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Did you know that you have a very special gift? You do, it’s yours and it has been with you all of your life. It is the gift of Hyper-Focus. Some think of it as a curse and some think it has no purpose, but in truth, it is the most important part of our being.
There are many, many rituals people use to connect with their inner selves and become focused in the things which are of concern to them. It takes great effort to turn on the focused mode of the mind and create that awareness of understanding and comprehension, but for us ADDers this very same focus, what we call ‘Hyper-Focus’ is available to us all the time, every day, in every situation we can use it. Some take drugs to capture such focus and some meditate for days trying to create such a focused mode… and yet we ADDers find our focus factor each and every day, but there’s a problem: We usually do it on accident and at times which can be inconvenient.
~
Hyper-Focusing has many elements to it and some of them have negative ramifications. Without control our focus factor can really get us into some trouble, make us distracted, inattentive and seemingly unconcerned with what’s going on around us. Some ADDers even call it the void, the dark hole and many other negative terms.
The secret to capturing and using your Hyper-Focusing ability is to realize that it is turned on to what interests you. If you’re not interested it won’t work and worse still, if you are not interested in a situation that you find yourself involved in the focus factor turns itself on and takes your mind to something else which you are interested in. That’s why we seem to get distracted.
Some non ADDers spend their whole lives trying to find the type of focus we can call up in an instant. And yet many of us hate it, curse it and loath it. However, understanding the on and off switch to the focus factor can change ADDer lives.
Be interested. If we decide to interest our minds on any given subject we can become not only proficient, but experts. The Hyper-Focused mind of an ADDer can take in everything and anything, compute it and understand it and use it. When we are not interested in something, well, we know it right away and this is our warning sign that things could go wrong. To get interested start asking yourself questions about the subject, the more questions you ask, the more likely your mind will become interested. Too many of us write things and situations off because we know we will not be able to focus, but if we take a moment to look around and ask a few questions we can raise the awareness and attention of our minds. The more questions we ask, the more our mind gets involved and once we hit a key question or two the focus factor will click and like turning on a light switch our minds will wake up and take over!
ADDer children do this all the time. They ask so many questions and it is because as children we seem to already know what it takes to become involved and therefore interested. We usually give up on the questions at a young age because we tend to annoy those around us with those never ending questions. However, as we get older we should not stop asking questions, those questions have purpose and are very, very important. The questions don’t even need to be said aloud. That’s very important to know. Simply asking those questions internally can propel you to seek out the answers and turn on the Hyper-Focus mode, especially on subjects which appear to be boring on the surface. Einstein asked a lot of questions. If he truly was an ADDer then we can better understand why he asked those questions.
Ask and you shall receive!
~Bryan
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I also suffer from symptoms of ADHD-inattentive type and really appreciate the positive thinking regarding this. I am a therapist and of course despite my knowledge of disorders felt shame/denial/anger that I too have this disorder. I would tell myself… you got all A’s in your Masters program… you can’t have this… but what I have found after beginning my career is that I got those A’s because I LOVED what I was learning. No wonder I did so much better than I did in high school and my younger years. As a therapist I’m constantly busy writing notes, and having to be organized (which I dread)… what I’ve found is that I’m better suited for crisis work because I’m great at being hyperfocused and feel more comfortable when the situation is matching my mind.
It’s all about adaptation. Some therapists HATE the chaos of crisis work while I have difficulty in the lul of doing paperwork. Thank you for this blog!
Reply to VeronicaNice to meet you Veronica… your welcome
Reply to BryanHi Bryan.
I learn something new every day your site.
You mentioned:
“ADDer children do this all the time. They ask so many questions and it is because as children we seem to already know what it takes to become involved and therefore interested. We usually give up on the questions at a young age because we tend to annoy those around us with those never ending questions.”
Boy does that describe me. I always asked a lot of questions and really annoyed my parents, teachers, and others. I did tend to stop asking the questions for that reason.
I had never realized that it was due to ADD and Hyper-focusing.
I don’t remember you mentioning anything in your book about asking a lot of questions and annoying people with it. I may be wrong since I don’t have the best comprehension when reading.
Thanks for the insight.
