Ask HN: People with AD(H)D, how do you deal with it?
17 comments
Things that help me work and focus:
- Go to bed on time
- Wake up at the same time every morning
- Take my meds (I have adhd meds that lessen scatterbrainedness and but doesnt impact hyperfocus)
- Get an overview of the things you are doing
- Plan ahead in what order you will do things
- If unmotivated, broaden the scope of overview to see why you are doing them
- If I don't feel like starting work its most often because the work is too vague, then I usually first get more clarity and break up the work in a checklist.
- Have a big bottle of water on desk for regular water intake
- Wife brings lunch and snacks (huge privilege, always thank them). Also scheduled, I'd recommend prepping them ahead of time and remind yourself with a timer. Then it's just a matter of picking it up rather than actually going out to make it every time. During the walk you can still think over whatever you are working on.
- Clear separation with personal life and work: putting company laptop away, no slack, no mails, only reachable by call
- When you are distracted ask yourself (out loud) why you are not doing the thing, most of the time the first thought your brain comes up with is actually the answer.
I tend to hold onto projects, ideas, hobbies and interests for two weeks at a time. Haven't figured out yet how to cultivate that towards a single goal yet.
EDIT: My meds only really help with the daily structure and organisation inplace, otherwise I'm just more efficiently procrastinating.
- Go to bed on time
- Wake up at the same time every morning
- Take my meds (I have adhd meds that lessen scatterbrainedness and but doesnt impact hyperfocus)
- Get an overview of the things you are doing
- Plan ahead in what order you will do things
- If unmotivated, broaden the scope of overview to see why you are doing them
- If I don't feel like starting work its most often because the work is too vague, then I usually first get more clarity and break up the work in a checklist.
- Have a big bottle of water on desk for regular water intake
- Wife brings lunch and snacks (huge privilege, always thank them). Also scheduled, I'd recommend prepping them ahead of time and remind yourself with a timer. Then it's just a matter of picking it up rather than actually going out to make it every time. During the walk you can still think over whatever you are working on.
- Clear separation with personal life and work: putting company laptop away, no slack, no mails, only reachable by call
- When you are distracted ask yourself (out loud) why you are not doing the thing, most of the time the first thought your brain comes up with is actually the answer.
I tend to hold onto projects, ideas, hobbies and interests for two weeks at a time. Haven't figured out yet how to cultivate that towards a single goal yet.
EDIT: My meds only really help with the daily structure and organisation inplace, otherwise I'm just more efficiently procrastinating.
Just wanted to add, yes all of this.
- Put "Today's 3 goals" on paper next to your work area.
- Create a new list of 3 for the next day before you leave so you know where you should resume when you come in.
- Using a mindmap helps me break down projects into workable chunks that i can see at a glance. I use Freeplane.
- Pair up! Know what you are good at and what your "weaknesses" are. Then pair with someone who is good at them.
- Consider your approach to work & learning. When I sign up for an online course to learn a new technology, I bore out in no time. Instead, I identify problems to solve and look for ways to solve those problems. This way, I am always learning new tech but directly applying it to problems that matter to me.
- Understand that what some consider a weakness may be your forte. My insatiable desire to learn things to help address problems i encounter in life has been a benefit for me. I understand the capabilities of enough technologies and how to match them to problems that i have a fair bit of patents.
- I have a "career" git project where i store mindmaps, markdown files for notes or other documents that archive past work achievements as well as documenting future job possiblities.
- Create a new list of 3 for the next day before you leave so you know where you should resume when you come in.
- Using a mindmap helps me break down projects into workable chunks that i can see at a glance. I use Freeplane.
- Pair up! Know what you are good at and what your "weaknesses" are. Then pair with someone who is good at them.
- Consider your approach to work & learning. When I sign up for an online course to learn a new technology, I bore out in no time. Instead, I identify problems to solve and look for ways to solve those problems. This way, I am always learning new tech but directly applying it to problems that matter to me.
- Understand that what some consider a weakness may be your forte. My insatiable desire to learn things to help address problems i encounter in life has been a benefit for me. I understand the capabilities of enough technologies and how to match them to problems that i have a fair bit of patents.
- I have a "career" git project where i store mindmaps, markdown files for notes or other documents that archive past work achievements as well as documenting future job possiblities.
Hello! I have severe ADHD. It's the variant without hyperactivity, but in the newest DSM ('official' list of known disorders), they've combined ADD and ADHD into one (ADHD), as they seem to be variants of the same disorder (i.e. not two different disorders).
The single biggest thing that worked for me was medication. I can very much recommend. Please ignore people that say that you 'can work through it', or that handling things without medication is somehow 'better' or 'more natural'. This belief is stupid, wrong and needs to die.
The annoying part about mental health is that problems aren't visible. You would never tell someone with a broken leg to 'tough it out', or ask a disabled person to run a mile.
If you're diagnosed with ADHD it means you actually have a mental handicap / impairment. Just like someone with a broken leg, it needs medical attention.
