It seems like many of us are the types that require a lot of physical presence to our tools or it becomes out of sight, out of mind. We often keep our necessary things out in the open. Adversely, TikTok has shared the concept of "doom boxes" where we shove all of the non-essentials into various boxes and bags and put them away so they're no longer a problem.
When I could stick to bullet journaling, having the type of notebook that could easily lie open really worked for keeping me on task, so the whiteboard also feels like that. Maybe tie a string to the pen that hangs from the board. 
I say do it! Part of adulthood is scheduling requisite things. I consider video games the mental version of the physical exercise that can help calm our physical agitation, so I think planning specific games and playtimes is a great idea. Picking a game ahead of time might also help with the analysis paralysis.
My whiteboard, which I mainly used to track work info (targets, running projects, etc.), hasn't seen much use lately. For me, listing backlog games would only make me feel more guilty for not playing them - and I already use GOG Galaxy for that.
I might try it for more specific game info though: I'm playing Hades now, and am chasing some achievements and more completed runs. I will try using it for that: eg. next steps into getting certain achievements, instead of having to surf to trueachievements each time.
There are so many games I want to commit to, but just lose interest after an hour or two. I want to like them, I want to have the staying power to see them through longer, and just am not finding the motivation.
Due to weather, important Dr. appointments keep getting pushed, so I'm still as-of-yet unmedicated. I am aware that medication isn't a cure-all, and a lot of this will require personal work. It's just so hard to not start down the road of "once I'm on medication, then..." about nearly everything in my life right now.
For games (or anything I feel I should be interested in) I hit a point where I want to pay attention and follow along, however attempting to do so makes me drowsy and I want or need to shut down. Maybe it's just lack of sleep interfering with focus, however I do find that I'll be wide awake and alert, and as soon as I sit down to focus my brain just... shut's off. It's like there's this 1-2 punch of "cant' compute; shutting down now. However once I stop doing that thing, and divert to a new task, my brain snaps to attention and I'm back to being alert and focused...until I try playing that game again, and I'm back to shutdown sequence within minutes. It makes getting a few hours into any game a bit overwhelming at times.
I work through these moods by playing ARPGs and Roguelikes that are "quick hit" games anyway. Just bounce from one to the next with a workout or some reading in between. Assuming you're not using them as an escape from work lol.
Hi friends!
I've been procrastinating on posting on the forums for literal years now and was invited to jump in here, so I figure I can use this as an excuse to get in.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child in the 90's, during that period when every energetic/annoying child was being diagnosed with ADHD then drugged up, and had the fun experience of watching all of my friends outgrow it while I continued to fail at seemingly basic tasks. I was medicated as kid, but then some life stuff happened and I went off my meds through most of high school. I was surprisingly confident and social during that period, but struggled with the structure of standard academia. I grew into adulthood, faced the great recession, and after years of not addressing it now have the fun trifecta of anxiety-depression-ADHD!
These days I'm taking focus meds and sad meds but still struggle sometimes. I've found a professional niche for myself in Operation Excellence where my job is being a professional efficiency enthusiast by examining established processes and figuring out ways to make it simpler or faster. It give me a very satisfying space where I'm constantly experimenting with new ways of doing things, but also trying to establish good structured organization.
I've been a gamer my entire life, and what Amoebic said about the dopamine hit from actions and rewards in a structured environment rings very true to my experience. Right now I'm mainly playing Elden Ring (who isn't?) and ohhhhhh boy it feels genuinely addictive to me. Like, it might be a problem how much it pulls me in and how difficult it is for me to willingly stop playing. I'm at about 150 hours right now and still going strong. Other games I've found to be highly addictive; shapez.io, mini metro, Breath of the Wild, Pokemon Arceus, Stellaris, mostly anything that has an element of exploration and structured growth. (I love watching numbers go up)
Well that's my experience!
I hope you're all having a great day.
It's interesting how in the last five years or so, companies and government have started to seek us out for particular roles. I'm willing to bet a large majority of programmers, computer geeks and engineers and so forth are at least ADHD. And with some understanding, there are a ton of good careers out there for us.
Even the intelligence agencies have started looking for these traits. Pattern-matching skills crossed with oddball thinking is appealing to them.
hold on I can put this on my resume now?!
Oh man, if anyone here could give tips on job hunting for ADHD friendly roles then I'm all ears.
I don't _hate_ my current job, but I definitely feel like I could do better and want to get away from military contacts.
I always mention it, and the OCD, in interviews (albeit the last one was six years back). I don't want to work for a place that doesn't react well to it. I explain how it affects my work habits, what it's good for, what I have to fight against, and that I don't test well.
People every time rush to tell me about who they know with similar issues. So far, anyway. 
Or about their own experiences.
What strategies do you folks use to avoid addictive behaviors?
Sometimes hyper focus is useful, like when I have a deadline to turn something in tomorrow, but it tends to be more of a hazard in day-to-day life where I can't spend five hours obsessing over something because I need to cook dinner and do dishes.
