ADHD | Getting Things Done | Productivity | Creativity | Burnout
On the Days When I Do More, I Do A Lot More
ADHD means my productivity is one extreme or the other
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I want to talk about one of the ways ADHD affects me:
My highly unpredictable productivity
It’s not exactly an ideal thing for the workplace. I might appear almost genius-like one day, and a candidate for getting fired the next.
When I had proper jobs in the past, I was lucky because most of my managers just left me to get on with things, and didn’t micromanage me. That meant I could disguise my ‘spiky productivity’.
You could say I have two modes. These can last hours, days, or sometimes longer.
1. Active Mode
- My mind is highly focused
- I feel alive and in a state of flow, like “today is the day”
- I’m highly organised and keen to work through “To Do” lists, typically written on paper
- I go through the tasks and get them done
By the end of the day, there might still be one or two items remaining. But in general, a very significant number have been checked off.
2. Idle Mode
- I struggle to focus
- My mind is full of ideas and keeps going round in circles
- I soon become tired
- I feel overwhelmed and find it hard to prioritise
- I waste hours deciding what to do
- I’m indecisive and second-guess my choices, wondering how best to use my time
As the hours go by, I feel increasingly frustrated and annoyed with myself about all the wasted time.
Learning to Cope
Although employers would love me to be running at 100% permanently, that’s not how my mind works. And even if I could, there is a major risk of burnout.
Experience tells me to avoid pushing myself during idle periods because it simply does not work. Those are the times when my mind needs downtime. It’s a bit like…
