting up to get some 4 hours later to discover that the pot has gone cold. It's ignoring petty distractions like being thirsty and only discovering that I'm hungry when I realize that it's dark outside and I should probably have eaten some lunch today. It's the thrill of finally getting a piece of code to work, so I keep hacking and building on it and I'm finally _getting somewhere_, then I yawn and realize it's 4 am and I'm probably going to be a wreck for the meeting in four hours. I used to hyperfocus far too much at work, leading to my wife calling me at 7pm wondering when I was going to come home for dinner. I still do this but it's not a problem when you work from home. I can easily get into hyperfocus with the right sort of music (upbeat but not outrageous tempo, no lyrics, video game music works great) and environment (low light, no distracting noises from other people, no notification noises). It's not hard to achieve this every night after dinner and get another 4-6 hours of work done. The only way I know of to pull myself out of hyperfocus is to physically change my environment. Going for a walk or a bike ride works well, but it's really hard to initiate on my own. If someone else comes in to motivate me then I'll do ok, but it's still really challenging because I'm strongly inclined to ignore anything other than what I'm working on. If I'm in the middle of hyperfocus I can get extremely irritable and start snapping at people. It's taken twenty years but we are finally starting to figure out how to navigate this - generally breathing exercises and food help. Feel free to quote me by name if you want, I hope this helps.

CanIDoThat

Only quote with my first name, please. I am self-employed, I work as a translator, and voice-over talent (hate that term) so I basically read all kinds of texts all day long. I also really don’t like to read as it is way too slow for me (I do love audiobooks), sorry rambling. Most of the time when I sit down to work, I manage to focus on the work a little bit, 5- 20 minutes until I need to research some term online (which is most of my work). I start looking up the stuff I need and then begin randomly drifting further and further away from the topic until I eventually realize that 2 hours have passed and I haven’t done a bit of work (for example it is midnight here now, I was working on a job, but then I saw the notification about your question and spent 30 minutes trying to put t this stuff down in words, and it all still sounds fake). This results in me doing 2 or 3h worth of work over a period of 8 hours or drifting off all day like that just to then work until 3 am. Other times I try to force myself to do some boring translation (think terms and conditions or user manuals for a toaster) I can read a single sentence 10 times without really having an idea what I just read, which can drag the shortest tasks over hours. When I fall into hyperfocus, I can spend an entire day researching the most insignificant things (usually at the worst of times), because they just popped up in my head. Sometimes it is a thing that I suddenly MUST buy, so I try to learn all about it, sometimes it is just a random trivia question that starts to drive me insane out of nowhere. When I hyperfocus on work I MUST GET ALL OPEN PROJECTS DONE, even If I have 5 days to take care of them, and even If I work until 4 am, I can not stop (well unless I completely crash and fall asleep at my desk). When it is not completely insanely overwhelming it can be a pretty good thing 😊 When I realize at the end of a day that I neither did work, nor really enjoyed myself I get anxious, and like a failure, like I am too lazy like I can’t even do the job that I picked out myself… well at least I used to until I found How To ADHD and went to talk to a psychiatrist. - Didn’t even take me an hour to write this :D PS THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO! You are awesome, and your team is awesome :) (Edited to be more considerate)

Reneta Prescott

Hyperfocus to me, is a bit more disorienting. I have a TBI, so it may be why... But... When I get hyperfocused, I start to lose my ability to tell what is up and down... it is like I'm in an unbreakable daze. I need a chat buddy to keep me from becoming literally dizzy. But yeah, when I come out of a hyperfocus period, I feel weird... Discombobulated. Like movies do it worse than anything else, at a theater. Games in VR, and Art Projects after that... My time blindness goes through the roof. I forget to eat, and drink... I've gotten sick from that before. If I'm well rested, and hydrated, and I've eaten properly recently, it isn't as bad. But Hyperfocus throws my brain for a loop for at least 30 to an hour after. I am wobbly and dizzy for about that long too, and I have these weird "out of body" sensations. But, I'd imagine I'm an outlier. I have BPVS, from my TBI. But yeah... I feel like a zombie a bit when I get that way, and other senses start to suffer for some reasons. Though, it actually works out in my benefit playing seated VR games, because I don't get motion sick. Thankies for all your good work. It has helped me immensely.

Atonn Smeltzer

Hyperfocus is like entering a cocoon, where time ceases to exist. When I'm reading, playing a video game, or working on a passion project, 12 hours can go by without sleep, food, water, or body functions. I read the last Harry Potter book in one sitting - I sat down on the couch after dinner, and when I looked up from the last page it was time to go to work. I'm fine being quoted as myself.

Ted Medina

Firstly, yes feel free to quote or paraphrase me. Good luck with the book :) Onto the questions! -What is YOUR experience with focus *and* hyperfocus? I tend to feel focused on things if I've had a good day and have a lot to do. Hyper-focus comes in at random times, usually when I have to do things, and it gets in the way. Hyper-focus tends to be with tasks that add little to no value in my life (I sometimes go on Duolingo for hours at a time - learning languages is good!). I think of it like this: Focus: when it's low, it's terrible. When it's high, it's great! Hyper-focus: when it happens, nothing else matters in this entire universe except for the thing I'm fixated on, and all perception of time is lost. -What does your focus feel like? A steady flow of energy that allows me to accomplish what I need to do while not being burdened by external nor internal distractions. -What does your hyperfocus feel like? An insatiable beast that blurs my priorities and makes me its slave. That may be a little dramatic... but basically whatever I hyper-focus on, I get so into it I lose track of time. It usually happens when I have other things that really need to be done, i.e. deadlines for assignments, cook, etc. However, when I am hyper-focusing, I feel more like I enjoy what I'm doing vs. other tasks feeling like chores. -How do the two feelings compare? Both block out distractions, though hyper-focus is more intense. They also both allow me to actually sit down and focus non-stop on something rather than fidgeting and getting up every few minutes like I normally do. -Any funny stories about that one time you hyperfocused a bit too much? I disappeared for a few hours not texting my girlfriend back one day (it's odd because I am extremely responsive). When I texted her back she asked what I'm doing and I proceeded to tell her I was exploring the geographical terrain of various islands in the Indian Ocean and gave her a brief history of the island Reunion. Now whenever I disappear, she assumes that's what I'm doing! -Do you know how to 'hack' your hyperfocus? Share your tips & tricks! I find a change in mindset can be helpful, but I'm still improving the art myself. Basically what I mean is, I tend to hyper-focus on things that interest me when I need to focus on things that don't interest me. Instead of doing this, I will think "what if I reward myself with a hyper-focus session AFTER I complete this task/ [x] pomodoros?" It adds a little motivating factor, and still let's me do what I want. Not sure if this is considered hacking, but it's something I employ that has ~75% success rate. -How do you pull yourself out of hyperfocus? Usually getting up and away from whatever it is.

