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Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

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Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#221

Post by fipar »

osigurdson wrote: post #216
Buttons840 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The cost of an interruption is not just the time it takes, but that it breaks the time on either side in half. You probably only have to interrupt someone a couple times a day before they're unable to work on hard problems at all." -- PG

I (of course) think of it like multi-tasking in a computer. The machine needs to capture the context (stack and registers) associated with one task in order to switch to another. However, for a human this context can be enormous. Depending on the task, it is possible that one will never get back to the state of understanding that they had at an earlier point if working on a particularly complex thing - just the right…

The ZAMM reference is spot on to me. The moment I used to get an interruption (typically an incoming call, but not only that), what happened to me was just what Pirsig describe of the gumption leaving you like air from a baloon, psssst.

I eventually got into 'the zone' and I was actually quite good at figuring out problems with little context, but my gumption was gone nevertheless, and I was useless for whatever thing I was working on before the interruption for mostly the rest of the day.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#222

Post by ryloric »

I have an 8 hour quota for the time I can spend in a week reading 'news' and use leechblock to enforce it.

I don't read anything on my phone, only on a desktop or my laptop. When I open one of these 'news' links, there's a tiny countdown timer showing me the time left this week. Once the timer runs out, all tabs close and that's it, done for the week.

I'm forced to be conscious of the time spent, so I read fast and am very picky about what I read.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#224

Post by jbirer »

- Constantly reminding myself to get back to work

- Deep house music in headphones, sad ones help focus

- Tomato timer

- Edging, which releases dopamine and helps you focus.

I don't take amphetamines because they just make me sleepy, in a bizare twist.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#225

Post by Ensorceled »

thelittleone wrote: post #104
Ensorceled wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it 'worth it'? I.E is your life noticably beter for being medicated for it? Yes, absolutely.

I concur. I am super conscious of what I consume, and was very apprehensive, but a few months on dex got me and my business back on track.

I was reluctant to as well, it's part of the "why don't you just focus" narrative we've heard for years. My therapist said, "You're a gamer, why do you want to play life on hard mode when most people are on normal mode?"

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#226

Post by zyang »

jbirer wrote: post #224

- Constantly reminding myself to get back to work - Deep house music in headphones, sad ones help focus - Tomato timer - Edging, which releases dopamine and helps you focus. I don't take amphetamines because they just make me sleepy, in a bizare twist.

> Edging, which releases dopamine and helps you focus

Hopefully you work from home.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#227

Post by elektrontamer »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #203
elektrontamer wrote: post #197

I've never been diagnosed with ADHD but I've been trying to reduce distractions for a long time and the one thing that was extremely effective for me was going to the office and taking a desk in a busy region with my back against interior rather than the windows, this made my monitors visible to everyone. The constant feeling of being judged made it impossible to get distracted and I was extremely productive when I w…

Huh, interesting. Whenever I tried this I just felt anxious and retreated into my phone. I suppose it depends on the type of work though. I could see this working well for the more mindless, grindier tasks, but this seems kind of awful for a task that requires some concentrated thought and creativity.

It might also be my mind naturally fitting in with the crowd when I see everyone focused on their task. The anxiety is odd though. Do you hate crowds?

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#228

Post by collyw »

denton-scratch wrote: post #107

I don't have ADHD. But I do have a bad Guardian habit, and I spend a lot of time following HN links (I have time to spare). Most of the things I want to do never get onto a todo list, because I don't want to clutter my list of important things to do, which I try to restrict to no more than three items. I doubt it's about ADHD, mate.

Having a habit of reading the Guardian is bad.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#229

Post by wry_discontent »

anonymouse008 wrote: post #182
vallassy wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>allow you to do one thing at a time Yep, this is why I chose truck driving as a job. I am looking to change out of it now after 12 years, but there's no short list of 'one thing at a time'jobs, and the ADHD has prevented me from learning programming so far. Regarding OP's question, when the tab counter on Firefox turns to infinity, I check the last ten tabs for anything really important, then take a deep breath and…

May I interest you the most potent dopamine kick for us with adhd? Build it, run it. For iOS development, that means rubbing the ink off of Cmd+R, Python in PyCharm is Ctrl+R, bash is uparrow+enter… The feeling of extreme frustration when things don’t compile and run, met quickly behind a rush of “hell yeah!” dopamine when things work - is an adhd brain’s white powder. However, keep in mind that over time, business s…

I've never more clearly understood why I love lisp.

Re: Ask HN: How do ADHD people cope on here?

#230

Post by Kosirich »

IanCal wrote: post #43
stared wrote: post #15

> There’s a never ending number of things I bookmark. One of the key features of ADHD is a never-ending list of things to do. Edward M. Hallowell (who wrote "Driven to Distraction") remarks that perhaps it is the most characteristic feature of ADHD. Previously, browser crashes saved my sanity— killing dozens of open tabs with fascinating articles. Now I try to let it go . In a Zen/stoic way, knowing that nothing will…

I've found asking myself "why am I doing what I'm doing" helps - I stop midway in comments and delete them because I realize there's nothing to gain for myself or others. Helps me with overeating as well, am I doing this because I'm hungry or bored? It doesn't have to be a classicly productive answer "it's fun" is clearly a good reason, but a nudge towards positive actions helps me personally. I understand some will…

"why am I doing what I'm doing" - this! As someone struggling myself, asking this question often helps
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