I used AI to make an app to help me with my ADHD(github.com) |
I used AI to make an app to help me with my ADHD(github.com) |
I used ai to generate this comment.
And for whatever reason, timers that counted down (as opposed to up) work much better for me.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smart-countdown-timer/id141070...
What it does is put a small countdown window[1] on my screen that is always on top and counting down. It's easy to start another "pomodoro" with a quick click or key combo.
Will it work for everyone? Doubtful.
Did it stick/work for me? Yep.
I don't think the iOS version would work for me, as it always being in my view seems to be the key for me.
1. Screenshot of the window on the original link at https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smart-countdown-timer/id141070...
Then I started working on something I actually enjoyed and realized that my ADHD was just me avoiding work I hated. I can go hours without taking a break now, so much so that it’s become a health problem.
I suspect many such self-diagnosed cases of ADHD are just people stuck doing work that’s not for them.
(Doesn’t apply to clinically diagnosed ADHD cases of course)
Just this morning I was late to an appointment that was really important, because I was really invested into fixing this bug I was working on. In the grand scheme of things that was a stupid decision, and if I had taken even 2 seconds to think about it I would have closed my laptop and went to my appointment. But I didn't stop to think: that's ADHD.
That's classic ADHD hyperfocus.
ADHD has an interesting image to many of us as something that has you running around unable to focus, but for a lot of us, it’s nothing like that. It’s much more about energy deficiency. I’ll use myself as an example, I never had an issue working a lot, I did 50+ hour weeks when I needed to, only for a period and with rest afterwards (but that’s sort of how Danish society works, if you work 50 hours one week then you can take two full days off the next, or later). My “strategy” and I put that in quotes because I didn’t know it was a strategy at the time, was to go to bed early in stressful periods. This broke when I had my first child, since you can just go directly to bed when you come home from work for obvious reasons. As well as changing motivations and so on. But really, you won’t have an issue with focus when you’re interested. What you will have an issue with is things you aren’t interested in, and while a lot of us can endure them, we spend more energy than other people while we do it.
A lot of us even have a lot of the H but are still capable of sitting in a seat for an entire day. Sitting, not sitting still mind you. I sit wrong, I’ve astonished basically every “ergonomic consultant” or whatever their job is that comes around Danish offices every now and then by how I’m not broken physically from how I sit when they watch. Well until one of them was so curious that she decided to spend more than the usual 5-10 minutes observing me and realised I don’t sit in the same position for long. I’m apparently the embodiment of “the next position is the best position”, which is fun and all, but you probably wouldn’t notice if you didn’t look, so my H wasn’t obvious in my childhood years. Because I can in fact sit through an entire day of school and not listen to 80% of what is said. Same is true for meetings that should’ve been an email. The only real difference is that I’m twice as tired as a normal person who was also bored through the same meeting.
So in a sense, what you’re describing is text book ADHD, and may not be an issue for you. At least until some external influences change your situation.
At the same time, I do kind of question the utility of the formal diagnosis. Why do I need to go to the doctor to have them tell me "you can only focus on interesting things"? Isn't that everyone to some degree? If we had an education system that was less boring and stupid, "ADHD" wouldn't be an illness.
Sure, but ADHD has a couple of others features that break from the norm:
* what you find "interesting" is seemingly completely arbitrary, can change in an instant, and is totally outside your control
* when you try to do something "uninteresting", the harder you try to focus on it the more difficult it is to do so.
So to answer your question, I think I would be happy for the reminder. But I would have to be careful not to build the habit of dismissing the clock, which would undo the point entirely.
It... sort of worked, for a bit, and then I just tuned it out. I still like it, sort of like having a grandfather clock, and it does slightly increase my awareness of time, but there's no change in my overall productivity.
It also has alot of customizable options and I think that fact that it's just a single Vue file wrapped in Electron makes it super hackable and easy to adjust to your own preferences too.
If you want to know for sure, your response to stimulant meds is really the best way of finding out, and typically an office would prescribe a week or two worth of meds after initial diagnosis, if you choose to go that route. If you do not have ADHD, the meds will make you high and hyperactive. If you do have ADHD, the stimulants will paradoxically make you calm, focused, and rational. This is called the 'paradoxical response' and is really the only medical differentiator between ADHD and non-ADHD folks. The explanation is that ADHD people have an understimulated prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision making and awareness. A stimulant medication boosts the prefrontal cortex, making you more present, aware of your surroundings, and in control of your thoughts and actions, but without putting you in hyperdrive as in the classic stimulant response. (If you don't respond well to meds, you might have bipolar or other issues which often present as executive disfunction and are misdiagnosed.)
I was diagnosed in my late 30's, and my only regret is not recognizing and getting help earlier. In retrospect it's caused me a huge amount of difficulty all throughout my life, and I used to blame myself for something I now know to be out of my control, yet fixed by medication.
Your living space may be cluttered or may become cluttered if you do not keep on top of it. Dishes can pile up and cleanup tasks feel insurmountable. Ironically, when you want to clean, you might hyper-focus into a mega deep clean.
You may also find that starting tasks is very difficult and you won’t until it become a crisis. Tasks with no clear “done criteria”, non-linear steps, or undefined processes will be the worst. You will either way over prepare or go in without any information and just wing it because it’s painful to get sucked into a rabbit hole. You might understand how badly this can (and will) turn out, but can’t seem to do anything about it.
You’ve also likely had many jobs, have an emotional hair trigger, tend burn bridges, cannot stand stupid in your life, but feel inadequate for, despite having good intentions, can’t seem to get anything done.
> Tasks with no clear “done criteria”, non-linear steps, or undefined processes will be the worst.
This was a major revelation for me. Even now in my 30s, I have to write out my own “acceptance criteria” for vague and ambiguous objectives at work to make sure I accomplish it, else it gets forever delayed in favor of smaller, more discrete tasks.
To be clear, I think this is the major differentiating aspect of ADHD. Most people suffer from everything else on your list to varying degrees, but if they actually care they can make changes. ADHD people can really, really WANT to change, yet end up making the same mistakes over and over and blaming themselves.
Still, if anyone deeply resonates with this ^ comment, you should seek psychiatric help. Whether your issue is ADHD, OCD, bipolar, or something else, there are meds or other interventions that help.
In my case I sought help only once my marriage and career were falling apart. Things are better now, but there's always room for improvement.