ADHD is interesting. I think ADHD is mainly an executive dysfunction and reward centre dysfunction, from my own experience.
And a bit of nature, a bit of nurture.
It’s a real double edged sword for me.
On one hand relationships and “boring” tasks feel insurmountable. When I say boring I don’t even mean boring in the traditional sense, I just mean “not novel” - so even something like playing my favourite ever video game gets extremely difficult once the novelty is gone.
On the other hand, as a software developer, working on novel concepts or exploring novel concepts or ideas is basically like crack-cocaine, I literally can’t stop or put them down.
Double edged sword is struggling with most basic tasks, but excelling at the peripheries.
When you put it that way this might be one of the greatest disabilities ever. Humans that don’t complete things they begin and chase novelty are hard to respect because it’s common and trite. Persevering through failure and the hard bits is essentially the crux of achievement, productivity and success.
Well, I’ve been persevering through the hard bits for 42 years, and still struggle with it. It’s not about chasing novelty, it’s about novelty being many many times more attractive than it is for others.
I don’t agree as greatest disability ever as in “most-disabling” I’d say it’s the greatest potential modifier disability there is.
Some scenarios I loathe having it, but when I’m in the flow state I love it.
It’s made my life-path very non-standard (huge swings up and down), but it’s also created insane opportunities (when paired with high-drive and completing things/discipline)
I personally don’t consider it a disability in my case, but I’m definitely at a disadvantage in a typical work environment compared to my peers. So I understand completely why it’s generally classed as a disability in today’s society and societal expectations.
Like autism, it can produce insane outcomes (think savants etc), and if you can find the right environment for you, you can outperform more neurotypical peers.
I for instance finish all my software projects, because I force myself through discipline. My work output is probably the same or slightly less-good than my peers. But my personal projects where I have full creative control of the outcomes I’d say far exceeds my peers.
I mean in my own case, I’ve achieved far more than my friends and peers - whether that be in business success or other creative areas, but at massive cost - they have much more stability than me, whereas my path is a very non-linear path. I either do exceptionally well or exceptionally shit, no in-between, very black and white
How do you manage to finish things? After a while, for me, the novelty high wears out, and instead it becomes a wall.
Some project require something silly, like sending 1 email to be completed, and it becomes an impossible task
Haha, this made me chuckle so much. That's basically how it goes for me also. Even asking myself, why don't you just do it, then doing something else, feeling guilty about not sending the mail first.
The thing is most people get into a flow state and then persevere through when it’s not enjoyable anymore. If you’re just capable of the first part what’s the point.
It’s great that you can get through the entirety of something because I think that deserves a high form of respect.
And a bit of nature, a bit of nurture.
It’s a real double edged sword for me.
On one hand relationships and “boring” tasks feel insurmountable. When I say boring I don’t even mean boring in the traditional sense, I just mean “not novel” - so even something like playing my favourite ever video game gets extremely difficult once the novelty is gone.
On the other hand, as a software developer, working on novel concepts or exploring novel concepts or ideas is basically like crack-cocaine, I literally can’t stop or put them down.
Double edged sword is struggling with most basic tasks, but excelling at the peripheries.