Adamina Carden

OK for name to be used. With focus I am generally still aware of what's around me, my bodily sensations etc but I can concentrate mainly on a single thing for a set period (usually 20-30 minutes I can manage) and still have some awareness of time. With hyperfocus, however, I don't notice that I am hungry or need to pee, I literally can't hear people who are talking to me and completely lose track of time, it's like I get sucked in. They compare in the intensity - hyperfocus is more all-encompassing compared with regular focus. They are similar in that I am concentrating on one thing but the level of how much the outside world gets blocked out varies. Things that I tend to get hyperfocused on are youtube, video games and art (painting or drawing) and I don't really have any particularly funny stories but I have had a fair few times when I come out of it with a dead leg because of the position I was sitting in and have to shake off the pins & needles, and the feeling of hunger and a sudden need to pee hit me all at once as my body gives me those signals again. The things that will pull me out are someone physically tapping me, waving their hand in front of my face, getting up and moving my body, and occasionally when my eyes start to close involuntarily. I have been able to hack my hyperfocus sometimes by putting on headphones with the right kind of music. It has to be something I am interested in though, or has a very high reward for getting it done.

yoyo diary

Ok to quote When I'm in hyper focus Its like I black out and I usually can't control when I come out. But to try to combat this, when I do anything repetitive or something that might put me in hyper focus I try to just stop every now and then and asses what I'm doing. But focus is something that is hard to achieve, one way I can try to focus Is to listen to classical music which can keep my ever anoying brain at ease

Nick Moulton

Fine for quoting. Focus is incredibly lacking. But hyperfocus has always been TOO strong of a trait I carry. I oftentimes have gone whole weekends without feeding myself because I've been hyperfocused for DAYS fixing my Jeep or working on a project in the garage. Focus for me, has always been just casually doing things. I never remember I've done them later and they're...robotic. Hyperfocus on the other hand has always been something that lets me remember EVERY little detail I did. Whether it's what size socket I need for this specific bolt/nut, or the specific verbage in a work paper I had to write. But it comes at the cost of having ZERO room for anything else. If my phone rang during a deep hyperfocus, I'd never hear it for example. With that said. They're almost not the same for me. One is bleh and boring and...grey haha. Whereas whenever I hyperfocus I always leave it having DONE something and feel fulfilled that something was done. Funny story? I mean, I did literally not eat from Friday lunch at work, until Monday's lunch...because I was troubleshooting my Jeep the entire weekend and survived off of the beautiful nectar of the gods - caffeine. Oh, there was the one time when still in high school, when my mother asked me to brown hamburger for dinner. It was still frozen and so I put on the pan to heat and start scrambling. Well I really wanted to go back outside to skateboard...so I left it on the hot pan to thaw and skateboarded. 5min go by...I hear a neighbors smoke detector going off "huh, weird." Back to skating. 15min, smoke alarm still sounding off. 30min have passed and I wonder...could it be my house? I look and see ever window billowing from ever window of the house. I run and finally realize I left the hamburger on the stove...anyways, no fire but we had to gather 6 air purifiers from the neighbors for a month to get the smell of smoke out. Sorry Mom... The earliest way I discovered being able to "hack" my hyperfocus was in school taking tests. I have always seen tests as challenges and so I would "turn it on" and ALWAYS be the first one done. I have actually never been beat in every single test I've ever taken haha. And I would still get 90%+ on them. I rely heavily on my wife to pull me out. She gives me a time to be done and I (without fail) go beyond that and then she calls me to break my focus. Otherwise, only thing that breaks it is completing the task I was hyperfocused on, or something SOOO distracting like my house on fire for me to break free.

PrincessOzaline

Okay to quote I'd prefer "Ozaline" but you can use Rachael if you don't want handles in there. Focus and hyperfocus is the difference between riding a bycicle and riding a bullet train. Both will get me to my destination but one requires exertion on my part and the other is effortless. When I'm determined to do something even something mildly enjoyable I can usually bring myself to work on it, but it can frustrating and draining, and every step of the way I'll register an annoyance or distraction and have to push it aside. If I achieve hyperfocus then distractions don't exist nothing but me and my task (or novel, or TV show or twitter feed, or game) exists, or they don't matter much. When I enter hyperfocus unless I've prepared an alarm in advance I simply won't break out I'll keep reading or whatever until I reach the end or something really big jolts me out of it. I can block out any audio except for something totally unexpected when I'm deep in thought too. With focus I once spent several hours determined to do some language composition in my second language to send off a comment and line reading request for an actor appearing on a show. It took hours and help to polish the statement to something I was happy with... I refused to give up but it was deeply frustrating. I went from having lots of energy to needing to sleep after that much struggle against my brain (also because I have chronic fatigue). But with hyper focus I once wrote a novella in less than forty eight hours because I would not be pulled away from it, and if I'm that focused I won't even feel the fatigue.

