You Down with ADD?
- Posted by Badi Jones on October 29th, 2008 - Comment on this Post »
Yeah, you know me. Or technically, ADHD. It’s been about 4 years since I was diagnosed with this. I had to take a series of tests over a few weeks. It’s been a blessing and also a curse. A blessing that I know now why I did so mediocre in school, even though I tried really hard.
I never really realized anything was wrong until I started working from home full time (telecommuting). I would find myself constantly drifting off task. Fortunately though, my sidetracks were working on my own projects (like dnScoop and myIPneighbors), so I was always getting things done, but I would procrastinate doing things that I absolutely had to do (like my job). Usually leading to an extra long late shift to get my 8 hours in.
I’ve had to work hard, but I have been able to learn how to better manage my time. I do take medication, but I still have to work hard to stay on top of things. I’ve found that the best solution for me is to keep a daily routine. For me, it’s checking and logging some info from Google Webmaster Tools. Once I do that, it’s a lot easier to continue with my other tasks.
Sometimes the hardest part is just getting started. If you can at least get started with what you are supposed to be working on, then you have a much better chance of finishing it.
Wondering how many of you also struggle with these issues?
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10 Responses to “You Down with ADD?”
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- You Down with ADD?
October 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I as diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I went on various drugs to control it. I don’t remember that part of my life largely because of that. Thankfully I got off those after a few years. Looking back, I just wasn’t challenged in school. I didn’t need to be sedated, I needed to be stimulated.
Over the years I’ve tried to turn my “hyperactive” energy into productive endeavors. I worked on building self discipline to force myself to keep on task. I still have challenges (especially when the side project is far more interesting than what’s on my plate), but I’m happy. I’ve had to make a career change to compensate, which has lead me to be more successful than I could have been if I’d followed my original path.
I also look at my son who is starting to exhibit the same characteristics. I’m sure I could find doctors to diagnose him with ADHD, it’s not that hard. But I know better. He’s just smart, so we keep him occupied as much as possible with learning stuff.
Get a second, third, or fourth opinion if need be. Get off the drugs. Harness this energy. Maybe you need to find a different job where you can bounce from task to task.
Sean
October 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
My experience with medication has been mostly negative. I was getting headaches a lot, feeling really bad at the end of every day, and just grumpy in general. but I’ve changed to something with very little side effects.
I’m taking as little medication as I can. I’m also trying get regular exercise. Trying some vitamins like b complex that were recommended too.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I take extra large doses of a special medication called Disciplinatin 5 times a day. To take it, I carry a special tool that looks like a whip. It works wonders for my ADHD. Got to go to the store now to play nintendo.
October 30th, 2008 at 1:00 am
@adhd master guru expert ROTFL :p
Too funny.
===
Does this look familiar to anyone?
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive/phd051208s.gif
October 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hmm, I thought that’s just lack of planning and stimulus on my part.
I too did nothing in school, again, no motivation/stimulation to use my brains there.
I too find it hard to focus on one thing for a long period of time, but I found ways to do it:
- make sure you’ve done all the little things you really need to do that will distract you, when you are on an important task
- when there’s nothing else left, you can start with the main task
- every day warm up on something like analyzing your stats/google webmaster tools, otherwise, I do nothing all day
- keep a routine (monday/friday: anything not related to main task, solving those distracting things, tue/wed/thu: main task, such as content writing)
Overall, the main principle seems to be not to try to overcome the situation, but enjoy it, let your mind flow: it’ll find the most needed problems to solve, find the solutions easily and you’ll be able to work on what you need to do.
The caveat is that it’ll be cyclic, such as, if you focus on one thing a lot (a week), you’ll need to focus on less intenseive things the next week. It is about balance, anyway.
I don’t think it’s an ADD or ADHD, it’s just knowing how your brain works (it tries to cope with the problems out of your sight, without your immediate knowledge) and doing everything to make sure it is free enough to work on the main task.
For example, I found that I am most productive in the early morning and that regular aerobic exercise (long distance running) help a lot. Of course, injecting a bit of sprint to keep the balance is not only fun, but stimulating as well.