Steve
Reply to SteveYour welcome Steve, I am glad you find information and ideas on my site you an relate to. Don’t worry, I am sure you will re-read my book again some time soon. I think that’s one of the things I enjoy hearing the most when people write to me, that they have read my book several times! I am sure you will to
~Bryan
Reply to BryanThank you Brian,
I have been searching for an answer and you may have helped me find it.
I’ve been describing myself as having the opposite of ADHD for years. I lock into something so hard that I don’t hear people talk to me. For lack of a better name, some refer to is as “that asshole” syndrome, haha. I’ve sure pissed off a lot of people unintentionally. I simply don’t hear them.
Put to good use, I have always focused on a goal, and hyperfocus has gotten met there. Could this be hereditary? My great grandfather owned his own business, my grandmother hers, my father and his sister and brothers all started businesses, and now I have and my sister and brother. The deturmination and focus is the one common key we all have. People tease me about it.
My father also has concentrated on a hobby, and exploited it until he was the best, and then started something new. He went from building, to sailboat racing, to breading animals for show to golf to furniture making, to racing pigeons to religion. ALL consumed him completely until he was the best or as far as he could go, and then he drops it. Do you find this trait consistent with hyperfocus?
C Tyler
Reply to C TylerC Tyler,
I think you would be amazed at similar things I mention through-out my book. Yes, I agree with you on all accounts. Please be sure to get with a specialist if you need assistance. You may also want to join our ADDer World group at http://www.adderworld.ning.com
~Bryan
Reply to BryanI think perhaps you may be interested in what I can contribute.
Reply to ~LaurieUnprovided with original learning, uninformed in the habits of thinking and unskillfulful in the art of creativity, I set out to write a book on ADD. My first short story is called, Home
on Deranged. Much more. Please contact.
Hey Brian,
I’m not sure yet if I have ADD, but big chance I have, I was just looking for an answer on how to trigger hyperfocus and what it really was. It got me doubting, cause I can’t really remember being so caught up in something that for example I couldn’t hear someone talking to me. But then I thought harder and when I’m at the computer or watching tv my mother is often talking to me and telling me things I still have to do (like cleaning up my room, which I agree with, that it’s messy, but I know where everything is and it’s kind of an organized chaos to me, which I can’t live without) and then she has to tell me four or five times what she said, but at the third time or something she usually already gets angry and asks me “What did I just say to you?” or “What did you have to do?”. Then I answer something like: “Uhh… brush my teeth and ehh… do the dishes or something?” And she summes everything up again and most of the time it turns out I didn’t even hear half the things she mentioned before and five minutes later I forget what she said again, unless I keep repeating the list in my mind.
Damn, there my mind goes wandering off again, I don’t even know what I wanted to type anymore.
I just read back and I wanted to say that it might help for other people, just like it helps me, to have in earplugs (and listening to music), kind of, constantly. It helps for me to focus better and I think I know why.
The earplugs I have, are the kind that have those removable caps, so you can switch those to a bigger or smaller size. Then it can fit perfectly in your ear and blocks out other sounds. Even if you aren’t listening to music or anything, a lot of white noise gets blocked out and I’ve noticed that really helps. (I have Senheiser by the way, I don’t know if other brands make those kind of earplugs, but I think there are some.)
Hardly hearing other things, makes it easier for me to concentrate on the things I can’t concentrate on. That might sound like a contradiction, but it’s not, it’s a paradox, because the little things I dó hear, I remember or they stick in my short memory brain things for a while. So they make me wanna know ‘what that thing was again’ and other things like that. (I can’t really explain what I mean here with this point, maybe you should just try it.)
Also, like I said, I can hardly hear when someone is talking to me with those earplugs in, but I actually like that, because most of the times they’re just talking about useless stuff or repeating things and I can pretend not to hear them (‘them’ can be people at home or at school / my mother, brother, classmates or other friends).
I pretend not to hear them, because I just want to be left alone to concentrate or ‘save up’ a little concentration to use right away after saving it up (like in class, if we have a few minutes when the teacher is out to copy someting or whatever) I immediately get my earplugs in (if I don’t already have them in) and then I don’t want to be disturbed. I can just pretend not to hear other people then, cause they know I have my earplugs in and that I always have my music on loud, so I sometimes don’t hear them. To tell the truth most of the time I dó hear them. In the far background that is, but still. The concentration does break a little when I hear someone is talking to me, so I automatically start focusing on not hearing them. But at least I can be left alone (at least that’s what I hope, some people demand my attention, which I hate. Then they come stand right in front of me or tap me or poke me or something like that -I don’t like being touched unless I see it coming or like the person etc. So it’s twice as anoyying.)