Sara Star

I never knew what Hyperfocus was before I learned about ADHD, but I did have a few occurrences over the years, and looking back I know that is exactly what was happening. I get an idea and suddenly it's all I can think about. I become obsessed, I research and learn everything I can, I become anxious if I can't act upon these obsessions. I will go anywhere or buy anything I need to accomplish this idea. My whole body is energized to stop at nothing to do whatever I need to. I forget about everything else, time and space. The one time it was out of control, I was getting married, and literally got an idea and then proceeded to plan my entire wedding down to every detail in 1 night.

Sander Swart

For me, hyperfocus has become a warning sign. I used to love being able to shut down the rest of the world and focus on what I was doing. I loved it so much that I completely forgot to listen to my body and it resulted in a burn out. Since then, I became afraid of it and I no longer trust it as a mechanism that can help me.

Blake Chambers

(Can I edit this comment?) ...... 😭😭😭😭😭 noooooo! I had written so much and the accidental clicked outside the edit box—Patreon does hold onto your drafts! Here's something about hyperfocus, it is delicate! I have no motivation to rewrite what I had just written because my hyperfocus was driving the writing... I will have motivation to rewrite eventually (so long as I accept that I'm be writing something new—wanting to reproduce what I had creates a wall of awful). so, temporary brain dumb to be edited later: - saying Phase 1 or Phase 2 trick with my wife - things that I hyper focus on — writing code involves writing (organization and working memory) — writing poetry (expressions feel urgent) — debugging code (learning rabbitholes instead of asking for help — photoshopping (tweak because, when is it done) ---------- to be continued

Koenraad Jacobs

Hi! Again very much open for use of my name. What is YOUR experience with focus *and* hyperfocus? Very diverse, focus obviously is a complete disaster. I really want to focus on a lot of stuff, like at uni, now at work, but find myself doing something different, observing something or someone else's actions to realize I haven't done what I was going to do. Ritalin helps me with this, but I can still tell my focus is not what other people display in ability to focus (very light dose of Ritalin as well and still need to determine next steps with psych). Hyperfocus on the other hand drags me away for hours on end. Especially experienced it while gaming. My little sense of time completely fades and I can get lost in. I can watch shows and completely filter out anything else, suddenly realizing it's 4-5AM in the morning. I had the same while gaming. I even forget to eat, I ignore going to the bathroom and only when I get up I realize I much I have to go.. What does your focus feel like? Basically non-existent whenever I need to do regular stuff. What does your hyperfocus feel like? Absurdly strong whenever I go "down the rabbithole". It also feels good coming out of it whenever I've done something useful. It can weigh a lot on my mental wellbeing whenever it meant I postponed something and got stuck in a hyperfocus on gaming for example. How do the feelings compare? That's easy. Regular focus is something I really feel I can't force. I can try, it drives me crazy, but it won't do much. So I feel like focusing is close to impossible. Especially when I really want to convince myself I NEED to focus. Hyperfocus on the other hand is something I stumble upon, mostly unexpectedly. As said, it can go two ways. Either I feel amazing about what I've accomplished, or feel like absolute shit for doing something I shouldn't have been doing for way too long. Any funny stories about that one time you hyperfocused a bit too much? Haha I don't really know if these stories are funny. Mostly it got me in trouble with my parents or teachers. I didn't hear what they say because "I was in my own world". Or they used that as the reason to tell me I CAN focus when I said I couldn't. Although, my gf knows, and she thinks it's pretty funny at times how she can be talking to me for 15 mins, and after a minute of silence I just go: "Were you just talking to me?". And only then does she realize she shouldn't checked whether I was listening. Very much a recurring thing. :D Do you know how to 'hack' your hyperfocus? Share your tips & tricks! Well, for work anything I do in Excel, and something that makes me having to imagine things or be creative is when I tap into it. But music helps. ADHD playlists and/or sounds of rain on spotify is the closest I get to hyperfocusing when I actively try to. But it's not the same thing as when it happens out of nowhere. How do you pull yourself out of hyperfocus? It's usually someone else that does that. Or at times I panic because I used to get late to a lot of stuff (ngl, still do), and it frightens me because it has negatively impacted my selfesteem when people kept calling me irresponsible because of it. So I get these "panic-y" reflexes where my heartrate jumps up and I need to check my phone for the time. Think I've shared most (a lot) already, so that's what I can contribute. :D Hope it's helpful!

Joshua Scharf

Profile: Name: Joshua Scharf Gender: male / he Nationality / Located in: German / currently Germany Age: 31, got diagnosed when I was 9 Presentation: Twice exceptional ADHD, primarily inattentive Medication: yes, since the initial diagnosis with a few breaks (stimulant medication on 4-6 days a week) you're welcome to quote me and use my name. What does your focus feel like? What does your hyperfocus feel like? How do the two feelings compare? The biggest difference for me between hyperfocus and focus is the effort required. Focus is like pushing water up the hill, hyperfocus is like water flowing down a hill. Hyperfocus creates a pull-effect that is difficult to stop once started and if feels so natural, just like a river flowing in the mountains. Focus needs a lot of strategies or tools to work for an ADHD brain. It's like carrying a bucket of water up a hill - if you got the tools (the bucket) it can work, but it's exhausting. Also it's difficult to get started and easy to stop. Also, when in Hyperfocus it's like it's always clear what needs to be done next and how to solve any problem. Like a river flowing down a mountain, even if the path is blocked it will always find a way and no force is needed. When in Focus, a problem or blocker can lead to a stop where I need to stop carrying the bucket up the hill and look for a different route. However, when I stop, it's even harder to lift that weight again and get moving again. Hyperfocus really makes addicted (while in hyperfocus) and stopping it literally feels like drug withdrawl. Any funny stories about that one time you hyperfocused a bit too much? There are many stories, for example the one time I was at work. At 6 pm my colleagues left work and asked me if I would join and I said I'll stay for a few more minutes just to finish the one task I am working on. At 11pm the janitor happened to walk by and asked if I am alright. I said yes sure, just finishing this quickly (fortunately he had to lock the doors and therefore interrupted my hyperfocus). Do you know how to 'hack' your hyperfocus? Share your tips & tricks! A hack that my wife sometimes uses is to interrupt my hyperfocus with a short wall-of-awful-task and the condition to continue is that the task gets done. This way the withdrawl effect of not being able to continue hyperfocus / the prospect of being able to continue hyperfocus is usually enough to ignore most Wall of Awfulls. How do you pull yourself out of hyperfocus?  I don't. I kind of enjoy the feeling of it, also I really don't know how to (nothing I tried worked so far). The only way that works reliably is my wife forcing me to take a walk or a shower.

