Hyperfocus
The first in this series of posts is on hyper-focus. Everyone seems to know that ADHDers have trouble focusing their attention for any length of time. The flip side of the coin though is that if we are really interested in an activity or subject we can hyper-focus. Normally we would be distracted by every little thing, now the house could burn to the ground and we would hardly notice.
But like most tools we must learn to use it effectively. When I discovered that I could hyper-focus I thought it was great and I got busy working on my website. The down side of a short term hyper-focus was that I was not eating, sleeping or even showering as I should have. I even became dehydrated. The hours disappeared and I didn’t notice or even care. After several days I was a wreck. I learned to care.
To solve this problem I set the kitchen timer for a couple of hours and keep a tall glass of ice water next to me. When the timer goes off I get up and take a break, get some food, refill the water glass. If I don’t stop when the timer goes off though it will be hours before I notice.
The long term hyperfocus is different. You may forget appointments, or forget to pay bills. This is where an electronic PDA is worth it’s weight in gold. Most of the smart phones have a PDA built in. If you set the alarm when you have an appointment it will remind you with a chime.
