People often think ADHD means being unable to concentrate. It’s more subtle than that. On a subject that fascinates you, you can stay focused for hours, forget to eat, stop hearing what’s going on around you. This is what’s known as hyperfocus.
So ADHD isn’t a lack of attention. It’s difficulty directing your attention where you decide it should go.
Why hyperfocus happens
The ADHD brain latches on to whatever gives it stimulation: a fascinating subject, a challenge, something new, something urgent. When those conditions come together, it can slip into a very deep state of concentration. The problem is that it’s very hard to get out of, and even harder to trigger on demand.
When it’s a strength
Used well, hyperfocus is a rare strength. Many entrepreneurs, creatives and freelancers with ADHD owe their best work to it: a project wrapped up in a weekend, an idea taken all the way, a skill learnt in record time.
When it’s a trap
Hyperfocus doesn’t always pick the right subject. It can absorb you for four hours on an unimportant detail while the urgent task sits waiting. It can make you forget an appointment, a meal or an important call. And it often ends in sudden exhaustion, like a battery that drains all at once.
Making hyperfocus work for you
1. Prepare the ground
You can’t force hyperfocus, but you can prepare the ground for it. Keep your quietest stretches of time for the tasks that really matter, and make them as stimulating as possible.
2. Set up safeguards before you start
Before you dive into something absorbing, set an alarm for your next commitment. Not to interrupt you in full flow, but so you don’t miss what can’t wait.
3. Plan your way out
Coming out of hyperfocus is hard. A transition helps: get up, drink a glass of water, jot down in one line where you stopped. It also makes picking things up again much easier.
4. Recover afterwards
A long spell of hyperfocus costs energy. Plan some quiet time afterwards, rather than going straight on to something else and crashing in the evening.
What we work on in coaching
In my programme, you learn to spot what triggers your hyperfocus and what it costs you, so you can use it on what matters. It’s one of the common threads of Block 3, “Execution and priorities”, and it also affects your energy, which we work on in Block 2.