David Stewart

Hi Jessica, thanks for all the stuff you do - has helped me a great deal 😊 Happy to be quoted etc. I'm 52, only diagnosed (inattentive type) last summer - still getting used to the idea! Focus for me is a real struggle - I watched your video on the pomedoro technique and I have a distraction list, which helps to keep me on track - if I try to do this too much it's like my brain rebels and just starts to shut down. Hyperfocus is like I'm in the zone, it feels like I can do anything - absorb three books on different subjects in one sitting then synthesise the major issues into cool new ways of looking at stuff. My brain fires on all cylinders, everything is easier but I only realise how exhausted I am when I come out of it. The two feelings are like chalk and cheese, focus I have to be dragged to kicking and screaming - hyperfocus is like a drug where I get to feel real and wish I could be like that all the time. I feel accomplished and productive, it's amazing. "Funny" story... I was in a meeting with my boss, his boss and the regulators discussing how the company would respond to a serious situation - my brain had an epiphany and before I could stop went into a hyperfocus problem solving flow. Next time I looked up the room was empty and my boss had left me a note saying to call him. Luckily they could see what I was doing and left me to it... I sometimes wish I could hack it - I've ended up a people pleaser so the main way I get into the flow is if someone I admire gives me an impossible task with very little time it is easier. Other than that it's easier if I'm passionate about a subject / thing. I find it difficult to pull out of hyperfocus - usually it's something like a full bladder that forces me but it's a little discombobulating and takes me 10 or 20 minutes to adjust.

Mike Gruber

Feel free to use my name. I have similar experiences to others on this thread. Focus is something that I can make happen, but I’m never truly “into” whatever I’m doing. I can sit down and write, for example, but it’s easy to get distracted or lose interest. I often find my mind wandering while “focusing” on a task. I often find reasons why I can’t do the thing right now (this room is too messy, I need to do dishes, my dog is in the room). Hyper focus is time travel while I’m “in the zone.” I start something and the next thing I know, I’ve written twelve pages and 4 hours have passed. It didn’t feel like that long. It felt like maybe 15 minutes. But then I stand up and my joints are stiff and my back hurts. It’s borderline impossible to distract me from a hyper focus. All of the stuff that normally pulls my attention away just doesn’t exist anymore. Funny story: I have an old combination lock I wanted to use for my gym locker. I didn’t have the code and I wanted to learn to crack it so I had the code again. My girlfriend needed the office for a meeting. She comes in and asks me about it, I look at her, I hear what she’s saying, but it might as well be a different language. In one ear, out the other. And I didn’t remember that “conversation “ an hour later. Hyper focus also helped develop my love of reading. I could become completely immersed in the world of the story. Nothing of the real world would exist while I am in Narnia or Alagaesia. Hacking my hyperfocus is hard. Drugs help. Mostly it helps me overcome the obstacles to regular focus, which helps me slide into hyperfocus more easily. Pomodoro helps. It helps overcome the “switching/starting” problems. I can trick myself into doing something for 10 minutes. Limiting external distractions with music that I know really well helps. Having a specific playlist for getting schoolwork done. When I need to do a mundane task, focusing on something else like a podcast or audiobook helps. I can’t listen to a podcast or book when I need to use my brain though. The book is too interesting. I can’t pull myself out of a hyperfocus. So I don’t try. I ride the wave until the spirit leaves me. And I accept that it has to be enough.

Kate

It is much, much easier for me to hyperfocus than to focus. I barely register a difference between the two, because I don't think I focus all that often. I'm either on or off. My work when I hyperfocus is usually excellent--much better than average without it feeling like I'm trying very hard because the flow state is so enjoyable. BUT, combined with anxiety, it can also be a disaster. For instance, in school, I'd usually hyperfocus on things that wouldn't improve my grade at all whatsoever, going above and beyond. Meanwhile, all my time is used up doing the tasks I'm hyperfocused on and other, much more important tasks don't get done at all. Like, I'd get a zero on the important thing and no credit for the many bonus hours I spent making the less important thing exceptional. So the hyperfocus becomes becomes a major time management impairment. I also am sometimes unable to answer very basic questions if my partner interrupts me while I'm hyperfocusing. It's like I'm in a daze, hypnotized, and I need significant transition time to get out of it and converse "normally" again. But I still wouldn't trade hyperfocus. It hurts me in capitalism and finances but it helps me in art and life. It keeps me extremely curious, it fuels my passions, like writing and birdwatching, and makes me me. You can quote me as Kate Hampton.

