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Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

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Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#681

Post by jwozn »

thunkshift1 wrote: post #361
jwozn wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got an e-ink notepad, which helped organize my thoughts better than the 10 different legal pads I would jump between. Still disorganized, but at least now my notes for a single topic are in one place. For a calendar, my wife hung this acrylic calendar on the kitchen wall and we update it at the beginning of every month. I try to add things as they come up, and I often forget to add things if they are in future mont…

Which notepad?

Remarkable. I really like it. There are a lot out there now: Supernote and Fujitsu Quaderno seem like high-quality products; Onyx Boox has more features; Kindle Scribe is out now, too, and the reviews are good.

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#682

Post by idlewords »

positus wrote: post #142
idlewords wrote: post #70

ADHD is medicalizing a set of mental habits that many smart people form early in life partly out of boredom, and partly because they can get away with it. The criteria for diagnosing it in adults are impossibly vague and ad-hoc, and I have yet to meet anyone who went through the evaluation process who wasn't diagnosed with it. By all means have at it if you enjoy legal access to terrific stimulants (they really do he…

I strongly disagree and think you should consider watching the following: ADHD: Essential Ideas for Parents - Dr. Russell Barkley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfCdBBqNXY

That's a super interesting presentation. Thanks for sharing it!

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#683

Post by TheRealHB »

kamaal wrote: post #623
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

Do you have pictures of the set up? Do share for the benefit of the masses.

Sure,

May do a pic later when back home, meanwhile... I used this ESP32 board, it has RGB LED right in the middle, here is a web picture of one: https://dfimg.dfrobot.com/nobody/wiki/8a1de42ec21a99f36f69da...

Its a Fire Beetle ESP32 E V.1.0, I bought cheap My whole set is similar (not the same, not my picture) to this: https://pic-microcontroller.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/B...

Enjoy !

; )

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#684

Post by maliker »

TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

ChatGPT coded up a simple python script to do this for me if anyone would like to test it out.

Here's the script: https://gist.github.com/dpinney/a3c0b1f333ef89748fa12d057a55...

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#686

Post by JohnBooty »

corobo wrote: post #663
JohnBooty wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the biggest takeaway from David Allen's "Getting Things Done" book (which was hugely popular in the early 2000s) was that todo lists require aggressive pruning. Otherwise they work well at first but quickly become giant guilt piles, aka "54 tasks remaining for the day" syndrome. (Also then you never get the satisfaction of clearing your daily list, because it is one neverending eternal infinite list) Which of…

I'll give that a read, ta for the pointer. It's been on my to-read list for a long while but y'know, ADHD, haha. Bumped it up the list. In the meantime I'll give my task list a realistic "when does this really need doing, if at all" audit, nice one

The total system he prescribes is perhaps a little elaborate, in many peoples' opinions.

Some people have great success with his system as described! I don't want to prejudice your thinking!

But I think perhaps 10x as many people found a lot of value from the principles he describes and adopting the bits of his system that work for them. (I am one of them) I'm just mentioning that in case you start reading and think "uhhhh this is overkill".

Above all else: good luck!!

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#687

Post by TheRealHB »

timsayshey wrote: post #559
TheRealHB wrote: post #54

The Blinking LED, A simple Hack that still works for me after years: 1. Place a tiny LED (red or yellow) by the side of your monitor or virtually on the screen corner. Basically anywhere almost bordering your field of view. 2. Make it blink like a fast heartbeat (120-150 bpm) and gradually slowdown to around 60 bpm (or your slow heartbeat base). Make the slope approx 20 to 60 minutes (you can adjust the best rate by…

Inspired by this post I threw together a new open source desktop app that has an annoying always on top window that has a flashing timer, this seems to accomplish the same thing. https://github.com/timsayshey/cringe-clock

That's cool! I get stressed just looking at it ; )

Jokes aside, whatever works...

For me a side device with a pulsating red light with a heart sync for the lope do the gig!

Deadlines comes free.

Nice one!

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#688

Post by charles_f »

chx wrote: post #605
charles_f wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the morning routine and "at the end of the day" journaling are things that I never successfully implemented. Thanks for pointing to body doubling and anti planner. They seem like interesting concepts. Do you have any others that are worth checking?

Follow Jesse Anderson's Extra Focus substack (there's a book too), his newsletter helps you understand ADHD much more than anything I know of. And there are useful tips too. Remember, if it works for you, it's not weird :)

Thanks!!

I don't trust every Jesse Anderson's advice on adhd

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Anderson

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#689

Post by red-iron-pine »

sumthingsumthng wrote: post #505
slipperlobster wrote: post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My issue with reading is that my eyes will continue on while my brain has already left the station, so to speak. I'll end up having to go back and re-read sentences/paragraphs. I started doing some research (prior to speaking with my psychiatrist) and started noticing some ADHD-esque behaviors in my toddler. I'm not looking to get them diagnosed (yet?), because who knows what is "normal young kid inattentiveness and…

take good care of the kids nutrition. read up on it. take it serious. let it eat clean. don't fuck this up. the connection between ADHD and nutrition is brutally underrated, in terms of amounts per meal, intake of food additives and the mix as well. if starchy carbs, then very little fat and little protein. if meat, then no bread, no potatoes, no noodles or similar stuff at all. veggies are always fine except if the…

this is something I have long thought about. carbs make me batty.

doing keto made my skin look much better, but also helped me focus, and I found it was easier to sleep. whenever I had cheat days and crushed like half a pizza I found I immediately was exhausted and had trouble focusing.

also coffee vs. tea. switching to tea every other day instead of coffee really dove home how much of an impact coffee has on things like serotonin[1].

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35345760/#:~:text=Excessive%....

Re: Hacking ADHD: Strategies for the modern developer

#690

Post by mattnewton »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #660
mattnewton wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you would blind the participants to the effect you are looking to measure. If they don’t know what to expect or what conditions there are, they can still get a placebo effect from random patterns.

> you would blind the participants to the effect you are looking to measure. If they don’t know what to expect or what conditions there are, they can still get a placebo effect from random patterns. Maybe. Generally you'd do a manipulation check at the end to ensure that people couldn't identify what condition they were in. Additionally, that's single blind rather than double blind.

The researchers can be blinded by not experiencing the intervention and handing out identical looking devices. You’re right that you would need a manipulation check at the end but this experiment is totally design-able properly.
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