373: Creating Flow with ADHD

Some call hyperfocus the hidden superpower of ADHD. It’s characterized as this amazing reserve of focus that you can turn on to accomplish great things, health and wellness be damned! If you’re living with ADHD, you know what a misunderstanding this can be. Sure, hyperfocus can be a massive reserve of energy, akin to firing a glass cannon into the open ocean — it’s a reserve that too often destroys itself with no ultimate reward.

Today we’re talking about what goes into hyperfocus with an eye on creating a more productive, targeted experience for ADHD that the experts have dubbed flow. Is it possible to build a model of understanding our hyperfocus states such that we can train our brains to get better at it? Join us and share your experience, too!

Along the way, we wrapped up four questions you can ask of yourself to determine whether you're likely to find a state of flow in a project. Consider:

1. Do you have the tools required to meet the project expectations?
2. Do you have the skill required to meet the project expectations?
3. Do you have the interest required to meet the project expectations?
4. Do you have the time required to meet the project expectations?

Thanks to Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihaly for the matrix below charting the conditions that come from the relationship of Challenge to Skill of a particular project.

Links & Notes

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