Katelyn Strong

When I have my meds and environment balanced I can achieve sessions of really good focus: I stay on a task long enough to get it finished and I can quickly transition from one task to the next. Sometimes this lasts for an hour or a few hours and other times it can last a whole 8-hour work day, but those are less frequent. Meanwhile hyper-focus for me looks like: forgetting to eat, loosing track of my priorities, over-researching a topic until I’m basically an expert, letting important care tasks fall by the wayside and forgetting to pay attention to how what I’m doing is affecting those around me. It is a lot harder for me to aim this hyper focus, but if I can tell I have a big burst of energy coming on for something that is important to me-(the most recent being cleaning my room 🥳 so freaking proud of myself)-I have been able to prepare by putting on comfortable clothes, eating a snack and putting on my favorite music or podcast. This helps me keep my focus on the task at hand by occupying the part of my brain that would try to re-direct it to the cool thing I just found while I was cleaning 😂 *disclaimer: I’ve only successfully done this twice and I’ll probably have to adjust as I get used to it because it will become ineffective soon, I’m sure lol

Katelyn Strong

Hyper-focus was what helped my undiagnosed child self develop a love for books when I was supposed to be doing chores and art when my books were taken away 😂 my mother is and was amazing but she had a heck of a time trying to get me to do my chores by taking away privileges and things I cared about. I’m very creative. I can always find something else.

Meredith

Hyper-focus feels like high-speed ice skating: I have momentum; I am excited; there is very little friction needed for each step, and it is very hard to stop. Feeling focused means not feeling distracted, and I have started on what I set out to do. To add onto the analogy: Feeling focused is like having enough momentum while swimming that I don’t need to worry whether I am about to sink without treading water. (I somehow managed to never learn how to float on my back despite learning how to do all the swimming strokes.) When focused I can still relatively easily stop, and transition to attend to my needs, or other people’s needs if I am interrupted. When hyperfocused I am in an obsessive state where everything else pales in importance, and I may become (usually only mildly) irritated at anything else that gets in my way. Stopping then requires deliberate effort to unclench. Given my lack of working memory, being able to start on a task requires being able to simply describe what I am focusing on. This is similar to the GTD concept of making tasks worded in a way that is immediately actionable without further context needed. I try to come up with the most essential 3 words I need to describe in general now. For example, when I think “morning routine”, that is now “dressed - breakfast - todoist”. For (attempting to) wind down for bed, it is “sleepytime tea - showertime - chill”. For starting a focus session, I have my own rituals I switch between, but the overall constants are: . (Step 0) Ensure my bodily needs are met: Any of [Eat, hydrate, stretch/stand up, get 1m of sun on my doorstep, put on socks, find a fleece blanket for myself, use my hair dryer on my feet to warm them up, take a hot shower, put on a 3m fitness dance on Youtube to awkwardly follow along to]. The point is not letting bodily discomfort be an excuse to continue the activity of “not starting”. . (Step 1) Explicitly transition: Start a new Toggl time tracking entry to track my new intention of “Body doubling transitioning” and join a body doubling Discord channel . (Step 2) Add stimulation: Any/all of [Play a “Getting Started” playlist of strong beats music that I have found helps me focus, turn on KDFC classical radio, spray peppermint aromatherapy around me, eat chocolate, type stuff in ALL CAPS in #struggling-to-transition because sometimes yelling gives me dopamine] . (Step 3) Process my thoughts and start: Originally I only did a stream-of-consciousness typing spree of what is on my mind in some private text area (or personal Discord channel), and I basically talk to myself until I work past all my resistances. Nowadays after consistently using Todoist since 2021 Oct I now have boards for each “context” or mental/energy state of my life I am in right now. So for work I will look at my “Current Focus” Todoist board and make the tasks on there reflect my mental reality of how I am thinking about the steps of my assignment(s) and anything that has come up. The point of this step is to remove all distractions from my area (close tabs, minimize Slack, open Discord as a web app with the “hide server list” chrome extension on so I can text-process in my stream-of-consciousness channel without getting distracted, ensure all the things are muted) and then once I have THE ONE THING I am determined to start on as [Ze Moste Important Thing]… I start a new Toggl entry tracking that intention once I realize I have started. Besides the 3-word chunking, stream of consciousness processing, and using talk therapy as external accountability for “What am I going to (attempt to) do differently to fundamentally improve my life until the next session?”… Probably the tools that have had the largest impact on me are: meditation, Todoist, and Toggl intention tracking. Consistently using a task manager for the last several months has made it possible for me to graduate from random daily task lists, to having areas/contexts of my life emerge as Todoist projects, learning to only look at the Todoist project of the 1 context I am in at the moment (“daily living/routines” vs “work (planning)” vs “work aka Current Focus” vs “…”), and once those contexts emerged, I have a more natural way of time blocking. Time tracking with Toggl lets me be honest with myself on where my time went, and also gives me the *freedom* to be OK with explicitly transitioning. I deliberately start a new time entry whenever I notice my intent has changed. Sometimes if I end up binge reading fiction on the toilet, then that’s fine, I just update the “Bodily needs” time entry to say “Bodily needs -> binge reading”. Using Todoist and committing myself to checking it has become my way of addressing avoidance and processing resistance. For example, in the oct->feb = 5mo I have stuck with this, I have done a weekly review of everything in Todoist… once. Maybe twice? Point being, there are many areas of my life I am avoiding and that are stagnating because of it, and I know it. So… in the last month I have started to create a new Todoist project every once in a while just to help me process those funks. I’ll list out everything on my mind in one column (wants from my goals, botherations, wants from the roles I have in life), and in a new column list out all resistances / negative thoughts I have. This has helped get me out of a slump one vacation when I spent 4d doing basically nothing I actually wanted to be doing (think mindless media consumption binge). That last part was my take on Dr. K’s wiki article on Motivation, in the section on the formula for what goes into motivation. That’s about all I’ve got. I’m a 29F software engineer who was diagnosed with ADHD-PI at 27yo. Feel free to quote me as “Meredith” and reach out if you want more textwalls of detail 😅 (I ... might have hyper-focused on writing this comment.)

