I don't have hyper focus
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I definitely have ADHD and I have battled with it my entire life. I have made a lot of progress with it in recent years. But I keep coming across hyper focus. Every website talks about this crazy ability to hyper focus. But I just don’t seem to have it. I can be engaged and focus on somethings but I don’t relate to this crazy ability to tune everything out and hyper focus on a task. Does anyone else have any experience with this? Thank you.
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Hyperfocus is really outside of your control, for the most part. You can’t just decide to hyperfocus and have it be so. It’s more about getting so engrossed in something that you’re interested in or passionate about that you’re super focused on it.
The neurology of the ADHD brain is such that motivation is triggered by urgency and interest, not be importance, as in a neurotypical brain.
Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Author & Mentor on Parenting ADHD, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism -
Patrick, I’m not sure hyperfocus is quite the right word, at least for me. It’s more like an island focus. I will focus on things I really care about, that have deep meaning to me, but on things I don’t care about or are really tedious, I have no patience. I will find any reason to get away from those tasks and any disturbance will pull me away. But if I care about it that’s another story. I will focus on something because it’s satisfying. The thing is, I don’t really have a choice. The reasonable thing to focus on doesn’t happen. I’m sitting here typing to you because right now this subject of ADHD is something I really care about. So here I am typing to someone I don’t know, and have never met. By all accounts I should not be wasting my time typing to you. Please don’t take this as an insult. It just is. I’m always on the lookout for one thing to focus on. The alternative, especially if there are a bunch of things I have to work on, is my head spinning from task to task.
Hope that helps.
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I’ve been in situations of hyper focus my entire life. My parents used to yell at me if I got “engrossed “ in a TV show or movie. Or sometimes I would catch myself digging the lint out of the hair dryer!! Time was of little importance for me, and I couldn’t help myself.
It’s usually the small, insignificant things that would hold my attention. I never understood why. I was diagnosed 2 months ago, so I’m hoping that things will be a little easier for me. Hope this helps make sense to you. -
aw, patrick. me too. i feel bad about myself because i never overfocus on tasks… and im not sure about me doing well under pressure either. i mostly listen, not like how adhd websites’s lists tell me that usually people with attention disorders tend to talk a lot out of turn and not listen. sometimes its awful, because if not this then what else am i? i dont know what else i am. i probably have some sort of social disorder along with my add, so that explains some symptoms, but this hyperfocus thing… i get pissed off because i get all the awful things too but i dont get to Cool Hyperfocused Drive! that everyone talks of. if i do, it will only be watching niche youtube videos about bees, and even then i get easily bored. im sorry i dont have much to help you with this haha. i hope we both find out more about ourselves soon! best of luck to you.
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There is nothing cool or beneficial about hyperfocus. As was mentioned above, it’s not something that can be controlled. Meaning, you can’t decide when to turn it on, and even worse, you can’t decide when to turn it off.
If you don’t get it, you’ve lucked out.
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of course, jboom. im sorry i seem to make light of the symptom, its just that whenever people talk about the good parts of their adhd this often pops out and i feel bitter, lol. of course its not all sunshine and rainbows.
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An object of hyperfocus is like a black hole of attention. It sucks all the focus inward, and none can escape. But I also see how a black hole can sound kind of nice to someone who’s attention is just floating aimlessly through space.
My experience with hyperfocus is that sometimes it feels like a super power but other times I have to purposefully avoid doing things I love because I know if I start I won’t be able to stop. If I don’t have 8 hours straight to work on some art project then I just can’t even work on it at all. A lot of the time it is my inability to break hyperfocus that leads to my inattentive symptoms.
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