ADHD Hyperfocus Explained (..and how to use it to your ADVANTAGE)

Although still a controversial topic today (due to limited scientific evidence), for many of us, hyperfocus is part of every day, ADHD life.

Powerful, erratic, and somewhat mysterious, hyperfocus is a state familiar to anyone with ADHD who has ever gotten "in the zone" so totally on a project or task that the outside world has ceased to exist.

In this video you will learn that hyperfocus can have good and bad sides (such as getting hyperfocused on bad sides of your relationship), but can ultimitaly be used to your advantage by pursuing your natural interests and setting measurable goals towards them, keeping you motivated.

Ironically enough, we are then able to actually be more focused than the average person without adhd!

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[Passbu]

Your hyper focus only works when you’re interested in something. Mostly your passion. It is very real and if you use it with your passion it can make you rich.

[kingfolk]

I have adhd and I decided not to go to college. I hated school with such a passion and could never imagine myself working in an office my whole life. I stumbled across plumbing and found out I'm extremely gifted at it. I started my own van buisness at 23 years old and currently make 140$ an hour doing plumbing and hvac.

[akashpaul]

My ADHD is so crazy. I fail in my science subjects, but I won a science project contest. The project made me stay awake for a whole night! That night I was so busy that I forgot something called sleep....lol. Hyperfocus exists for 200%.

[jsh_u_a]

My adhd makes zero sense. I had a mental breakdown over ONE math page but spent 16 STRAIGHT hours doing homework . I’m literally not exaggerating.

[briannalawrence]

I also dont like college so it's really hard to focus on getting any of my assignments done and I feel guilty once I've realized that I've spent hours doing a task I wanted to do but not any of my assignments..

[minimike]

hyperfocus doesn't just work with something your interested in. its just the most common time when people notice they've been under its effects. hyperfocus can engage in moments of intense emotional swings. this can be a strong passion. a heavy anxiety, or a deep looming fear. most people see the hyper focus when its over something they love. but that same person is also hyper focusing when they are in dire financial need. or when their life starts to feel like its crumbling around them. when the urge is strong enough adhd / hyperfocus engages a drive thats similar to standing up against natural law and the world to try and defy it, if there's a way. you WILL find it now.

[ripley]

I didn't learn about hyper-focus until I was an adult, and it explained so much. When I'm hyper-focused I'm literally unaware of what's going around me. People can speak to me, call my name... and I don't hear them. They think I'm ignoring them and won't believe otherwise, but I honestly can't hear them. I got into so much trouble with my teachers because of this when I was a child. And now as an adult, it hurts people's feelings because they think I'm intentionally ignoring them. It's so frustrating that people won't believe me. I'm not sure if this level of hyper-focus can be attributed to ADHD. I know I have ADHD, but I've recently come to suspect that I may also have Aspergers.

[nieporte]

I remember when I was a kid getting a model car set and spending several hours putting it together. My family was amazed and very confused because it was the summer and I hadn’t taken any medication. This explains it very well. I might also had that there’s an urge to get certain tasks done complete before being able to move on.

[hendrikpier]

My obsession in life is the humanity, how we are and what we are… I truly try, every second of life to understand that what we are🙋‍♂️

[crow_aj]

i just finished all of naruto in less then a month (in case you didn’t know naruto has 9 seasons and naruto shippuden has 20) and every time i took a little break it was the only thing i could think of. i would just stay in my room not taking a shower, not eating, not talking to my family, and pulling a ton of all nighters.

[BarefootBry]

This explains why I procrastinate so much and why it’s suddenly so easy to complete things once it becomes necessary.

[crosemechanical]

Hyperfocus absolutely exists.
Exactly as described here. The trick is, as described, finding the interest.
And with this gift, comes amazing accomplishments.
I have several high profile trade certificates, and own and operate $million dollar plus business in those trades, and earned an MBA post grad degree. All done in my 40’s and 50’s while overcoming substance abuse.
Without the super human Hyper focus ability, I wouldn’t have stopped the self medicating to dull the world, and I wouldn’t be in the position I am now.