A Arctic fox

You can quote me, real name or patron or Twitter name, no age *enter* (I'm on my phone (at almost 5 in the morninf) so sorry for poor organization due to no lines of enter being able to be done *enter* well my experience with focus is mostly that I need to do like 3 or more (usually more) things at once to focus, like I'm usually chatting, playing games on my phone, and watching and/or listening to something anf thats the minimum most of the time, for hyperfocus it happens a lot when I find a temporary special interest (usually a feew weeks until I run out of things to do involving that interest) ill elaborate more on what its like with the rest of these questions *enter* i honestly really don't know what focus feels like for me besides hyperfosy because I have severe untreated (trying meds) adhd and so I never am really completely focused unless I'm hyperfocused so its basically non existent, but when I do have it (very rarely) it feels like finally being able to do something I feel like I'm capable of and separately also should be capable of when I'm usually not (like I feel like I could be capable of it but im usually not) *enter* hyper focus feels almost like a zoning out or dissociation of sorts but mainly just with time because I'm so intently focused on something nothing else exists and even though I usually notice I'm hungry and stuff I usually just say ill eat later (aka at least a few hours) *enter* one is very infrequent and almost non existent and one is too much and feels like I'm stuck on the extremes of both ends and can never just FOCUS which can be really frustrating but once I found out I had adhd it was a lot easier not to hate myself for it *enter* i have chronic dissociation in general so I cant remember any funny stories, but also most of them would involve accidently ignoring friends, not eating, not drinking water, etc, which doesn't seem very funny and is mostly concerning *enter* sadly no i dont except for finding a way to involve the things you need to do with things you enjoy doing to make it more likely that you'll hyperfocus like I like learning but hate doing homework (used to be mainly high-school and such work but im taking a break from school before college so this is a mainly in the past thing for the moment), so I'd view the homework instead of as "ugh I dont want to so this" as a "reason to learn about new topics" *enter* im really only pulled out of hyperfocus for when im too hungry or something to function or im unable to enjoy it because im so hangry (i want ro read the other things people wrote for some of these but they are all too long so oh well I guess lol, adhd much amiright)

Selphis

Ok, I have 3 settings: no focus (my default), the "I have a deadline so I have to finish this", and hyperfocus when I'm feeling challenged and intrigued by a task. Hyperfocus usually kicks in when I can either choose the task I have to do, or find a way to make an existing task more appealing. My "normal" focus feels usually like squeezing the last bit of toothpaste from the tube. If it's not really fun or challenging, it's really draining to have to focus. Hyperfocus, on the other hand, feels like I have an infinite amount of mental energy, time seems to fly by and at the end of it, I feel like I've achieved the work of several days in just a few hours. The biggest difference is the feeling afterwards. Normal focus wears me out, while hyperfocus seems to give me energy. Also, hyperfocus is much more easy to maintain so long as the task is engaging. The main thing I have to watch out for when hyperfocusing is to not lose track of time. It wouldn't be the first time that I have breakfast at 7 and forget to eat anything until I'm done and it's lunch at 4 in the afternoon. Another problem is that distractions can really make me angry when hyperfocusing. I really have to catch myself from becoming angry over the smallest things. The best 'hack' I have found is to take a boring task, and to cram in as much challenging fun things as possible. For example: I work in IT and was building this kinda boring form. I then decided to add some visual effects that you aren't really supposed to be able to do with the editor I was using. So I started adding tons of timers and using those to manipulate the transparency and position of certain elements to build up a moving page with explanations instead of a dry list. As for pulling myself out of hyperfocus? I don't really know how to do that. I either get out of it by finishing the task, or I'm forced to do something else and try to not be too mad about it. I only recently found out I have ADHD so learning about hyperfocus really got me thinking about all the times I would forget the world, or when I would get really annoyed when someone disturbed me when hyperfocusing. Knowing what it is, makes it a lot easier to work with. I try to set my status to "do not disturb", ignore emails, even excuse myself from meetings if my presence is not really required. It also helps me understand why it annoys me when I have to stop, and understanding that makes it easier to accept and move on. (Quote and name are OK)

Adrian Emerson

My husband is the one with ADHD in our house. For him, when he is focused on something, he doesn't want to stop until it's done or at a stopping point he is comfortable with, but he will if he has to. He also doesn't finish simple things, like if he is focused on cooking, he'll forget to put the can opener away either when he is done using it or when he is done cooking. However, when he is hyperfocused on something, he is in a bubble and does not notice anything around him; he loses track of time and forgets to do things. He won't even stop to go to the bathroom. He'll also get angry if someone or something interrupts him. I've seen him have toddler type tantrums if things interrupt too much. He has said that if he does this for a prolonged period of time in one day or over a couple of days, he says it feels like he has a hangover the next day(s). I'm not entirely sure what he does internally to make himself aware he is getting too focused on something, but I do know I try to help him see it when I notice it. Typically, I try to suggest he do something else for a while or that we should stop to eat something. Sometimes, I do just have to be blunt and say, "Hey, you've been at this for four hours. You need to take a break."