Anyway, I’m really talking sht, I’m sorry for that. I actually just wanted to say, the part about asking questions helped me most, though as a child (not that I’m that old – 16) I never really did ask questions out loud. I always kept them to myself, because I wanted to figure things out by myself and I usually easily did. Which also made things they asked other kids (the whole class, including me, but I never felt/feel like the question/learning stuff/whatever was adressed to me personally or something) seem so simple, I thought what I had figured out, couldn’t be the answer. I often did feel kinda passed by or like I missed a shot to show I’m smart too, because I did know the right answer.
When I was writing all this when I was at the second part, I had to break out of the little window you have to write in, because I didn’t have the space or overview of what I was writing like, so I got all tense and stressed and sort of slightly started hyperventilating, that happens sometimes, but I have it under control and luckily it mostly happens when I’m alone. I wanted to put it in notepad, which I use a lot because I find it convenient since there’s no fancy writing or anything like that, just plain text. Anyway, I clicked on all three of the opened notepadsheets I had left open and that reminded me of the things I still had to do.
Again, I’m really, really, really very sorry about this long thing, I never ment it to be this long and about nothing. In fact I don’t even like it myself when people start talking about things that are off the main point, which I’m doing right now I suppose… One last think I would like to say, is that I cán write better than what I just did (in a more interesting tone I mean), but it’s about 6.20 AM here right now and I didn’t sleep yet. Either way apologies for that as well.
Reply to AylianIf you read it; thank you, I really appreciate it, I hope for a reply or something, positive or negative doesn’t matter.
Aylian,
I enjoyed your reply and thank you for joining http://www.adderworld.ning.com I am sure we will talk more over there too. Don’t worry about how long your posts are, just write what you want to. If others want to read it then they can see how long it is. Yeah, I am like you, I usually write in WORD and then copy paste into comment boxes, so much easier that way. The ear plugs thing is a good idea and with that I have a post you might enjoy here:
http://www.adderworld.com/blog1/2007/11/29/white-noise-and-instrumental-music-helps-my-add-adhd-mind-function-and-other-helpful-stuff/
Enjoy and thank you for your comments!
~Bryan
Reply to BryanI have recently been rediscovering hyperfocusing and its practice as a form of self meditation. Earlier tonight I remembered a method that helps me to intentionally zone out the world while keeping my mind highly focused and active. It is the age-old past-time of stargazing. Just find a nice comfortable position to lay back so muscle fatigue and tightness don’t affect your attempt to focus, and pick a star.
Being a tiny spec of light makes it perfect to practice hyperfocusing. I found a few interesting things. One interesting thing I found is that as I focused more on the star i picked, everything else on the outside field of my view seemingly started to blur or darken even though my eyes were wide open. It seemed odd and slightly worrysome at first but as soon as I moved my eyes everything came back into view. This would happen every time I really started to stay focused on just the star, and I soon became comfortable when I realized that my mind was helping to tune out everything but the star i was focusing on. At some point, I was finally able to mentally tune out everything in my field of view but the one point of light I was focusing on.
The spot I was stargazing from was the passenger my car since it is cold here right now, and after some amount of time a neighbor pulled his truck into the spot next to me. I was suddenly distracted, looked around, and then realized that having been in such a focused state while my mind was awake and active had left me with a greater sense of calm at that moment than I had felt in awhile.
Getting into that focused state while looking at a star had taken some time, but it is an easy approach to practice. Like the article mentioned, I found finding things to be interested in helped. I found myself wondering what the shape of the star was, what it’s true color was, how far it was, etc.. After running out of ways to describe it, I just started “wondering” more about it and became more focused the more I did. I think that if I could get to the same state of focus with a star quicker and quicker, than it would be easier to reapply it to other things.
Reply to SeanSean, Quit doubting yourself
you wrote something very clearly
Reply to emre