I don’t take any drugs at all, I really don’t recommend depending on them. Finding a solution yourself and realizing it with your mind/body is much more rewarding.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
Thanks for the tips Yura. I think that exercise is definitely helping. I have come a long way since my low point and diagnosis for sure, but there are lots of things that make it a challenge.
I think I learned to cope with this in my 20s because when I finally went back to college, the same things I struggled with in high school were a piece of cake. I made deans list several times.
My first jobs were all working at a desk at an office. I may have had some symptoms, but the structure of a 9 to 5 day and interaction with work mates kept helped a lot.
It’s a lot more difficult at home. It’s not really a “normal” work setting.
I have been thinking a lot about renting an office space. Has anyone done this?
October 30th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Oh, Badi, that sounds so familiar.
I think that the main reason I didn’t do so well in school and in uni is because I didn’t run from the childhood. Exercise does help one train his brain, so it’d be easy to learn in school, if I did run. But alas.
I know, because when I started running several years ago, I realized I can do more in the same amount of time, do it faster and with less errors. For me, running is the key to solving this issue.
For example, when I started doing 50ks, I easily did a months amount of work in 2 weeks in summer. A direct correlation between amount of running and productivity.
And I did have issues with higher education (completing course work), was expelled once, reinstated and expelled for good at the 9th semester out of 10, but the actual reason was that I didn’t like pedagogigs enough to complete a course work/diploma. The thought still makes me cringe.
And yes, for me working at home is much less productive. I haven’t worked freelance long enough to find the cure, though. Possibly, it’d involve cleaning up the mess, dressing for work, but I’m not sure: the biggest problem for me was that I actually watched TV :E.
While renting an office space and coworking is different, I think coworking was invented just for this case and you’ll like it.
Basically, you pay a low amount of cash for renting your work/desk space instead of renting an actual office space.
It works like this:
- someone rents a huge office space with kitchen, broadband, etc in a nice place
- buys the equipment, furniture, etc
- leases actual work places (desk spaces) to freelance workers (developers, writers, designers, you name it) for a small amount
- the freelancers can use each other services (if agreed to), communicate and be more productive
I think it’d be more enjoyable, more efficient and a bit cheaper for you to look for a coworking space in your area.
You can learn more about coworking here:
http://wiki.coworking.info and http://blog.coworking.info.
Find the closest space here:
http://blog.coworking.info/2007/10/16/coworking-map/
Oh, re: office work, I find that there’s still a lot of work to actually filter what needs to be done and what is a distraction. For me, finding the routine to actually keep doing the work all day takes a while. I know that keeping a todo list would help, but I prefer to rely on my memory. Did you find any more ways to keep focused on work by chance?
And another thing. Some time back I actually did use multi tasking, as in, when I choose to jump one task, I would switch to another. The key here is to actually jump to the task that is also work related. The problem is, sometimes – and most of the times – you need to do one long, repetitive task that’s boring like hell. I am even considering hiring an assistant =)
P.S. Your page layout breaks in Opera 9.25, prolly not an issue, if it works in the new 9.6x, though.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Sorry for the delay with this comment. More than 2 links tripped the moderation check. More great tips though. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any co-working locations near me. I’ll keep an eye out though.
I definitely haven’t gotten this nailed down yet, but the best way I’ve found to keep focused on work is to keep a to-do list. The times when it get’s really hard is like you said, when the task is repetitive and boring.
The TV is definitely the enemy (unless the work is mindless).
I think just setting goals helps, like getting started at a specific time, and having a set time to stop.
I’ve tried the dressing up thing, but one of the best benefits of working at home is that I don’t have to worry about that all the time.
And yes, I need to fix this layout.
October 31st, 2008 at 4:35 pm
Nice ADHD logo!
Thanks for sharing everybody.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
I think you could try searching for a local coworking place manually, in case your local variant isn’t listed.
Too bad, if you can’t find it, though.
@missrogue (Tara Hunt) has lots of contacts, maybe she knows someone coworking in your neighbourhood.