wild~hair

It's important to remember than any of these behaviors are on a spectrum, so what seems impossible to you, tmmy_cat, feels fairly similar to someone on the other end of the spectrum, but to a much lesser degree, and so they can manage to overcome it.

One way of looking at it: they might find, say, doing their taxes to be boring. But they are able to put their mind on the outcome and get it done. Whereas someone with ADHD might not be able to get past how boring it is, even if the outcome is something they want.

That said, I hope this post doesn't come off as me saying people with ADHD don't have willpower or something. I know it's not that simple. I liken it to depression, where some people don't feel it as strongly and can therefore bounce back, whereas someone like me needs extra help.

tc

oic ... well that makes more sense. I didn't realize that the boring tasks were actually not possible for some people. I think I am in the "buckle down and really hate it but get it done if I have to" category.

but on second thought there are some things that are are just way too overwhelming for me. if it is boring AND unnecessary then I just can't do it. for example I can't wash a 4-foot tall pile of clothes that I don't like to wear. no frikkin' way. I can get them to the thrift store and leave them there! But I can't motivate myself to wash them. I guess that falls into the "unable to do something boring" category but I don't think it's anything that I would want to change. that's just me keeping my to-do list short and my belongings simple so that I don't get too bogged down. I get bogged down if I have too much stuff.

wild~hair

Well, like I said, it's on a spectrum and everyone's idea of "boring" or "unmanageable" is different.

badgercurls

Wow, I can really relate to this! I never thought about it in this way before, but there are a lot of things I put off doing because they seem daunting even though they're really all that difficult l: doing laundry, cleaning, and yes, mailing things! Cleaning out the cat box would be up there, too, but my SO does it most of the time because he's awesome. It's really irrational because there are a lot of things that are physically and mentally harder than doing laundry or mailing my paycheck to my bank that I can do with no problem, but somehow these things seem really difficult.

I really, really love the Bunny Bucket idea and may steal it. I waste at least five minutes a day locating my keys and cell phone, every single day.

ruralcurls

Ever since Suburbanbushbabe posted a while ago about her realizing this when she read those books, I have been wondering if I could have this, too. But I am afraid to get an evaluation for the reason above. My husband already suffers from depression, I can only imagine what the rates would be if I had ADD.

Insurance is offered at my husband's new employer, but it will cost us $800 a month, plus 10%. We are better off getting it on our own.

I think I am going to get "Delivered from Distraction". I didn't realize there were non-drug related strategies available.

tc

what are some of the non-drug strategies they recommend btw? I am curious.

Suburbanbushbabe

Check out the book, it's available in the library.

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Suburbanbushbabe

My prescription says take every day. They do metabolize quickly, even the extended release ones. Except for one that lasts 10 hours.

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tc

darnit! well, I will google it and see what comes up. (I don't know if I can motivate myself to sign up a library card for just one book.)

ruralcurls

I am on the waiting list at my library. I will let you know how it is, if I remember.

tc

thanks! I'm probably just being lazy...haha.

speaking of ADD there's a guy at work who sometimes has trouble concentrating or trouble reading and I now wonder if he has ADD. like our tester writes 2 comments about 2 separate bugs in his code, and he only "sees" one of the comments even after I point out that there's two. Sometimes I can be pretty unsympathetic with people who don't read something that's right in front of their face because when I look at it, it just jumps out at me and it seems obvious. I actually got in trouble at work because I was impatient with him in one of these situations. my supervisor found out that I was rude to him and told me to let him handle it instead of me if I'm feeling impatient whatsoever with this guy. ok, that's fine...

Anyway, my question is ...
If you have ADD and you know you are not very good at concentrating on X, wouldn't you just gravitate towards jobs that don't involve X? I mean, if this guy finds it really difficult to concentrate on reading then wouldn't he just gravitate towards jobs that are more tactile and verbal because those jobs would feel more interesting to him? If it's difficult to concentrate on X then X must be really boring to that person, and why would anyone choose a boring job if they have a choice?
Or is that really ignorant of me??

for example I am really, REALLY bad at keeping track of physical objects, their locations, trying to keep everything organized in the physical world ... etc. But with ideas and concepts and "digital" stuff like that, I'm fascinated and organized and it's easy to concentrate.
So I gravitate towards software development and it's a perfect match for me. Someting tactile and "physical" like, say, flipping houses - would be a terrible and frustrating job for me. even if I could make more money with a different job I would still want to stick to something that's interesting and something I'm good at. Maybe I'm just being completely ignorant though...I'm not sure how it works.