I spend an awful lot of time refreshing social media and browsing short videos on YouTube rather than doing anything that's actually engaging. It's not a good strategy and I desperately need a new one, but it's what I have currently.
It makes sense that for work I am a project manager that leads teams who implement the work and I am constantly keeping them on track but also problem solving all the time. It allows me to keep everything fresh with new issues and somehow I keep it organized. Ticks the shiny new thing problem and slight focus need from it all.
Now that said, I still will easily forget things or really procrastinate. That is my big issue. If we lose sight of it I don't have a great way to keep it in front of me.
... that said, I still will easily forget things or really procrastinate. That is my big issue. If we lose sight of it I don't have a great way to keep it in front of me.
Same here. I try to warn my managers that if I don't get written instructions I'm likely to forget it. I try to take notes myself, but I still try to let them know what's up.
I just ask people to email or text requests. "Get them into the system and I will get to them." is a good redirect.
So, I had my screening test yesterday. There was a 300ish questionnaire to start, then a whole slew of different tests ranging from trying to define vocabulary words, to watching a screen for 20 minutes and clicking a button when certain critera are met (I later learned that it was a TOVA test), to a bunch of timed pattern recognition tests.
Weirdly the whole experience was more stressful than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure if that was part of the test, but I started getting very anxious about if my answers during the tests were the "right" ones and so I would get some sort of wrong assessment in the end. At the same time I still enjoyed the tests as it gave my brain something to do and get engaged trying to solve some problems.
Overall I'm happy that I did the assessment, but at the same time I'm worried about what the results are going to show. I get the results sometime within the next three weeks, so I guess it's just a waiting game until then.
Oh wow, my people! I just read through this whoooole thread and my god I feel the struggle. When I was a kid I was diagnosed with "hyperactivity" because it wasn't called ADHD back then. I've never been on medication for it, but my god have I dealt with it my whole life, ESPECIALLY with gaming. The amount of games I've played is in the thousands. The amount of games I've FINISHED is maybe in the twenties or thirties. Seriously, it's REALLY rare for me to stick with a game long enough to finish it. I keep chasing that dragon though, and eventually will find some games that lock me in, though it's really rare.
I tell ya though, streaming has REALLY helped with this because it's forced me to be accountable and finish something. I finished Mass Effects 2 and 3 this way, as well as a few other games, and am on my way to finishing Yakuza: Like a Dragon because it forces me to stay on task.
Anyway, good to read these stories and know I'm not alone in this. Thank you everyone for sharing.
At the same time I still enjoyed the tests as it gave my brain something to do and get engaged trying to solve some problems.
As I understand it, that can be a real issue with ADHD diagnosis. Or at least it was back in the late 90s when I was getting evaluated. Maybe they've figured out how to account for that by now? One would think so, but I'm not optimistic.
I was diagnosed in 2004. I described in detail how I am either hopping from task to task (at work) several times an hour, or zeroing in on something for 6, 8, 12 hours at a go ignoring everything else and running at top gear. For me, it was a benefit in my job, which required both frequent task changing and, on occasion, deep dives. For the psychiatrist, it was a blatant flag that said "ADHD".
Of course, that's the side that we chose not to treat precisely because it's useful to me. So the OCD is what got the works.
Do y'all have any suggestions for handling too many emails?
One of the biggest threats to my productivity is information overload. If emails are not completely clear about what they're asking me to do, then it takes up space in my head. I recently got kind of a lateral promotion, and now I'm getting some twenty emails per day with "just wanted you to know..." kind of info. It's too much. I can't handle it and I can see my productivity slipping as I try to manage it.
I've been told it would be unprofessional to tell people to stop emailing me, but seriously, they're notifying me of things I absolutely can't do anything about.
I snooze things ALL THE TIME.
Do y'all have any suggestions for handling too many emails?
One of the biggest threats to my productivity is information overload. If emails are not completely clear about what they're asking me to do, then it takes up space in my head. I recently got kind of a lateral promotion, and now I'm getting some twenty emails per day with "just wanted you to know..." kind of info. It's too much. I can't handle it and I can see my productivity slipping as I try to manage it.
I've been told it would be unprofessional to tell people to stop emailing me, but seriously, they're notifying me of things I absolutely can't do anything about.
My general method is something like this.
Well, it's official: I'm part of the ADHD club now! In addition to that, there's depression, anxiety, and a dash of PTSD thrown in as well.
The doctor evaluating the test said that overall I have high intelligence, cognitive functions worked really well when I was challenged, and I did pretty poorly on the TOVA test. Basically any test they had where there was a monotonous task I didn't do great on.
So, I guess the next step is to get the official report (I just talked to the doctor over the phone about the results), and either take it to my PCP for a referral or to start trying to track down a psychiatrist & therapist on my own. We'll see how that goes as it's always been a bit of struggle to find something nearby that is not only well rated but also takes my insurance (surprise! shock!). At this point though I'm will to drive farther away and pay extra if it means I can finally start getting a handle on all of this.
