6 ms·

The number one tip I always give is to write down everything you think off when you get off topic and start drifting around. I don't know what's happening neuro

reitanqild 9y ago
The number one tip I always give is to write down everything you think off when you get off topic and start drifting around. I don't know what's happening neurologically, but it trains you to snap back once your train of focus breaks, it might not work for everyone, but I got pretty good results. It's also helped me with forgetfulness. Another way that might help some people is to write down whatever you are about to drift into, the keep focus until timebox is finished (pomodoro technique). The best explanations I have are: As far as I am aware ADDers tend to have shorter stacks (3-4 compared to 5-7 shortterm memory slots). (My theory.) Many productive ADDers are keenly aware of this and the fact that if it slips now it might never come back until it is too late. This causes stress and you want to follow the train of thought even if it is unrelated to what you should do now. (I.e.: oops, I see something that reminds me that I need to call <x> today, I know I'll forget it as soon as I focus on my code again. Write one line: call <x> about <y>. Continue work. When your timer finishes: do call <x> immediately after stopping work (somewhat different from pomodoro but adapted for this kind of ADD). So in short: if you can, write down the interruption, then finish whatever you were doing but use a "timebox" to remind yourself to stop, "snapshot" your work (comments, journal, commit as far as possible) and then take the call, stretch, grab the water or coffe you tried to interrupt yourself with and be on track again. Of course this is the ideal flow. I have sympathy for people with ADD as it seems they have to work harder and smarter to get the same results as others.

reitanqild 9y ago

The number one tip I always give is to write down everything you think off when you get off topic and start drifting around. I don't know what's happening neurologically, but it trains you to snap back once your train of focus breaks, it might not work for everyone, but I got pretty good results. It's also helped me with forgetfulness. Another way that might help some people is to write down whatever you are about to drift into, the keep focus until timebox is finished (pomodoro technique). The best explanations I have are: As far as I am aware ADDers tend to have shorter stacks (3-4 compared to 5-7 shortterm memory slots). (My theory.) Many productive ADDers are keenly aware of this and the fact that if it slips now it might never come back until it is too late. This causes stress and you want to follow the train of thought even if it is unrelated to what you should do now. (I.e.: oops, I see something that reminds me that I need to call <x> today, I know I'll forget it as soon as I focus on my code again. Write one line: call <x> about <y>. Continue work. When your timer finishes: do call <x> immediately after stopping work (somewhat different from pomodoro but adapted for this kind of ADD). So in short: if you can, write down the interruption, then finish whatever you were doing but use a "timebox" to remind yourself to stop, "snapshot" your work (comments, journal, commit as far as possible) and then take the call, stretch, grab the water or coffe you tried to interrupt yourself with and be on track again. Of course this is the ideal flow. I have sympathy for people with ADD as it seems they have to work harder and smarter to get the same results as others.