Before I was diagnosed and got medication, I've tried every tool, every method, every strategy to organize myself, keep focused, or otherwise mitigate my problems that I was having. From GTD, todo lists/apps physical and digital, bullet journal, pomodoro, meditation, cold showers, making your bed everyday, journaling, the secret, etc. Basically all the things people are recommending in this thread.
I couldn't keep up with any of them. The biggest flaw in most of these systems is that you already need to be very much organized to effectively integrate these in your daily life. It never worked, and after a couple of months of trying to integrate such a new habit I would ultimately fail, and hate myself for it.
Since mental health plays a part in every aspect of life, this mechanism permeates all facets of life. It's hard to keep up eating healthy, playing sports, finding time for hobbies, working, keeping up with relationships, sometimes I even had difficulties keeping my attention while I was talking to someone, leading to some very awkward discussions sometimes. Ultimately it's VERY EASY for untreated ADHD to lead to depression like this, as it did in my case.
Only after I've started getting this chemical deficiency sorted by using medication was I able to really feel like I had any meaningful grip on my behavior.
Please, please, please! Don't make the same mistake that I made, and get tested for ADHD, if you think you might have it.
The single biggest thing that worked for me was medication. I can very much recommend. Please ignore people that say that you 'can work through it', or that handling things without medication is somehow 'better' or 'more natural'. This belief is stupid, wrong and needs to die.
The annoying part about mental health is that problems aren't visible. You would never tell someone with a broken leg to 'tough it out', or ask a disabled person to run a mile.
If you're diagnosed with ADHD it means you actually have a mental handicap / impairment. Just like someone with a broken leg, it needs medical attention.
Before I was diagnosed and got medication, I've tried every tool, every method, every strategy to organize myself, keep focused, or otherwise mitigate my problems that I was having. From GTD, todo lists/apps physical and digital, bullet journal, pomodoro, meditation, cold showers, making your bed everyday, journaling, the secret, etc. Basically all the things people are recommending in this thread.
I couldn't keep up with any of them. The biggest flaw in most of these systems is that you already need to be very much organized to effectively integrate these in your daily life. It never worked, and after a couple of months of trying to integrate such a new habit I would ultimately fail, and hate myself for it.
Since mental health plays a part in every aspect of life, this mechanism permeates all facets of life. It's hard to keep up eating healthy, playing sports, finding time for hobbies, working, keeping up with relationships, sometimes I even had difficulties keeping my attention while I was talking to someone, leading to some very awkward discussions sometimes. Ultimately it's VERY EASY for untreated ADHD to lead to depression like this, as it did in my case.
Only after I've started getting this chemical deficiency sorted by using medication was I able to really feel like I had any meaningful grip on my behavior.
Please, please, please! Don't make the same mistake that I made, and get tested for ADHD, if you think you might have it.
I prefer to split tasks into two types.
Marathons. So if I'm not over-tired and I've had my morning coffee, and a good night's sleep, I will do a marathon session of 4-5 hours of solid work, no interruptions apart from social media feeds where I need to know what's going on in the world so I have context for what I'm working on. (If Github's down for example, I need to know that).
Sprints. These are smaller tasks that take 5-10 minutes, but I treat them as micro-habits that compound over time, or in other words; many-littles-make-a-lot and the desired outcome reveals itself over longer periods of time.
It's good to know which mode you're in, because with ADHD, you need to pre-allocate time-frames to the important things and know when you're in sprint-mode vs marathon-mode. Some people mix them up and end up doing 4-5 hours on something that should be a 5-10 min sprint, and needs to be incrementally improved on over a long duration (we're talking months or years of progress here).
Marathons. So if I'm not over-tired and I've had my morning coffee, and a good night's sleep, I will do a marathon session of 4-5 hours of solid work, no interruptions apart from social media feeds where I need to know what's going on in the world so I have context for what I'm working on. (If Github's down for example, I need to know that).
Sprints. These are smaller tasks that take 5-10 minutes, but I treat them as micro-habits that compound over time, or in other words; many-littles-make-a-lot and the desired outcome reveals itself over longer periods of time.
It's good to know which mode you're in, because with ADHD, you need to pre-allocate time-frames to the important things and know when you're in sprint-mode vs marathon-mode. Some people mix them up and end up doing 4-5 hours on something that should be a 5-10 min sprint, and needs to be incrementally improved on over a long duration (we're talking months or years of progress here).
Everyone is different and medication isn't always the right answer (though I expect you'll see that here).
I've found It helps for me to try and stick to a plan first and foremost. It doesn't have to be complex, just something to create routine. Then over time I start allocating my time in small blocks. The notion of doing multiple things efficiently at once is a farce. Getting things over the line of completion is important. What I like to do is break tasks down into smaller subsets of tasks so that I get a sense of accomplishment which in turn, ends up motivating me for more (sort of a dopamine kick).
I also make sure to once an hour or so get up and walk outside or around for about 5-10 minutes. Sure it's a distraction but the sensory exposure to looking around and not thinking of work help to reset the clock so to speak on my ability to focus.
You can work through it, but a lot of it has to be driven by you wanting to and in some cases, medicine isn't a negative.
