ADHD & HYPERFOCUS

I just read an article about a Professor in Dublin who is claiming that many of the famous people that were considered genius' throughout history probably had ADHD and produced their work due to the ability to hyper-focus.  "Clearly ADHD is not a guarantee of genius, but the focused work-rate that it produces may enable creative genius to flourish"

My first thought was 'wouldn't it be wonderful if we could turn it on and off like a light switch, wow'.  Although, I have read that people with ADD - ADHD do train themselves to do just that.  Hmm...  I believe that there is an emotional component to hyperfocusing.  When we like something, really enjoy doing it, then hypefocusing happens even when we do not want it to (that is when the egg timer becomes your best friend!).  However, hyperfocus on demand for tasks that we 'have to' do, well, that is another story.  

Take this blog entry for instance; I made a promise to Scott Lewis that I would write a blog entry this morning and have it posted by 12:30.  I am trying really hard to hyperfocus on this but my stomach is rumbling, my foot without a sock on it is cold, the recyclables need to be taken out and the cat is pacing like a hungry lion.  That is just a few of the thoughts that are distracting me at this very moment.  Hmm, where is that light switch?  How do I turn it on?  

I can focus on what needs to be done at any given moment but hyperfocusing is a different story, a different skill dare I say.  A skill is something that we develop and use on purpose when it is called for.  So that brings me back to whether or not it IS something that can be developed, whether or not it IS a skill?

According to Wikipedia: "Hyperfocus is an intense form of mental concentration or visualization that focuses consciousness on a narrow subject, separate from objective reality and onto subjective mental planes, daydreams, concepts, fiction, the imagination, and other objects of the mind. It is the normal state that occurs during hypnosis, especially at theta levels".

In an article in ADDitude Magazine, Larry Silver M.D. says that College kids "go into a state of intense focus to get work done".  Is that true hyperfocus?  The author, Royce Flippin states: "...the tendency for children and adults with attention deficit disorder to focus very intently on things that do interest them. At times, the focus is so strong that they become oblivious to the world around them.
AHA! There it is, "oblivious to the world around them", that is the key, the difference between focusing and true hyperfocusing!

I am putting it out to you, my readers, to answer this question.  Is hyperfocusing, true hyperfocusing, a skill and can it be used on demand?

and remember Mindfulness Matters.

Comments

[Listol]

I think many people have ADHD. The thing is they know how to handle it as well as the people around them.

[paul]

Hyperfocus = The Incredible Hulk of focusing. Certain conditions must be present to excite the mind into a state of hyperfocus. When that happens incredible things are possible...in one's own mind.

[Tom Trevor]

I am sure that many famous people had ADHD, but I am not so sure that hyperfocusing is responsible for their achievements. More likely it is their creative mind. I think Einstein had many traits of ADHD. He couldn't focus on boring school work, and his mind wandered a lot ,he daydreamed quite often. It was combining these daydreams with math that lead to E=MC².
I am sure hyperfocusing exists. I have done it. Time appears to warp. Sometimes, like when skiing, everything seems in slow motion. At other times, like when drawing, an hour can seem like a few seconds. I can not control it though. I have tried. It just happens.

[Scott D Lewis]

Hi, Judi. Congrats on getting your blog posting out. With or without hyperfocusing, you did it!

My opinion is that hyperfocus is in the eye of the beholder. It is whatever you think it is.

That being said, forcing yourself to hyperfocus is a lot like forcing yourself to go to sleep. You just can't make yourself do either. You can only create the conditions that make it most likely to happen, and somewhere along the way you fall to sleep. Does that mean you also fall to hyperfocus?