Todd Holdsworth

Happy to be named 🙂 Focus is meh. It's like the thing that is necessary at the time, but not favourable. Like doing chores around the house. Focus takes energy - and I don't just mean the type you get from food and oxygen - I mean your life force or emotional energy. For example, at the moment my wife has been battling a long-term health issue, so I've been doing extra around the house on top of the already-massive list of stuff I have to do. One of our kids has ASD and ADHD, so there's already extra time and energy required there. As my ADHD coach has said and strongly encourages, "ADHD brains need playtime", or 'time to recharge the batteries that run down faster than a neurotypical brain'. I haven't been getting much 'playtime' for the last couple of weeks, so while I may have plenty of energy from food and exercise, the life force or emotional energy has been lowering, making trying to focus harder and harder. Hyperfocus feels like the default setting. Prior to medication, if I had to do something uninteresting and I didn't have the energy to focus on it, my focus would wane as fast as every 2 seconds. A day of that is exhausting. Hyperfocus feels good when it's on something I want to or can be doing, and amazing when it's something I'm passionate about (like the default ADHD thing - helping people). When it's on something else it feels horrible, like an invisible vortex that won't let up. I'm so glad I love my job and it has plenty of variety, because I've been in jobs that are the opposite, the worst of which would end up in crippling anxiety due to how stupid my struggles made me feel. I've hyperfocused on something I was thinking about while driving a few times, and missed the turn or exit I was meant to take. I've never had an accident and have been driving for over 2 decades. There was no danger as I was aware of what I was doing and my surroundings, but the remaining capacity I had to think about anything else was taken up. Whoops 😅 One of the things about my hyperfocus I needed wifey to explain to me was how I could possibly be tired after driving for 6 hours. I love driving so much, I just couldn't understand it 😅 But when I'm driving, I'm always monitoring everything and scanning for potential hazards, so much so that if I see or hear one, I can't hear what someone's saying to me momentarily. I explain this to people on the phone in advance so they don't get cranky if I ask them to repeat themselves. I believe it's important to try to make kids with ADHD passionate about cars and driving so their brain will be less of a disadvantage to them behind the wheel. One of the most boring things about my job is documentation. No one loves it. Don't know if you'd call it a hack as such, and as long as I don't have to do it all the time it's OK, but I make documentation enjoyable by applying designs that I feel make them look good, keep my interest and attract people's eyes to the most important parts first. In essence, making them how I want all documentation to be to keep my interest - an ADHD brain. I figure if it can keep an ADHD brain engaged, it can keep anybody engaged! I can pull myself out of hyperfocus by periodically evaluating if what I am doing is in my best interest. If it's not, it can be a struggle to try to focus on the other thing, and can take time to shift it. Sometimes the shift is unsuccessful, so then it's just a battle to stay focused while the remnant hyperfocus of the other thing is constantly tugging my focus in the other direction. My dream would be a world where all ADHD brains don't need medication and can be free to jump from one thing to another, or not, and those people are free to do whatever and go wherever their brain takes them. This appeals to me much more than having to be medicated in order to keep up with the life I've created that's sort of following a neurotypical 'blueprint'.

Nelka

Anonymous, please. Focus is when I am mildly interested in something. When I do whatever I focus on in very short bursts, I can manage to do it. If I try to do it in a long 'one-time' shot - nope, not likely to get done, will not finish ever, and get exhausted, besides. Hyperfocus is when I am really interested. Emotionally and intellectually involved. Loud "I wanna!", sort of. A hack with my hyperfocus is to plan/do something I am really gonna enjoy (and also hyperfocus) on. Doesn't always work, but does work often. A simple example is taking a break from writing to eat and read (enjoy both, hyperfocus on reading). Tends to work only because I learned to notice my body and pay attention to its reactions, so I might notice I hyperfocused and need to go to the bathroom (for a while already), and when I notice that, I discipline myself to go, with the rest following. But it isn't easy and doesn't always work. Funny story: when my oldest was a preteen, I was once on my bed, reading. Suddenly I am interrupted by loud laughter. I look up - my daughter is standing there with a friend and laughing. I ask what happened. She explains that they were standing there (a foot away) and talking about me, loudly, for about ten minutes. And I, of course, didn't notice them. Besides, my kids know that if they need my attention, they must get it, first, confirm they actually got it, and then generally talk a bit slower first, to give me time to get my brain away from wherever it was and into our conversation.

Ryan Snead

Feel free to quote me by name. I might be late to the party. #ADHD but here goes. My hyperfocus engages quickly and forcefully. I like to say that I am easily entertained because there is very little I can't get lost in. Details fascinate. Only when I get tired or hungry enough or when I truly don't have a grasp on something does my focus start drifting. In some ways, this is very adaptive to neurotypical expectations. People like it when you can show that you are really focused on their problem. Where I run into trouble is that the next person to interrupt me either gets brushed off because I am "working" or they're so insistent that their emergency becomes my emergency. So when I hyperfocus, I feel like the Mom in Mitchell's vs the Machines when she gets captured in the deluxe massage recliner. I will be here for a while.......what?!? Focus is a little different. When the meds are clicking just right and my brain is fed and rested, I can get metacognirive enough to manage the cognitive resources being expended so I am aware of time and space and people around me without getting angry about it. Did I mention interrupting my hyperfocus can make me angry sometimes? So focus is a happy, less extreme place. It's unfamiliar but I like it in small doses. I suspect it wears me out being aware of what's outside my immediate attention though. Funny story this afternoon. My two older daughters made brownies this afternoon (teacher workday). One of them brought me one while I was in hyperfocus mode. She stuck it under my nose. I took the brownie without making eye contact. I started eating the brownie. At some point, she left. As I was finishing the brownie, it occurred to me I really should have stopped long enough to acknowledge her presence and properly thank her for the treat. So I pulled myself out of what I was doing. Imagine pulling apart a warm gooey caramel brownie now. You're trying to keep your hands clean so you don't have to lick your fingers though because you are sharing half with a friend who isn' t close enough to understand finger licking as part of your sharing process. Embarrassing questions came into focus. 1. Did I say thank you when delivered a brownie? 2. My older daughters have a similar frame. I felt the shape and size of those daughters when the brownie appeared. Which one brought it? I was only 55% sure of the answer. So my hunch on a 50-50 guess was right, and I properly thanked and apologized to the right daughter. She understood and wasn't bothered. Is that enabling or an ADHD relationship accommodation? Not sure, but I think it's the latter so long as I'm able to acknowledge and be accountable for it later.