Good luck!
I've found It helps for me to try and stick to a plan first and foremost. It doesn't have to be complex, just something to create routine. Then over time I start allocating my time in small blocks. The notion of doing multiple things efficiently at once is a farce. Getting things over the line of completion is important. What I like to do is break tasks down into smaller subsets of tasks so that I get a sense of accomplishment which in turn, ends up motivating me for more (sort of a dopamine kick).
I also make sure to once an hour or so get up and walk outside or around for about 5-10 minutes. Sure it's a distraction but the sensory exposure to looking around and not thinking of work help to reset the clock so to speak on my ability to focus.
You can work through it, but a lot of it has to be driven by you wanting to and in some cases, medicine isn't a negative.
Good luck!
Medication isn't always the answer, but in many cases it magically just fixes most things so you should try it.
> You can work through it
This isn't true for more severe cases. If you can work through it your ADHD is pretty mild, which is a good thing, but for many that simply isn't an option.
> You can work through it
This isn't true for more severe cases. If you can work through it your ADHD is pretty mild, which is a good thing, but for many that simply isn't an option.
> You can work through it, but a lot of it has to be driven by you wanting to
No, no, no, no!
Please don't think this about yourself or others who have ADHD. There are ways to work through ADHD without medication, but it has nothing to do with a person's drive or their level of desire.
Having ADHD literally mean the brain doesn't function properly in some way. To then put the responsibility of fixing itself to that non-properly functioning brain, is nonsensical.
The only way to work through ADHD without medication (or some other form of therapy), is by having some other support system in place that can help with these problems. Like parents, friends or partner who helps the person remembering stuff to do, fpr example. This is why ADHD sometimes only surfaces when some of these support structures go away, like moving out, or puberty, etc.
These support structures are a very important requirement for handling ADHD without medication. It basically means you're trading medication for some other external thing. The common denominator is the External thing helping the person, this is REQUIRED.
It's very dangerous to feel like people can tackle this without any outside help. People with ADHD who carry this sentiment will ultimately end up blaming themselves for apparently 'not wanting it enough'. This can easily result in things like depression, so please, never tell people with mental handicaps to 'tough it out'.
No, no, no, no!
Please don't think this about yourself or others who have ADHD. There are ways to work through ADHD without medication, but it has nothing to do with a person's drive or their level of desire.
Having ADHD literally mean the brain doesn't function properly in some way. To then put the responsibility of fixing itself to that non-properly functioning brain, is nonsensical.
The only way to work through ADHD without medication (or some other form of therapy), is by having some other support system in place that can help with these problems. Like parents, friends or partner who helps the person remembering stuff to do, fpr example. This is why ADHD sometimes only surfaces when some of these support structures go away, like moving out, or puberty, etc.
These support structures are a very important requirement for handling ADHD without medication. It basically means you're trading medication for some other external thing. The common denominator is the External thing helping the person, this is REQUIRED.
It's very dangerous to feel like people can tackle this without any outside help. People with ADHD who carry this sentiment will ultimately end up blaming themselves for apparently 'not wanting it enough'. This can easily result in things like depression, so please, never tell people with mental handicaps to 'tough it out'.
Curious if anyone has tips on ADHD and jobs based around billable hours that require detailed time tracking. I find timers extremely difficult and stressful, and I've taken to writing down what I've done each day as I work, along with timestamps.
I found Timely https://memory.ai/timely useful for my case.
I write down the time when I switch tasks, and also I try not to switch between many different tasks/issues.
As for the details, the app we use for time tracking has a calendar input interface which is precise upto 5 mins, with all our gitlab issues synced as billable tasks, so that is pretty straightforward.
Also, I tend to leave a small note on what part I worked on so that when looking back the time is justified. If you don't have that maybe drawing bars on google calendar in a separated "billing" calendar could help.
Keep in mind, that when it comes to being very punctual on time you can play the politics back (e.g. when managers hammer on clocking in on time, you get to clock out on time too) and claim budget for work items that took shorter than expected.
Keep in mind, that when it comes to being very punctual on time you can play the politics back (e.g. when managers hammer on clocking in on time, you get to clock out on time too) and claim budget for work items that took shorter than expected.
I asked the same question couple years back and got quite a few good tips and advices: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19989627
The only way that has ever worked for me is always having enough amphetamine
I was undiagnosed until 20's and tried literally everything, I have an entire library of self-help and motivation books. Nothing helped.
I was undiagnosed until 20's and tried literally everything, I have an entire library of self-help and motivation books. Nothing helped.
Does your workplace offer any support? I've worked at a few places with neurodiveristy groups or teams that are looking for ways to help people?
Put yourself in a crucible situation. You'd be surprised how effective it is. I have managed to set myself up that way, and even I'm surprised at how much I've grown in a matter of months. As a direct result, I sleep well and have a positive outlook on the future.
What do you mean by this? I'm a little confused as to what an example of a productive "crucible situation" may be.
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How do you deal with your AD(H)D? What tools etc. work for you?