The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves)

[gryphter]

@Auspice I battle this by taking minutes-style notes in every meeting. It works great until I realize I've been editing the notes for 20 minutes while the meeting kept happening.

[Auspice]

@gryphter said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Auspice I battle this by taking minutes-style notes in every meeting. It works great until I realize I've been editing the notes for 20 minutes while the meeting kept happening.

Yup.
That happened to me last week, in fact.
'Okay I'm gonna note this down- oh that reminded me of this other thing I need to notate but it also needs to be fleshed-out and cross-referenced- oh shit it's been 20 minutes what are they talking about- ok, back to notes- right! I have a note on this particular thing somewhere else lemme dig it up....'

There's a reason I've been spending part of my day, every day for the past week, listening to meeting recordings.

.... there are 4 recordings and I've only fully listened to 1. How do people do podcasts.

[faraday]

@Wretched So true. So very very true. I can't do podcasts either. Or anything where I'm expected to learn simply by listening.

[Wretched]

@faraday @Auspice It both has to be something I am interested in and I have to be doing something else at the same time, like mindless shooting games or grinding/housing in an mmo. Because yeah, if I am only listening, then not enough of me is stimulated so my mind starts trying to stimulate itself and i'm not listening anymore. I spent hundreds of hours building in Wildstars housing, and most of that was listening to audiobooks or something similar.

[Wretched]

I was watching a comedy special from marc Maron and he described something i know intimately and now have a name for.

Aggravated Boredom. Nothing is stimulating my brain and I am mad about it. It's a terrible helples almost tantrum-y feeling where you just simmer while you are prevented mind stimulation for whatever reason.

[Auspice]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

I was watching a comedy special from marc Maron and he described something i know intimately and now have a name for.

Aggravated Boredom. Nothing is stimulating my brain and I am mad about it. It's a terrible helples almost tantrum-y feeling where you just simmer while you are prevented mind stimulation for whatever reason.

I've spoken with @faraday about this exact feeling before.

[Wretched]

Not sure how accurate and science it is but it was an interesting read. We are hunters!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_hypothesis?fbclid=IwAR1HHvRB_fj4sGzAevQAtUQr6QCYbILY3z-3CUTjD4OE4X1rQNbnmtPybaA

[Wretched]

[Auspice]

40 minutes spent guiding a meeting.
Completely unable to process or follow anything anyone else says the rest of the meeting.

[Wretched]

https://www.additudemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/10252_Understand-Conditions_secrets-of-the-adhd-brain.pdf

[Wretched]

Also the previous of my double posts, you ADHD folks like me, read it, its... just read it.

[Sunny]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

https://www.additudemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/10252_Understand-Conditions_secrets-of-the-adhd-brain.pdf

I read this. Thank you.

(He's right peeps, read it. Fascinating, helpful, and it even provides at least one coping strategy that never bloody occurred to ME, at least... also, it's only 16 pages.)

ETA: I really like this because everything else aside, it provides some language that could be helpful in talking to doctors / bosses / other people about what folks are experiencing. Shared language is SO important for getting heard.

[Auspice]

I'm reading.

And oh, I feel the part about task organization (page 10). At work they want me to give a timeline for completion on something. They want to know what parts will be done when and......... how? how am I supposed to do that? I don't have elements I need from other people/departments. I'm not working on it in a linear fashion. I work on piece f until I'm drifting so I work on piece q until it reminds me of piece c until....

how do I give a timeline for that?

[Wretched]

@Sunny @Auspice It resonated with me because it actually touches on the structure of society/work/etc being built around neurotypical, and how that just doesn't work for us, and forcing atypical to be typical does not work (stares at family). But I am mildly obsessed wityh the topic because I am seeing people for it now, and as Sunny mentions, the language is major, and as Auspice says... timelines?! You mean SORCERY?!

[Auspice]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Sunny @Auspice It resonated with me because it actually touches on the structure of society/work/etc being built around neurotypical, and how that just doesn't work for us, and forcing atypical to be typical does not work (stares at family). But I am mildly obsessed wityh the topic because I am seeing people for it now, and as Sunny mentions, the language is major, and as Auspice says... timelines?! You mean SORCERY?!

I admit I am super baffled how anyone could track their focus for a month.
if you're in the zone, you're not thinking to write it down
and when you're out of the zone......would you even remember?

I've tried tracking things before (food, migraines, etc...). it works for a day or two at best before I forget for a few weeks and then have an 'ah ha' try again for a few days....... usually the next time I remember after that I just give up entirely.

[Wretched]

@Auspice This is so much a thing. All my life people have told me to 'make a list' and 'use a calendar' ignoring the fact that i will forget to check/use/remember that they exist.

[Auspice]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Auspice This is so much a thing. All my life people have told me to 'make a list' and 'use a calendar' ignoring the fact that i will forget to check/use/remember that they exist.

I use calendars. Emphasis on multiple. Google Calendar is always open with alerts on. It backs up to iCal. And I have a physical planner.

I still double-book myself with disturbing frequency.

And I love lists. I obsess over lists. That... is probably one of my focus zones. If I gotta make a list, I will dive in and tweak and tweak and tweak until perfection.

It's the 'keep track of X' that I can't do and it falls into a whole other category.

[faraday]

@Wretched That article is so on-point, thanks for sharing.

Re: calendars -- I can't use electronic calendars. I've tried, but I constantly forget that they exist. It has to be physical and in-my-face every time I walk into the kitchen so I can see that I have something to do tomorrow. Even the ones that do pop-up reminders, I'll be like: "Yeah, yeah, I know..." then promptly get drawn into something else and forget. I will set electronic reminders on Alexa or whatnot, but it can't be my only tracker.

[insomniac7809]

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Also the previous of my double posts, you ADHD folks like me, read it, its... just read it.

That does seem like an interesting topic. But it's 16 pages long and I'm kinda doing a thing right now.

I'm gonna leave the tab open. I'll read it in a bit.

I'll read all of my open tabs. They look interesting. I'll get to them all.

[Auspice]

@insomniac7809 said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

@Wretched said in The ADD/ADHD Thread (cont'd from Peeves):

Also the previous of my double posts, you ADHD folks like me, read it, its... just read it.

That does seem like an interesting topic. But it's 16 pages long and I'm kinda doing a thing right now.

I'm gonna leave the tab open. I'll read it in a bit.

I'll read all of my open tabs. They look interesting. I'll get to them all.

Likely the only reason I got through it was I needed a break from work. I usually study up on tech writing and related industry trends while my current chapter / organizational issue / etc percolates. So the article was perfect.