ADD-ADHD Mindfulness Matters Musings

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.

Monday Morning Motivation and ADHD Fugue

According to Dictionary.com the definition of fugue is:
2.Psychiatry. a period during which a person suffers from loss of memory, often begins a new life, and, upon recovery, remembers nothing of the amnesic phase.

Whoever came up with that definition must have had ADHD in mind!

to read the rest please go to the "ADD/ADHD Coaching Blog: The Blog by ADD/ADHD Coaches" http://www.addcoachingblog.com/

always remember... mindfulness matters.

ADHD is Here to Stay, I’ll Mindfully Live Life Anyway!

Mindfulness and hyper-focusing:

What is the difference? One of my amazing Coaching clients with ADHD recently asked me this question. When you sit down at the computer at 7:30am and look up to see the clock and it is 5:30pm, you have to ask yourself, what have you been doing for 10 hours? If you can answer that question with a full accounting of each time your egg timer went off, then you had a very Mindful Day; (hopefully filled with all that you planned to do each hour). If at 5:30 you keep staring at the clock in disbelief cursing your ADD, and your stomach is rumbling, and the cat drank the very last sip of water hours ago but you weren't listening to his polite meows (personally, mine scratches the computer tower to get my attention), then you were truly, without ANY doubt, hyper-focusing.

When you have ADHD it can be as difficult to stop hyper-focusing as it is difficult to focus. Actually, I think that it is harder to stop the hyper-focusing because you get lost in time. When you are having trouble paying attention you are very much aware of time as you continue to glance at the clock waiting for it to move.

I hope that we all can take some advice from that clock on the wall; what, your clock doesn't give you advice? Awwh, what a shame! Seriously, time is a precious commodity and whichever form of focusing or not focusing or hyper-focusing that you are experiencing, the bottom line is that you are giving a chunk of your life away. Take back that chunk. Practice mindfulness. Breathe in and breathe out, stay in your moment, keep thoughts non-judgmental and as your mindfulness and spirituality grow stronger, focusing will emerge as a much healthier and certainly a much more guilt free experience. mindfulness matters!