Anyway, it's good to actually be validated on something I had been feeling for...most of my life I guess? We'll see what happens from here.
I would start with a few sessions with a psychiatrist to figure out if meds are needed and maybe get you settled into them, and simultaneously find a psychologist to handle the therapy part of it. Good luck!
Nearly a week on meds, and...wow. I'm actually kind of excited to go back to work just to see what it'll do for me. As far as gaming goes, with the better time management comes more achievement and completion, less getting distracted while leaving it running in the background. That still happens from time to time, but nothing like before. It's making the sessions I do play a lot more fruitful.
Took the week off work to settle in, and I've gotten so much done!
I saw a tweet earlier today that basically said that, to them, people who feel adhd is a fad, burnout, or "normal" sound no different than anti-vaxxers.
Kind of changed my perspective on how it's perceived.
Hooray for working meds! There's nothing quite like that feeling when they cut through the fog and you can be and do without quite so much exertion.
The last time I had someone tell me they didn't believe in ADHD I preempted their rant with the one they were about to give, but I made it about their eyeglasses instead. That shut him up, though I don't know if it was because of shame or because he thought I was insane. Sadly I don't think I can pull that off any more... the "I'm over 40 and *I've* never needed them; clearly it's just a delusion" line probably won't work as well now that we've determined that I do, in fact, need glasses.
On the other hand, I actually can see almost as well without the glasses; it just takes a lot more effort and I get headaches. That could let me lean into the "just try harder and stop being lazy!" angle. 
Congrats!
I remember when I first got on meds as a adult it felt really weird having that mental fog lifted. The only way I could describe it was like my brain suddenly had a manual transmission. Switching thoughts felt like a conscious decision rather than just watching a ball of yarn unravel.
I've been taking them, mostly daily, for about six years now and it doesn't feel that way anymore. Still helps me choose if I want to focus in though.
Not a videogame, but I started playing table tennis again after a 5 year hiatus. And I do feel a difference after diagnosis and my meds in keeping focused on the point at hand, seeing my mistakes, learning and moving on. I already knew you're supposed to do all that, but it comes so much easier now and makes it so much more fun!
Tagging myself in this thread after hearing about it on the podcast (I'm a little behind!)
I've previously had one ADD/ADHD assessment which didn't go so well. The psychiatrist didn't really listen to me, and just put me on anxiety meds. It has definitely helped, but my concentration is still wonky. A lot of mental health folks don't particularly pay attention when I raise my concerns over my attention because I'm academically successful. What they don't understand is that I nearly failed everything I studied, and have only now become successful in my 30s due to being able to study part time - even then, it feels like too much work for me, but I have a knack for coding/mri stuff so I get by.
I have another assessment next month. I kept putting it off because I was doing "well enough" and it costs so. much. money. But after discussing it with my partner, we want to try again. I'm a little nervous (mostly due to the cost), but really need the help so I'm hoping it goes well! Even if they don't think I've got ADD/ADHD, it will at least help guide me towards better study/lifestyle changes.
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Quick edit for gamin' stuff. There are a lot of games (4x stuff comes to mind) which should be EXTREMELY my sort of thing, but I always bounce off of because the concentration needed to learn the systems is too much. It's so frustrating, because I know I'm capable of learning but just get tired/distracted/lose focus.
I also struggle to finish games, then don't even start new games because I'm overwhelmed by the thought of comitting to a large task. It's frustrating feeling like games are work, and some days I feel like I haven't even relaxed during my free time because of the "gotta finish this, gotta finish that" mindset I get into >_<
Quick edit for gamin' stuff. There are a lot of games (4x stuff comes to mind) which should be EXTREMELY my sort of thing, but I always bounce off of because the concentration needed to learn the systems is too much. It's so frustrating, because I know I'm capable of learning but just get tired/distracted/lose focus.
I also struggle to finish games, then don't even start new games because I'm overwhelmed by the thought of committing to a large task. It's frustrating feeling like games are work, and some days I feel like I haven't even relaxed during my free time because of the "gotta finish this, gotta finish that" mindset I get into >_<
Same here, but it helped me compartmentalize gaming. When I bounce off a game because the mechanics are too complicated (looking at you, Crusader Kings) I move on. When I don't want to finish a game, I move on. When I feel overwhelmed, I sometimes don't game for a few days or even weeks. And once in a while I'll breach through that wall of incompetence and play a game for months on end - like Hades this year.
I stress enough about work-related or parenting-related follow-up and commitments, gaming should be a duty-free environment. Which is far easier when the pile hits the sky like a big pizza pie
Every week I seem to say to myself, "no more endless games, only finishable games with stories. Let's clear the deck!" And every week I come back to Rocket League, No Man's Sky, Minecraft, and Gems of War."
And it's not even that I've lost interest in my other games. It's just too easy to fall into the, "well just a couple quick matches, I need a few things for challenges, need to finish some daily quests, just a couple crafting tasks." And then it's bed time, or the kids are screaming again.
I have made some progress on games with endings lately, but I understand that feeling all too well.
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