The specialist tried me on medication 15 years ago to “treat my ADHD. I had to stop it. As I could not give up the gifts, this condition has given.
It is not all good, but in my case it is all about managing and channeling.

Don’t give up hope as it can be a super power.

[Keraitos]

I’d say it does for me. I am much better with deadlines (despite the panic) to the point on my college essay I cracked down and worked morning to night cause I wanted it to be great. 96 hours in one week, over 200 pages read for resource, 72 hours typing in 4 days. All for an essay on the psychology of Hamlet. I am definitely the type that once I get started, I’m in it until I crash and I can go hours without breaks (commonly 12+) but good luck getting me to start. That’s the hardest part that I need to work on.

[unitNitro]

After a few years of just "randomly" entering this state with no explanation. I have FINALLY realized the correlation between them all; atleast for ME personally. I usually enter hyperfocus when there is a sufficient amount of external stimuli that requires swift internal thought>action. For example, I usually entered this state when I needed to handle a large amount of simple requests. I.e. Working at fast food during Lunch Rush and needing to keep track of the MANY different sandwich and burger ingredients whilst also keeping track of what completed products go in what bags to what customers from either Front or Drive Thru. Another example of entering this state was when I was bagging an overstuffed grocery cart (as an employee) and I needed to keep track of what types of items are allowed to go with each other, the order those items need to go in to fit, the weight of the bag and what spot in the customers cart would allow the most space for the rest of the future as of yet unbagged items.

basically, I go into this state when I need to make order of a chaotic is I get stuck in this state LONG after the rush ends, and all my friends/coworkers think I act rudely towards them when really, I just can't slow my mind back down.

To further expand on the above video, I also entered Hyperfocus in video games. Mainly in quick paced games (fighting games or action games). When an opponent makes ANY action, My mind immediately shows me all possible follow-up actions that opponent can make, and by extension, all MY possible game inputs to counter each of the aforementioned my upper limit It was like I could see the future; however at the cost of not realizing my dog has been trying to get my attention, and thus just peed somewhere.

P.S. I'm INTJ-T

[underplayer]

Music is what gets me through everything. Since I really like the music and want to keep listening, I want to continue the task. Whether that’s school, chores, or working out. It’s the thing that keeps me going

[suburbanturnip]

I've been hyperfocusing for the last 5 days on how to control the hyperfocus. I think mindfulness gives a lever to control where it is directed. It's a pretty confronting process though.

[MarkBlanchfield]

I went to college and in all the classes I was not intrested in, I was so miserable. I made it work and got good grades because I had to force myself to concentrate; it was very hard. However in my interesting classes, I excelled at them, had a lot of fun and had perfect grades. I just learned that I have ADHD at 41. I am excited that I can learn to channel this superpower.

[arelle]

This is true to me. Since the pandemic started, I have been losing motivation to make my tasks correlated to flexible learning. However, there's this day in where I finished 2 weeks worth of my tasks in only one day because the deadline scared the heck out of me. I also finished an 800+ pages of Harry Potter book overnight because it stimulated me so much. Lol.

[draigporffor]

I remember never cleaning my room then ONLY cleaning my room all day until 3am!!!

[PranavCalisthenics]

I do agree. Hyper focus totally exists, i don’t know whether I have ADHD or not but I feel that when there’s something that *must* be done, or when I’m REALLY interested in something, I have 100 percent of my focus on that thing. Also, I am able to manage my time, tasks, and effectiveness so much better whilst in that state of mind purely because I have this lightning striking feeling that urges me to keep going. However, sometimes when this dies off, I do find a change in rhythm which ends up stimulating a chain of unwanted thoughts, actions and distractions. This video was great, doing small tasks first can provide a sense of dopamine which motivates us to continue our day on a positive note. I also found that external stimulus has a great impact on our minds, therefore, we should try optimising our time using the patterns that occur within us. Work on your weakness as like a strength, and utilise your strength as protection. Peace.