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Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

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Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#311

Post by xuki »

sizzle wrote: post #263
masukomi wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's not about not getting excited. It's the result of being "not excited". Neurotypicals can work on things that are uninteresting to them. ADHD people can sit there yelling at themselves to "do the thing" that they _know_ they need to do and still be completely incapable of starting regardless of how "easy" it is to actually do it once something forces them to actually start. this video does a good job of explainin…

This is why adhd is associated with risky behaviors like drug use, gambling addiction, unprotected sex and std transmission, stealing, etc. the dopamine rush lights up your reward system above your baseline levels in these extreme situations just like procrastinating and getting something done down to the minute before it’s due and narrowly missing the severe consequences (getting fired, your spouse leaving you, lett…

> the dopamine rush lights up your reward system above your baseline levels in these extreme situations just like procrastinating and getting something done down to the minute before it’s due and narrowly missing the severe consequences (getting fired, your spouse leaving you, letting bills go unpaid until you are about to lose your utilities, house, get deeper into credit card debt, etc.

I’ve been this way my entire adult life and I did not realize those were dopamine hits. Wow.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#312

Post by borski »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #294
uh_uh wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it just rational not to get excited about boring stuff that is rewarded by a fix monetary ceiling? Economically it completely makes sense: why put more energy into something that yields the same result either way? Or maybe I have ADHD too.

Yes, it's becoming common misconception online that hyperfocus is indicative of ADHD. That's a misunderstanding of the symptom. The concept of hyperfocus in ADHD was introduced in certain literature to explain a reduced ability of certain ADHD patients to control their attention, such as having difficulty stopping playing a video game to do the dishes. However, that's ambiguously close to normal human behavior of pre…

That is not true, and it is referenced as a symptom as early as 1993 in Driven to Distraction, the book I brought up earlier.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#313

Post by klvrwrk »

dr_orpheus wrote: post #206
salixrosa wrote: post #16

This sounds like it might be good thing for the company. Having employees who have extra capacity is incredibly important for an organization that wants to get things done; if you're constantly hard at work on something important, when something else comes up (someone has a question, there's a bug or an outage, whatever), you either have to delay the thing you're already working on, or delay the thing that came up. T…

Yep, there was article that recently came up on Hacker News about maintaining some slack in your work schedule so that you can always be responsive when an issue comes up. I'm having trouble finding it because searching for "Slack" on Hacker News turns up a whole other range of things... I feel like I am in a similar boat to OP. Often feeling like my regular work doesn't take up a full week and not trying to fill up…

I'm assuming you're thinking of this Farnam Street post: https://fs.blog/2021/05/slack/

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#314

Post by borski »

yazaddaruvala wrote: post #307
ksaj wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with ADHD have a hard time starting and then completing even things they do want to do. Everyone with ADHD has a dozen unfinished recent projects they adore, but will probably never finish. Hyperfocus gets them started, and they go REALLY far with the project, and then it wears out, and the project is neglected thereafter. Even if the person still adores the project and hopes to finish it. Without the hyperfoc…

This also sounds like the 80/20 rule and/or procrastination. 80% of the thing takes 20 % of the time, and then a feeling of diminishing returns blocks us from doing the other 80% of the effort. > the project is neglected thereafter. Even if the person still adores the project and hopes to finish it. I am also curious why this is labeled ADHD. To me this seems to just be “the human condition”. I guess from what I’ve r…

It really is hard to describe and, to be fair, is certainly only one symptom of ADHD and a dozen other things. This is why a diagnosis needs to come from a professional, but if someone has been struggling to put together the pieces of their own puzzle, there are likely far more behaviors that have driven them to consider this.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#315

Post by sizzle »

xuki wrote: post #311
sizzle wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why adhd is associated with risky behaviors like drug use, gambling addiction, unprotected sex and std transmission, stealing, etc. the dopamine rush lights up your reward system above your baseline levels in these extreme situations just like procrastinating and getting something done down to the minute before it’s due and narrowly missing the severe consequences (getting fired, your spouse leaving you, lett…

> the dopamine rush lights up your reward system above your baseline levels in these extreme situations just like procrastinating and getting something done down to the minute before it’s due and narrowly missing the severe consequences (getting fired, your spouse leaving you, letting bills go unpaid until you are about to lose your utilities, house, get deeper into credit card debt, etc. I’ve been this way my entire…

Yeah if the stakes are high you will be forced to take action, possibly activate your fight or flight adrenaline response if it’s immediate but mostly the dire consequences and novelty of situations feel akin to having a gun to your head and needing to take action or risk serious harm. Maybe they are evolved mechanisms, citations needed of course. There is hope if you have severe adhd, highly recommend a medical work up with stimulant meds at therapeutic dosages. Don’t feel ashamed if you need help, no one wants to live their life knowing they are being held back by their broken executive functioning region of their brain and missing the opportunity to realize their full potential.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#316

Post by [deleted] »

carrolldunham wrote: post #292
dlhavema wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Could that be why I fail to be a completionist in games? I play computer games, but don't give a rip about achievements or multiple playthroughs... They are fun, but as soon as I beat it, I move on.

You're joking right? You move on from a fun activity when it stops being fun you so think you may have a disorder ? I don't want to seem insensitive to genuinely troubled individuals but there seems to be a pattern on HN where every single topic about productivity is now swamped with people claiming that "ADHD" is the cause of not caring about things that aren't worth caring about and not trying hard when you don't n…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#317

Post by adnmcq999 »

carrolldunham wrote: post #292
dlhavema wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Could that be why I fail to be a completionist in games? I play computer games, but don't give a rip about achievements or multiple playthroughs... They are fun, but as soon as I beat it, I move on.

You're joking right? You move on from a fun activity when it stops being fun you so think you may have a disorder ? I don't want to seem insensitive to genuinely troubled individuals but there seems to be a pattern on HN where every single topic about productivity is now swamped with people claiming that "ADHD" is the cause of not caring about things that aren't worth caring about and not trying hard when you don't n…

ADHD is the new Aspergers

Seriously though, is there a dx for not having any common sense?

I feel like a lot of us here would be terminal cases

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#318

Post by koonsolo »

cm2012 wrote: post #20
MattGaiser wrote: post #10

At 3 hours a day, you work as much as everyone else does. [0] [0] https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-aver...

I did an HN poll, how many hours per day do you work including meetings and etc, and the answer was a normal distribution around 6 hours a day. https://imgur.com/qdSltlM The left axis is years of seniority.

It all depends on how you count your hours.

When you are a developer, and you only count the minutes that you are at your computer coding, I highly doubt many would reach 3 hours per day.

Re: Ask HN: Feeling guilty for doing the bare minimum at work

#320

Post by tspike »

ljoshua wrote: post #299
tspike wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to do that, but health insurance in the US makes it a nonstarter.

This really isn't as true as it's made out to be. I've done it, and with four dependents in tow as well. If you currently work for a big company (or really any company with >50 employees if I recall) you can qualify to take COBRA when you leave. Doing so is expensive, sure, but it's really usually about the same price as private insurance but much better (because it's a group plan). You can elect COBRA for up to 18 m…

This is really helpful info. I've been looking at this stuff a lot and I learned these things from you:

- COBRA and private health insurance are comparable in cost (I always assumed it was way more expensive)

- HSAs can be used to pay premiums

These are important pieces of information for figuring this out for me. I don't have four dependents, but I have two and don't have the option of jumping to a spouse's plan, so thanks for the additional context.

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