Ryan Snead

Also, I have found no magic hacks for my hyperfocus. Here's my best. 1. Planning and loud alarms, especially ones that can tell me why they're going off, can help.Digital assistants are awesome! But I can't seem to learn how to escape every time. 2. Find a way to avoid getting started in hyperfocus. It takes constant vigilence to control oneself, but clearing out the mental and physical clutter sometimes...sometimes helps avoid the worse effects of paying attention to now instead of present. When present has already been tended, now can proceed in peace and sometimes even self awareness! But there's always a risk of unintentional hyperfocus on the wrong thing. I've missed days of work this way! Have I mentioned that my wife is waiting for me to join her with a Friday evening beer? Really really should be going. Sigh.

Ryan Snead

Oh. It's Monday?! All right. Leaving now.

Robert Gottlieb

Me wanting to read a few pages, instead reading an entire book in one sitting. Or me so determined I'm going to fix some code or automate something that is too complex to be completed until either I give up, it gets too late or I figure it out. Mostly it's figure it out.

Karl Fetzer

Karl Fetzer - ok to use my name On the day this question was posted, I set out to do a small task at 11:30 AM with a plan to put it aside around noon, get my lunch (I work at home), and watch a required training video during lunch. The simple task turned out to be more complex than initially imagined and I dove down rabbit hole after rabbit hole trying to complete it. When I mentally "resurfaced" it was 3 PM and I realized I hadn't eaten lunch or completed the required training. Hyperfocus can be a double-edged sword, resulting in a ton of productivity on a single task at the expense of everything else in my life -- sleeping, eating, spending time with family and friends, leisure activities, completing other time-sensitive tasks, etc. One of the most effective ways I pull myself out of hyperfocus is with (audible) alarms -- they essentially "wake me up." This is only possible if I know I'll be working on a task likely to succumb to hyperfocus OR if I have events / tasks that must be performed at certain times (they automatically have alarms associated with them).

Liz Cullen

You can use my full name and quote me. I think I struggle with normal focus. I struggle to learn or focus on anything that I'm not obsessing over. When I do hyperfocus, I forget to blink so my eyes get dry, I forget to drink water, I forget to use the bathroom and my bladder is screaming at me, but hey my Sims home looks flawless. I lose track of time so easy. Most times it feels like a couple of hours has passed when it's really been more like 6. The two feel like night and day. When I can't focus, it feels like I'm emotionally and mentally slamming my head into a wall. I end up fidgeting and trying to find any reason to do anything else. When I'm hyperfocusing it feels like I'm in a zen-like state, like I'm in my "happy place;" I'm content, calm, no fidgeting. But I've noticed if I get pulled out of that state by other people or my pets I have the urge to snap at them. Then I feel a bit spacey while my brain tries to switch gears. Alarms or asking my partner to tell me time's up seem to be the only ways to get me to stop at the moment.

Dave Martin

I am 54 and learned about ADHD when my 17 year old daughter asked to be assessed and was confirmed and assigned treatment. I have since reflected on my own symptoms of ADHD and I am on a wait list for assessment. I routinely experience periods of hyper focus and have been so since my teenage years. My thing is usually video games but it can also be something that is more active such as house repairs. My first memory of hyper focus was playing a coin operated video game at a neighborhood corner store (Jungle King! https://youtu.be/7xSPVr9lzuk). I would spend every quarter I had, go home and out to play more. It was the same at arcades of the day. These days I am in a professional job but will get hooked again and again on PS or Xbox adventure games. Playing and replaying, while fitting my work in between these periods of focus. I often feel guilty that I am not being “productive” though I realize that these periods could be a form of productivity in their own way, like meditation. I am fortunate that over many years I have been successful in my professional roles and now am in a position where I can live comfortably supporting my family in a well paying job. I worry sometimes that perhaps I have been faking it this whole time. Thank you for the opportunity to tell a bit of my story. Anonymous pls if you think this is of interest for your book.

Dave Slaten

It's me handling stuff I love doing so quickly, and flawlessly that people kinda just look at me with their mouths open. Really love when I get it to happen on final approach, talk about nailing landings, almost don't feel the gear hitting the runway...

Lizzie Lane

My therapist actually put me onto your YouTube channel. (She's a wonderful woman.) I have been struggling a lot lately with focus issues, in particularly hyper focus; when I get focused onto something, it's the only thing I can think of at all. I lose all sense of what's going on around me, and I'm completely immersed in what I'm reading about. Texts and phone calls go unanswered, I forget to eat, I lose sleep. I will quite literally not hear someone talking to me two feet away, and if someone interrupts me, I snap at them. I struggle to disconnect from what I'm doing, and I fixate on it. I'm unable to talk about anything else or focus on conversations with others, or what's going on in my classes. It's much better now that I'm on medication, which I was finally placed on back at the end of January. Still, though, it's hard to pry myself away from what I'm doing. Right now, for instance, I know I should be finishing a homework assignment so I can go down and start cooking dinner, but I have been pouring through all the ADHD information on your channel, because I know so little about what's going on in my own head. I haven't had a lot in the way of resources, and with a family to take care of plus a demanding school schedule, I struggle to find the time to research it on my own. That's if I even knew where to look. If I had to sum it up, I would say it's a focus so intense it's almost unnatural. Sometimes I wish I could focus like that on my schoolwork. Then maybe I wouldn't have to work twice as hard as everyone else to retain the information. You're welcome to use this in your book, of course. You can just call me "Lizzie Lane" if it helps.

Jasmine Ofaolain

When i was at uni i was ALWAYS leaving stuff til the last minute. I just COULD NOT motivate myself, or find the words to say u til the adreniline kicked in. Occasionally this happened with REALLY BIG projects…. Like the time i was basically awake from monday to friday manual drafting a multi level office building (interior design degree). I think i had a couple of 20 minute naps over those days, but it was nuts! The only thing i can put it down to is hyper focus. I definitely couldnt do that now.